Research Into Client

The client for this project is Sunderland Culture, who are holding a mixed media exhibition titled Who Am I? and have asked young practitioners to explore and develop ideas for media work relating to the theme of regional identity, either in the form of a short film / documentary, print media, or a combination of the two. 

Formed in 2016, Sunderland Culture is a registered organisation and charity, created to bring together Sunderland's most cultural assets and activities and realise the ambition of a city brimming with creative potential. Their main aim is to improve life for everyone in Sunderland through culture, while managing cultural venues and developing city-wide projects. Their venues include the National Glass Centre and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, Sunderland Stages, The Fire Station, Arts Centre Washington, and more, with a combined audience of over 700,00. As well as this, they run cross-city programmes, including the recent UK City of Culture bid. 

As an organisation, they strongly value the diversity and equality of their staff, community and audience. 'As an organisation receiving public funds with high profile venues, we aim to act as an exemplar of good practice and to influence our participants, stakeholders and local community to share in our values.' They actively seek to promote and support the work of artists from diverse backgrounds and to enable visitors from diverse backgrounds to enjoy and participate in their work, which I believe is one of the most important things when creating a media piece. 

Through their website we are able to find out which events are happening when and where, like live music at The Fire Station, Ceramics at The Glass Centre, Watercolour classes at the Arts Centre Washington, and more. Sunderland Culture brings together the investment of the three main funders of arts provision in the city - Sunderland City Council, University of Sunderland, and Music, Arts and Culture Trust into a single, independent, and resilient delivery model. 

In 2018 they became an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, and in March of the same year, working with other organisations through Sunderland Cultural Partnership, they launched the Twenty FourSeven programme - a seven year project costing £60m. The project will 'improve the city's cultural profile and reputation, strengthen the city's creative economy, and increase the number of Wearsiders taking part in arts in culture.' The announcement came on the same day as Sunderland Culture officially re-opened the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art in its new 3,000sq ft space within National Glass Centre.The new gallery has been created with the support of Sunderland University, Arts Council England and Sunderland City Council, and in its first 18 months it will celebrate British artists whose work has been created on continental Europe, bringing new audiences to contemporary art. 

Upon researching into Sunderland Culture, I now know more about the organisation, as well as the city I have grew up in. Learning more about what they do as a charity and their different venues, I now know more on their upcoming projects and what they include, along with those who work for the organisation itself, which may influence my ideas in that I know of what already exists in the city, allowing me to think outside the box and create something unique to shine a positive light on Sunderland. 

Information Sources:

Sunderland Culture. (n.d.). Home. [online] Available at: https://sunderlandculture.org.uk/

‌University of Sunderland. (n.d.). Sunderland Culture. [online] Available at: https://www.sunderland.ac.uk/about/culture/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2022].

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