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How We Work

On this page you can find more in-depth information about how our organisation is run, including our vision, mission, core values and some of our policies.

Vision

A space for production and presentation of contemporary art, that contributes to a vibrant, inclusive region where artists and communities can live, work and learn.

Mission

The NewBridge Project is a vibrant organisation supporting the creation of new and pioneering contemporary art through an ambitious programme of exhibitions, commissions, events and artist development.

We create platforms for audiences to engage with the creative process, while nurturing artistic and curatorial practice in an engaged and discursive community. Our programme places collaboration and learning at its heart and seeks to be a genuine community resource.

Values

  • Experimental in our approach: We provide artists with the flexibility to test out ideas, experiment and be radical, allowing innovative work and alternative approaches to develop
  • Artist-Led: An artist-led ethos is embedded across our organisation, generating a responsive programme and vision that is shaped by artists’ needs and interests
  • Aware and responsive to the social, political and civic landscape that we exist in: We champion artwork that is reactive to the location, situation and time from which it emerges. We believe art has the power to introduce new ideas, alternative thinking and challenge convention, and can be used as a catalyst to deliver incremental change.
  • Development of artists at its heart: We position artist development at the core of everything we do, creating informal and formal opportunities for artistic practice and talent to develop and supporting artists from all backgrounds to progress.
  • Focused on collaboration and community: We instil a spirit of collaboration, collectivity anda community in our activity to generate peer learning, critical conversation and social interaction.
  • Solidarity: We work in solidarity with artists, local people and community groups who are working toward social and climate justice.
  • Care: We embed an ethos of care across our organisation, from the way we work with staff, freelancers, artists and communities, to the way we develop our programmes and policies.

Strategic Goals

In order to work towards our Vision and deliver our Mission and Values, we have the following strategic goals which form the basis of our work and Business Plan.

  1. Develop artistic talent through artist development programmes, networking, curatorial opportunities and shared learning.
  2. Provide opportunities for career development, employment and training within the visual arts sector in the North East of England.
  3. Provide space, facilities and resources for artists in the North East of England.
  4. Support the production and presentation of ambitious and pioneering new artwork outside traditional institutional frameworks.
  5. Provide a welcoming environment and community hub, creating a resource and programme for artists and the local community alike.
  6. Increase the number of people who experience, engage and participate in contemporary visual art, while increasing the depth and quality of their experience.
  7. Nurturing a positive organisational and working culture

Some of Our Policies

Environmental Policy & Action Plan

FULL POLICY

We recognise that environmental sustainability needs to be integrated throughout the culture of our organisation, as much as possible we must align what we believe, with what we do – ensuring our ethics, decision-making and actions correspond to reduce our environmental impact and bring about positive environmental change.

We fundamentally believe that our world is facing environmental crises and it is everyone’s responsibility to act. The significance of statistics stating that if our current level of consumption continues, we will require seven more planets, or that the earth’s temperature looks set to increase by more than two degrees leading to catastrophic climate change, can be difficult to grasp. However, these truths (and more) speak of an impending global ecological disaster that we can’t afford to ignore.

Whilst there are some serious questions that must be asked with regards to our current norms of behaviour and habits of consumption and production, we also realise that there are opportunities for change, for alternative narratives/visions to emerge. This may offer new hope and new opportunities for living differently and less extractively with our natural habitat.

We are keen to move these ideas forward and are asking questions about necessary changes that are required on an individual and local, as well as a national and global, level. We are aware that it isn’t only about the obligations we have as an organisation, but also our capacity to reach others, to inform & inspire, and bring about positive environmental change.

Black Lives Matter – Commitment and Anti-racist actions 

Full Statement

In June we published a short statement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and our commitment to making real and permanent change across our public programme and our organisation, structure and policies.

We recognised then and now that it should not have taken the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer for us to interrogate our complicity in upholding structural racism and our understanding of white supremacy, and that much more needs to be done to affect sector wide change.

Our commitment does not start and end with a series of statements, but is activated through ongoing discussion, learning and anti-racist actions. We are sharing our next steps publicly as starting points for discussion and action with our community, showing our ongoing commitment to actively challenging racism and acknowledging that we need to do more and do better.

Through our public programme we have a commitment to centring discussion, bringing in and listening to different voices and learning together. But we want to be clear that this commitment is across our organisation, in some of the more invisible ways such as with our structure, governance, and culture as an artist-led space.

In our statement from June, we committed to sharing our plans publicly, and below is a list of actions and intentions that we are making in order to dismantle and challenge systemic racism and inequality within our organisation.

The NewBridge Project is supported by Arts Council England, Newcastle Culture Investment Fund and Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice.

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