Sunderland Culture's Response to Open Letter in Support of Glassworks: Sunderland

Sunderland Culture has welcomed an open letter signed by more than 200 glass and ceramics practitioners from across the UK, formally submitted in support of Glassworks: Sunderland.

Glassworks: Sunderland is a proposed new world-class facility for people of all ages to create in glass. In January 2025 funding of £5m for the scheme was secured from DCMS’s Cultural Development Fund, administered by Arts Council of England. Further support has since been secured in partnership with Sunderland City Council via the North East Combined Authority.

The letter represents a powerful collective voice from artists, educators, technicians, and industry professionals who are recognising the vital role of glass in the regional and national creative economy. The letter has also been backed by the Contemporary Glass Society – the UK’s foremost supporter of glass artists.

We are sharing our formal response to the letter below, published with the consent of the signatories of the letter.

You can read the original letter along with the Contemporary Glass Society’s accompanying statement of support using the link below. Continue reading this post for our response.

Read original open letter

Sunderland Culture Limited
c/o National Glass Centre
Liberty Way
Sunderland
SR6 0G

Dear Signatories,

Thank you for your letter, which clearly sets out the depth of support and interest that the glass and ceramics community holds in sustaining Sunderland’s glassmaking skills and heritage. We have shared your letter with the wider Sunderland Culture Board ahead of providing this response.

We are very grateful for the open letter of support from glassmakers and ceramicists in Sunderland, across the UK and internationally. It is an encouraging acknowledgement of both the ambition behind Glassworks: Sunderland and the work currently underway to shape a strong and sustainable future for glass in the city.

What comes through so clearly in the letter is something we deeply share: that Sunderland’s glass heritage has always been about people, skills and making — not about a single building.

Since the University made the decision to close the National Glass Centre, Sunderland Culture’s focus has remained firmly on the artists and makers who make up the city’s glassmaking economy and ecology. We continue to work closely with artists and partners to identify a sustainable future for glassmaking and associated art forms in Sunderland.

That is why, in January 2025, we were delighted to announce the successful award of £5 million from the DCMS Cultural Development Fund, administered by Arts Council England, for Glassworks: Sunderland. Since then, and in partnership with Sunderland City Council, we have secured more than £2 million of additional funding for the scheme via the North East Combined Authority.

DCMS funding is contingent on the provision of a sustainable business model for Glassworks. Keeping glass alive in Sunderland means supporting practice, learning and exchange, and ensuring there are places where glass can continue to be made, taught and experienced. It also means responding to contemporary realities around financial and environmental sustainability, and being assured that we have a model that supports the art form on an ongoing basis.

Your letter, which represents a wide range of artists and practitioners and reflects more than 4,000 years of combined experience in the discipline, is encouraging in this regard and demonstrates clear demand for these facilities to be retained and provided in Sunderland.

As part of our ongoing commitment to working collaboratively with artists, makers and partners, we want to focus energy and resources into a model that supports professional practice, creates opportunities for new generations, and keeps Sunderland firmly on the international glass map. This shared ambition is what continues to drive the work forward. Your offer of support and involvement in the next stage of business planning is therefore gratefully received.

Thank you once again to everyone who has spoken up so thoughtfully and constructively. We will continue to make progress on Glassworks: Sunderland as the best option for retaining glassmaking in the city.

If you intend to publish your letter, we have no objection to you sharing this response.

Yours faithfully,