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A large, diverse group of people enthusiastically participate in a dance or movement workshop inside a spacious, light-filled room with exposed brick walls and high wooden beams. Participants strike expressive poses and appear engaged and joyful.
A large, diverse group of people enthusiastically participate in a dance or movement workshop inside a spacious, light-filled room with exposed brick walls and high wooden beams. Participants strike expressive poses and appear engaged and joyful.

Annual Review 2024-25

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Chair’s Welcome

Person standing and smiling in front of a plain white background, wearing glasses, a navy blue blazer with multicolored polka dots, a white collared shirt, and a silver chain necklace.

Welcome to our annual report for the year 24-25. It continues to be a huge privilege to be the independent chair of this fantastic partnership. And it’s even more exciting to be doing so at a time of such growth, development, ambition and excitement in the city.

Our mission continues to be to improve the lives of everyone in Sunderland through culture. We know that people experience culture in many ways, sometimes by going to venues or galleries and sometimes by exercising their own creativity in their own localities. The investment which has gone into the city by Sunderland City Council, the University of Sunderland and the MAC Trust has provided some fantastic new opportunities for people to gather together and celebrate their pride in the city. But we are equally proud of the work that we do in smaller settings working with young people who may be marginalised, with older people and with those who are using arts and culture to help cope with health conditions. We’re particularly delighted by the Culture Start partnership which has already started to open up opportunities to children and young people in our city who would otherwise be excluded from things that we believe make life joyful.

None of this would be possible without our talented team of staff, dedicated trustees, and our partners. As we reported in the last annual report, our former Chief Executive Rebecca Ball left us to join Arts Council England, and we thank her for all her service. We are delighted to welcome Nick Malyan as our new Chief Executive. With the Board, he’s helping us to think about what we do within Sunderland Culture and within the city for the next 10 years, as we approach our 10th anniversary.

We’ve also said goodbye to some trustees this year, including Michael Young and Ian Kershaw from the University of Sunderland. However, we are very pleased to welcome Helen Driscoll as one of their new representatives. I thank them and all my colleagues on the Board and Finance Committee who give up their time voluntarily to help us to shape the offer for Sunderland Culture for the future. We look forward to a recruitment campaign next year to introduce new trustees to carry on this work.

It would of course not be possible to do any of these things without the support of Arts Council England and a number of other funders who are named elsewhere in this report. We thank them for their continued investment in the success of the city and look forward to developing the relationship and the impact we can have on people’s lives over the next 10 years.

 

Jane Earl,
Independent Chair

Delivering change through culture

Sunderland Culture brings together some of Wearside’s most cherished and important cultural venues and activities, and works to realise the ambition of a city brimming with creative potential. We deliver a programme of events and participatory activities in communities across Sunderland, including the creative programmes in Arts Centre Washington, National Glass Centre, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.

Sunderland Culture comprises the three main funders of arts provision in the city, Sunderland City Council, University of Sunderland and Sunderland Music, Arts and Culture (MAC) Trust into a single, independent, and resilient delivery model. We are a not for profit, limited company and registered Charity in England and Wales. We are funded by Arts Council England through the National Portfolio, and with support from public funding schemes and charitable trusts and foundations.

Our mission is to improve life for everyone in Sunderland through culture. To do so, we are driving five step changes through our work: improved profile and reputation of the city; more vibrant creative economy; raised outlook and aspiration of children and young people; improved health and wellbeing; and a more socially cohesive city.

A large, angular glass building with metal facade.
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A large grey room with concrete columns. In the centre of the room are wooden benches and there are pictures hanging on the walls.
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A stone lion in the foreground and a round glass and metal structure in the background.
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Arts Centre Washington. An old tone building with a long, tiled canopy over a set of double doors and a large stained-glass window. In between the door and the window is a teal sign that reads ‘Arts Centre Washington’ in white text. Underneath the sign is a large round planter filled with greenery. On the left is a big green tree and at the base of it a bunch of wildflowers.
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A theater scene with many people dancing on stage. The main dancer in the center wears a green shirt and grey trousers with arms stretched out wide. All around them, other dancers lean back and reach toward the centre person. The stage has colourful lights in pink, blue, and green. Behind them is a big screen that shows a list with
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A group of children sit on the grass with a small white fence around them and bunting hanging from the trees. A person in a flat cap and waistcoat talks to them holding a bunch of bananas.
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Achieving our mission

