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A group of people stand in a line looking at a painting on a brick wall. On the back of their jackets is text that reads 'YAV Sunderland' and 'YAV Staff'.
A group of people stand in a line looking at a painting on a brick wall. On the back of their jackets is text that reads 'YAV Sunderland' and 'YAV Staff'.

Projects & Partnerships

Culture Start
A child wearing a mask spray paints a large canvas that is stood upright in front of him.

Culture Start

A new £1m, three-year programme to use arts and culture to help transform the lives of children and young people living in poverty in Sunderland.

Culture Start
City Volunteers

City Volunteers

City Volunteers is a new way to get involved in Sunderland’s transformation. Apply once, take part in free, high-quality training, and you’ll join a network of volunteers who get exclusive opportunities direct from partners across the city.

City Volunteers
Celebrate Different Collective
Two people sit and work at a proggy mat - poking different coloured ribbons through a hessian mat.

Celebrate Different

Celebrate Different Collective are Sunderland Culture’s Young Ambassadors.

Celebrate Different Collective
Right Track Music Project

Right Track Music Project

Right Track is a vibrant, youth-led music project based at Arts Centre Washington, offering free, inclusive opportunities for young people aged 12 and above to explore their creativity through music.

Right Track Music Project
View Highlights exhibition
A colourful painting shows many people gathered on either side of a train platform. Everyone faces forward smiling at the viewer. A small train sits on the tracks in the centre. A dark storm and white lightning are visible through the archway at the end of the platform.

Highlights: Disability Arts Exhibition 2026

Highlights Disability Arts Exhibition celebrates the creativity, imagination and expression of young artists with SEND.

Through the exhibition, we aim to highlight the diversity of talent and provide a platform for young disabled and neurodiverse artists to be seen and celebrated in a supportive environment.

The theme of this year’s exhibition is Challenges, Celebrations and Connections. Artists were asked to interpret this theme in any way that was meaningful to them.

View Highlights exhibition
Creative You
A group of young people stand beside a stone wall amongst trees with recording equipment - a boom microphone, a large video camera and headphones etc.

Creative You

Creative You is a project to engage young people in Washington in creative activities and experiences and also supports young people’s emotional and mental wellbeing, and self-esteem and confidence to help them progress.

Creative You
The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass

The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass

Collecting and Sharing Stories of Washington New Town –  a podcast ballad and visual arts partnership between Washington Heritage Partnership, We Make Culture,  University of Sunderland,  Baseline Shift and Arts Centre Washington.

The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass
Future Arts Centres

Future Arts Centres

Arts Centre Washington is a member of Future Arts Centres – an active network of over 170 venues in the UK, committed to championing the unique importance of arts centres at a local and regional level.

Future Arts Centres
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

Unlock aims established to grow Sunderland’s cultural infrastructure, offering support for established and emerging creative practitioners and businesses.

 

Unlock
Theatre Nation Partnership
A large group of people performing on a circular stage with overhead lights streaming down on them. They're all holding their hands up high and look excited.

Theatre Nation Partnership

Sunderland Culture is part of National Theatre’s Theatre Nation Partnership, representing Sunderland along with our city partner Sunderland Empire.

Theatre Nation Partnership
Speak Up
Five young people sit around a table in a room lit by blue/green light. They are all wearing headphones with a microphone in front of them. Behind them is a silver fringe curtain hung up on the wall and green and white bunting that reads 'Speak Up'.

Speak Up

Speak Up is a National Theatre secondary school programme that sees young people working in collaboration with local artists and teachers to co-create artistic responses to issues that are most important to them. Sunderland’s Speak Up programme is run in partnership with Sunderland Culture and Sunderland Empire.

Speak Up
The Rebel Women of Sunderland
A black background with white brush lettering that reads ‘Rebel Women of Sunderland’.

The Rebel Women of Sunderland

The Rebel Women of Sunderland is a project that shines a light on the lives of Women from Sunderland with specially commissioned artworks and stories.

The Rebel Women of Sunderland
Countless orange, ceramic figures of varying size and shape are tightly packed into a room with concrete columns just visible to the rear.

National Partners Programme

The National Partners Programme was launched in 2016 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Arts Council Collection by creating a network of regional galleries and museums to present and curate exhibitions drawn from the Arts Council Collection.