What's on Calendar

You are a painter, a writer, a maker of music and dance, a maker of stuff… a creative doer.

Where do you take your inspiration from? If you live or work in South Tyneside, you might be giddy with inspiration because this water-edged corner of England is crammed with natural, historic, and cultural riches. Many of the most familiar are represented in music, folk tales and visual arts, many others are little known and yet to be explored.

But what about adding a new creative twist to these riches to produce something saleable?

That’s what Make the Most of South Tyneside is about.

The local Cultural Partnership Group and Create North are hooking up to host a programme of events for artists, creative practitioners, and creative micro-business to get together to explore how we can all, individually and collaboratively, benefit from making the very most of South Tyneside’s assets. There are so many assets that we’ll explore the possibilities through four overlapping themes: coast, river, towns and villages, heritage – you’ll have your own take on what they mean to you but here’s a starting point for digging deeper:

• Coast

A place to wield a geological hammer, explore industrial and maritime heritage, show off rare wildlife, highlight the environment and the biodiversity or entertain the crowds on fantastic beaches

• River

The Tyne. The river: the one that provided the coals that fuelled the industrial revolution and a place of rich maritime history, manufacturing and ship building

• Towns & Villages

 From quiet rural outputs to industrial powerhouses, from those known to few to those that stirred the whole nation

• Heritage

The works: from what the Roman’s did for South Tyneside to the birthplace of English history, to the creation of a modern identity, taking in folk traditions, the built environment, and diverse communities and trades

This day will be festooned with opportunities to spend time with other creatives and build your networks.

There’ll be contributions from local specialists, and the day will be festooned with opportunities to spend time with other creatives and build your networks.

Over the course of the day you will:

• Explore the potential of the four themes to inspire new creative and commercial opportunities
• Generate ideas for creative products and services with differentiated audiences in mind
• Find out how other artists pursuing similar lines of creative enquiry have successfully developed their practice and new income streams
• Develop entrepreneurial know-how to critique and exploit ideas
• Link with creative and commercial networks that may add value to your propositions
• Find out about funding opportunities
• Meet representatives of the major cultural and creative organisations in the area
• Find out from local commissioners about upcoming commercial opportunities

This event will create space to get away from the all-consuming routine of keeping your practice running, and help you think afresh about new ideas for products and services, and new routes to markets.

This event are FREE but places are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment!