Sunderland 10×10 artist-in-residence project beautifully illustrates the potential of bold and creative collaboration between culture and commerce. Having studied and worked in the city for the past four years, it came as no surprise to me, that it would be Sunderland that would step up and deliver the first strand of the ambitious 100 Artists into 100 Businesses programme – part of the North East Culture Partnership’s regional 15 year Case for Culture. In my role with Creative FUSE North East, I was delighted to be invited to support the project as its associate curator.
Sunderland 10×10 aimed to foster new relationships and connections between local Sunderland businesses and North East artists. In early 2016, we began our search for artists and businesses who would be willing to take a risk on an experimental model of practice that had no clear route forward, no defined set of outcomes and no real sense of what might happen. In essence, we were seeking out collaborators who would trust in our belief in the value and contribution that artists can make to the creative economy and their ability to act as catalysts for innovation, promoting new ways of thinking and learning within commercial businesses.
Due to the ongoing work of organisations such as the Sunderland Cultural Partnership, there is already a great dialogue between the cultural and commercial sectors across the city. As so, we were not short of interested organisations and businesses who were open to exploring new ways of working and could see the value of committing not just time, but also financial resource to the project. The response to our open call for artists was overwhelming and demonstrated the strength and breath of creative practices across the region.
In March, ten North East artists and creatives were selected from over eighty applications, to work with ten Sunderland businesses. The successful artist/business pairings were; Anne Curtis and Arc Adoption, Stevie Ronnie and Ashmore Consulting, Breeze Creatives and Sunderland Business Improvement District, Tim Shaw and Sunderland Fab Lab, David Lisser and MAC Trust, Corine Kilvington and Northumbria Water, Rachel Magdeburg and SES, Chris McHugh and Sunderland Football Club, Dominic Smith and Erin Dickson and Siglon.
Following a series of CPD workshops, designed to support our participants to learn more about each other, and delivered with the support of the BIC (Business Innovation Centre, Sunderland), the month-long residencies began. Each artist and business pairing were asked to collaborate to scope and shape a project proposal that responded creatively to the businesses’ briefs through their own artistic practice and approach. They were then given the opportunity to pitch their project proposal to a panel of expert representatives from the arts and business sectors, in a competitive process, and two proposals were given £7500 to realise their project.
Artist Dominic Smith worked with Siglion to produce an artist film entitled Between Wind and Water, that makes a clear connection between Sunderland’s history and its present as a place filled with creativity and ingenuity. The film uses drone footage to meditate upon the changing Sunderland landscape from a bird’s eye view. The footage features recorded stories that connect Sunderland’s past and present during a period of change. His work explores the potential new technologies bring to how the cities past, present and potential futures can be told. Between Wind and Water will be shown as a drive-in movie experience in 2017, as part of Siglion’s public engagement programme and the Sunderland Shorts Film Festival.
With support from the Sunderland BIC, Breeze Creatives found and gained access to the historic Athenaeum building, which had been vacant for a number of years. To celebrate the significance of the Athenaeum’s history and possible future, Breeze delivered a series of three arts events, designed to add vibrancy to Sunderland city’s evening economy. Under the umbrella of ‘Athenaeum Nights’, these events included; an exhibition by artist Dylan Shields, which plays and responds to the scale of the space, a demonstration lecture event celebrating the work and impact of Joseph Swan on contemporary photography, devised and produced in collaboration by the North East Photography Network, and a performance event showcasing collaborative works from poets, technologists and dancers, Charlie Dearnley and Adam Goodwin and their improvisation collective Babble, in which they explored a conversation between music, dance and live visuals. The hope is that this commission could be the gateway to a longer-term project that creates a permanent gallery and artists’ studios to support Sunderland’s growing creative communities.
Sunderland 10×10 proved to be an ambitious provocation that makes a clear case for creative, arts-led intervention and artistic engagement as an innovation strategy for business and for business to be seen as a developing context for artists to practice. The impact and legacy of the project on the participating artists and businesses was significant, as can be seen in our documentary by Alan Fentiman.
In my view, Sunderland 10×10 was an early adventure on our journey towards realizing the city’s potential as a driving force for creative innovation. It showed me that the ingenuity and curiosity that underpinned Sunderland’s past success never really went away. Despite its challenges, Sunderland remains open to new perspectives, ways of working and bold experimentation. The city’s bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2021 affords a valuable focus for all of us to galvanise our belief in Sunderland. It provides the means for our communities to forge new connections that can help; share the city’s largely untold stories in unique ways, support its cultural and creative industries to flourish and realise Sunderland future success in ways that we can all feel a part of.
– Suzy O’Hara
Sunderland 10×10 was delivered by Helen Conniffy, Sunderland Cultural Partnership and Suzy O’Hara, Curator and Creative FUSE North East Innovation Development Specialist (Research Associate).
The project is grateful for the support of Arts Council England, Creative Fuse North East, the ten local businesses and partners, Cultural Spring and the North East Business Innovation Centre.
