As the festive season begins, we’d like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and take a moment to celebrate what we’ve achieved with your support over the last 12 months. During our Eastern Lane venue’s redevelopment, our work has continued across Berwick in new and exciting ways.
Since moving out of Eastern Lane back in May, we’ve operated from both the Granary Gallery and Berwick Barracks while also taking activity directly into the community at various locations, including Berwick Academy Berwick Sports Centre and now in our new creative space on Hide Hill.
We’ve shared the latest film releases and event broadcasts at the new Maltings Cinema at Berwick Barracks, showcased our visual arts exhibition programme at the Granary Gallery, and staged pop-up live events and performances throughout the town.
We’ve also continued our valued partnerships with Berwick Literary Festival and Berwick Film and Media Festival, helping to present exciting programmes for 2025, and once again took part in The Big Draw and Heritage Open Days.
Alongside this, we’ve expanded our artist-led community workshops, talks and events, and produced a series of artist residencies and commissions. We have continued our partnership approach to managing Northumberland County Council’s Dance Development fund, working closely with Alnwick Playhouse and the Queens Hall, Hexham to support dance artists and companies countywide.
None of this would be possible without the support of our audiences, artists, partners, and funders – thank you for being part of our journey.
Here’s just a glimpse of what we’ve been up to…
Maltings Cinema at Berwick Barracks
We’ve enjoyed a remarkable few months since the cinema’s successful move to its new home inside historic Berwick Barracks. It’s been a blockbuster year…
Live Performance
Despite closing the doors to our Eastern Lane venue in May, we’ve loved welcoming so many of you to live performances this year, both on our stages and out in community spaces.
Visual Arts
Over 9,000 people visited our exhibition programme at the Granary Gallery, which included exhibitions by locally based artist Samantha Cary alongside work by nationally acclaimed artist and plantsman Cedric Morris whose work was shown in Norhumberland for the first time. We also worked internationally with artists in Ireland, Sicily and Turkey as part our FIRECULT programme.
Five artists from Berwick also took up residence in the new studio block at Berwick Barracks, helping to develop it as a creative hub for the town.
Berwick Shines
We opened the year with Matthew Rosier’s Berwick Parade. Over three unforgettable evenings, 800 members of the community were projected in joyful procession onto the walls of the Parade Ground, accompanied by local musicians and witnessed by an audience of over 2,500! 85% of those watching were from Berwick.
This summer, Beth J Ross’ Her Extraordinary Colours flag trail celebrated the often-untold stories of the women who shaped Berwick’s history, developed through workshops with a group of local women.
While the flags were flying, children in local schools were busy creating flags of their own, inspired by the extraordinary women in their own lives.
In the final months of 2025, over 300 members of the Berwick community came together to record a brand-new piece of music composed for the town by Eleanor Cully Boehringer. This will form part of Gareth Hudson and Toby Thirling’s monumental sound and light installation Litany For The Border: Light Up Berwick in February 2026.
Looking back on what has been achieved in just a year, we couldn’t be more grateful for the enthusiasm and participation of the Berwick community, alongside our fantastic Berwick Shines artists. We can’t wait to keep shining with you in 2026!
The Living Barracks 2025
In May, we hosted a Community Tea Dance at The Gymnasium at Berwick Barracks to mark the 80th Anniversary of VE Day. 80 guests enjoyed afternoon tea, dancing and live music. As part of the project, we also brought educational workshops to 10 local schools, delivered by our Living Barracks partners, the Berwick Record Office and the Kings Own Scottish Borderers Museum. The students then got to join in the fun at tea dance workshops run by Dance Artist and Choreographer Oli Brooks in the Gymnasium, many of them dressing up in vintage clothing for the day out!
In September, we threw open the doors of the Berwick Barracks for Heritage Open Days. Printmaking workshops inspired by the town’s built heritage took place in the Artist Studios, Berwick Record Office held talks on the Berwick Cockles, The Storehouse was open for the public to see and KOSB showed some of the collection and a new film in the Officer’s Mess.
We now have a number of new volunteers working at the Barracks, as The Living Barracks project continues to connect the Berwick community to this historic site.
Other Projects
Our Freedom: Then and Now began over the summer with Berwick Youth Project, exploring ideas of freedom through local research and archives. Part of a nationwide Future Arts Centres project marking the 80th anniversary of VE/VJ Day, the project commissioned neon artist April Key to create a sculptural installation inspired by the young people’s ideas.
The exhibition of artwork and photography opened in the Straw Yard over Remembrance Sunday weekend, and the sculpture will be installed in the Berwick Barracks cinema foyer in the New Year.