Theory of Change

A colourful infographic titled “Improving life for everyone in Sunderland through culture.” It outlines five goals at the top in green: improving the city’s profile, creating community connectivity, building young people's confidence, improving wellbeing, and growing the creative economy. Beneath, three main aims in blue: delivering diverse arts and heritage programmes, encouraging participation, and securing cultural infrastructure. At the bottom, three grey boxes detail assets, audiences, and partners, including venues, targeted communities, and collaborating organisations. The foundation is labeled “A unique model for cultural regeneration” in orange. Arrows link all parts, forming a cohesive strategy.

Our year in figures

483,031
Visitors

188
Artist and freelancer collaborations

118
Exhibitions, performances and events

45
Unlock grants for creatives

42,779
Participants

47
Ignite grants for young people

10,346
School visitors

895,278
Website visitors

331
Volunteer hours

101,969
Social media followers

Read more

Core Partners

We work across the city with communities and local partners to ensure the power of great art, culture and creativity is harnessed for the benefit of Sunderland, its residents and visitors.

Read more

In our venues

Arts Centre Washington
Two musicians perform on a dark stage lit with blue light. One person sits at a keyboard on the left, and another sits with a guitar on the right. Both have microphones and music stands with sheet music. Above them, a large screen shows a blue-tinted image of old European buildings and houses stacked on a hillside. The audience sits in darkness watching the performance.

Arts Centre Washington

National Glass Centre
Large black letters spelling

National Glass Centre

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art
Two people in dark coats stand looking at a large wall display of photographs in a gallery. The wall shows 54 small coloured photos arranged in a grid. Each photo shows everyday objects like cups, plates, and hands. The gallery has white walls and a dark floor.

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
A person looking at a black and white tintype photograph of a person with short hair. The person in the photograph is smiling at the camera.

Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens

A spotlight on…

Theatre Nation Partnership
A group of young people dancing and smiling. In the foreground, one of the people is wearing a Sunderland football shirt with red and white stripes, another is wearing a dark t-shirt and leggings with a green hoodie. By the way they are holding their arms, it looks to be some form of street dance.

Theatre Nation Partnership

Unlock
Groups of people sit at long wooden tables talking amongst one another with coffees, large sheets of paper and pens. The room has bare concrete walls and a yellow beam through the middle. At the back is a plywood wall that has large black text on it reading 'Hunger Melody Decency'.

Unlock

Autonomy
A person with short dark hair and a black jacket holds a professional camera. They stand in front of a teal wall with a large framed portrait of themselves holding the same camera.

Autonomy

Culture Start
A child with curly hair and an earring looks intently at a colorful puppet dressed like a clown, with a bright red nose, rainbow suspenders, and a polka-dotted party hat. The two are seated at a table in a cheerful room with yellow walls and carnival-themed decor in the background.

Culture Start

Final thoughts

A closing statement from Nick Malyan, Chief Executive of Sunderland Culture

A person with short grey hair and glasses stands smiling on a riverside path. They wear a blue jacket over a light blue shirt with dark trousers. Behind them is a river with a green metal bridge crossing it. Grey and white clouds fill the sky above green trees and tall buildings in the distance.

It’s been a packed first year in my role as Chief Executive of Sunderland Culture.

As you’ve read through this review, we deliver an extraordinary amount for the city – from world-class venues run in partnership with our founding organisations, to grassroots participatory work that reaches communities across Wearside.

Since joining in September 2024, I’ve felt a deep sense of excitement and aspiration for both Sunderland Culture and the city itself. I was also keenly aware of the legacy I was stepping into, following Rebecca Ball’s move to Arts Council England. I’m delighted to say that the reality of the role has far exceeded my expectations.

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Our Funders

Our Funders

We’re hugely grateful to our partners, funders, donors and everyone who has supported our work during 2024-25. This has enabled us to offer a remarkable range of high quality cultural, heritage and creative activities in Sunderland for people to enjoy, experience and participate in.

Our Funders