Skip to main content
A close-up of a child's hands decorating a white styrofoam ball with a brown marker. The ball has a simple face drawn on it, with two black dots for eyes and a stitched mouth. The child's fingers have smudges of marker ink, and they are holding the ball steady with a wooden stick. In the blurred background, art supplies, including red and orange materials, are scattered across a table.
A close-up of a child's hands decorating a white styrofoam ball with a brown marker. The ball has a simple face drawn on it, with two black dots for eyes and a stitched mouth. The child's fingers have smudges of marker ink, and they are holding the ball steady with a wooden stick. In the blurred background, art supplies, including red and orange materials, are scattered across a table.

Projects

Explore a whole range of activity and projects delivered as part of Culture Start

Creative Sparks Clubs
A group of children and an adult stand or kneel in a school hall, facing away from the camera with their arms raised. They wear handmade, colorful dragon wings attached to their backs, featuring different patterns and drawings. The children wear navy and yellow uniforms, while the adult wears a mustard-yellow top and jeans. The hall has a wooden floor, blue chairs stacked against the wall, and motivational words displayed on the walls.

Creative Sparks Clubs

Creative Sparks Clubs are weekly after school sessions for children aged 5-11. The clubs are free and offer a perfect opportunity for children to explore new art forms, learn new skills, boost confidence and make new friends.

Creative Sparks Clubs
Future Creatives
A colourful graphic design with a deep purple background. In the center is a large yellow circle with the words

Future Creatives Sunderland

Create. Connect. Belong.

Future Creatives is a network and community for young people aged 13-18 who are passionate about creativity and culture.

Future Creatives
Ignite Bursary
A charcoal background with bold green text that reads 'Ignite' with a flame dotting the 'i'. Underneath that is smaller white text that reads 'Your Creative Passion!'

Ignite Bursaries

Our bursary programme is aimed at supporting creative young people in Sunderland who are experiencing hardship or challenging circumstances. It’s a chance to get some financial support to help grow their knowledge, skills – potentially leading to studying creative subjects or even a creative career.

Ignite Bursary
A close-up of a tablet on a stand, showing a stop-motion animation in progress. The tablet screen displays a colourful drawing of a rocket ship surrounded by stars and planets, with an orange flame coming from the bottom of the rocket. A person's hand is visible, placing or adjusting a paper cutout of the flame on the drawing. The physical drawings lay beneath the tablet, and small additional cutouts are scattered around the scene.

Holiday Sparks

During school holidays, Culture Start’s free activities can be found at venues across the city inviting children aged 7-12 to try something new and creative. From puppet-making to DJ’ing, each session is led by artists who work in that area.