Berwick Shines 2025
Berwick Shines is a programme of artist led commissions and residencies, produced by the Maltings Berwick Trust on behalf of the Living Barracks Partnership.
We can’t believe how much has happened in one year through Berwick Shines! We opened the year by transforming the Barracks into a giant stage, where over 850 members of the Berwick community were the stars of the show. This dazzling success was Matthew Rosier’s Berwick Parade. Over three unforgettable evenings, everyone from NHS staff, to dancers, to fishermen were projected in joyful procession onto the walls of the Parade Ground. The historic Barracks welcomed over 2,500 people to witness this spectacular event, accompanied by live music by local musicians.
Spring and summer this year saw the unfolding of exciting and inspiring community-led artworks through our Berwick Shines artist residencies.
You probably saw the colourful flags fluttering over Berwick this summer. Beth J Ross’ Her Extraordinary Colours celebrated the often-untold stories of the women who shaped Berwick’s history. Developed through workshops with a group of local women, these stories were transformed into abstract, geometric flags. We couldn’t have predicted the impact the flags would have on the group of women at the heart of the project and on the Berwick community as a whole. While the flags were flying this autumn, children in local schools were busy creating flags of their own, inspired by the extraordinary women in their own lives.
Where Ross’ poignant artwork asked us to explore memory, another Berwick Shines residency was looking to the future: Caroline Jupp’s Sci-Fi Scriptorium invited the community to explore what the future of Berwick might look like, through a summer of playful and imaginative workshops. Monthly Sci-fi Scriptorium Book Clubs and Writing Groups have been taking place in Berwick since May 2025. During August, Sci-Fi Scriptorium was based at 30 Hide Hill, where different communities of readers, writers and makers were invited into the space to imagine Berwick’s speculative futures through creative workshops. Artworks created by Jupp and Scriptorium participants was showcased at FOLDYARD Gallery in October.
In September Berwick Academy’s new school year started with the appointment of their first ever Artist in Residence. Funded by the Berwick Shines programme artist Martha Ellis has joined the school community bringing her unique sculpture making process to the classroom. We have also set up a weekly Art Club at the school with plans for a Film Club in the New Year. We would like to thank Ben Ryder and the Berwick Academy school staff and pupils for making us so welcome in their school.
After a series of poetry workshops with pupils at Berwick Academy, Tasneim Zayda performed her newly commissioned poem at the ‘Things That Make for Peace’ concert as part of Berwick Literary Festival 2025. Tasneim also led a poetry workshop at Strawyard as part of the Festival, and will be returning in February to continue her creative enquiries in Berwick.
From November Cath Campbell has been leading pop-up making workshops in the community, creating artworks inspired by stories from the KOSB collection. We can’t wait to bring you her residency, The Lost Ornament, in 2026!
In the final months of 2025, over 300 members of the Berwick community have come together to be part of Gareth Hudson and Toby Thirling’s commission, Litany For The Border: Light Up Berwick. Local choirs, individuals, and a new Berwick Shines ‘community choir’ have recorded a brand-new piece of music composed for the town by Eleanor Cully Boehringer. As part of this commission, Berwickers were invited to participate in a Live Action Role Play (LARP) workshop, led by guest artist Adam James. Over the past months Gareth and Toby have explored the Tweed estuary, making field (sound) recordings and meeting with local people to discuss their interpretations of ‘the sacred’. All of these strands will come together to create a monumental sound and light installation in February 2026. We know you’ll be blown away by how Berwick can shine – in seeing what’s possible when people come together in creativity.
Looking back on what has been achieved in just a year, we couldn’t be more grateful for the continued enthusiasm and participation of the Berwick community, alongside our fantastic Berwick Shines artists. If you loved Berwick Shines’ work in 2025, you’ll be dazzled by what’s coming your way next year!