NewBridge Gallery is now closed until Friday 16 October.
You can join us on 5 September and 3 October for Saturday Social. You can still shop NewBridge Books throughout the weekdays!
We are continuing to create space next year for artists working at the intersection of art and community organising, with a programme of new commissions, exhibitions and performances happening alongside the continuation of our responsive, artist development programmes and work in our neighbourhood of Shieldfield.
Four new artist’s commissions will be presented in 2026 as part of our public programme, with Newcastle-based designer and artist Niall Greaves; artist and choreographer Lizzie Klotz and designer Bethany Wells; Swedish filmmaker Petra Bauer and cinematographer Marius Dybwad Brandrud; and photographers Phyllis Christopher and David Hall.
Alongside this, our artist-led and neighbourhood programme TopSoil, a queer gardening club building a community resource for growing ideas around sustainability, visibility and queer ecologies, and Memory Cafe, a dementia-friendly space hosted in collaboration with The Forum Cafe, will continue throughout the year.
“As we head into our 16th year, we’re excited to launch a series of ambitious commissions, which build on NewBridge’s work around artist development and community-led programming. We are creating space for artists to test ideas, take risks and push the boundaries of their practice, through projects that invite people to come together and take part. Our ongoing programme rooted in our neighbourhood of Shieldfield continues into 2026, supporting artists and local communities through the provision of space and collaborative activity shaped by many voices.”
Rebecca Huggan, Director, The NewBridge Project
In Spring, Newcastle-based designer and artist Niall Greaves is working with us on an exhibition focussed on Document H.E.T. (Hollow Earth Transmission) – a collection of pre-internet printed matter and ephemera. From 7 March – 1 May, the gallery will become a space for gathering, making zines and printing in-situ; with the collection of 1970s to 1990s print culture forming the backdrop for a public programme on solidarity today. The exhibition is part of For Solidarity (2019–) an ongoing initiative sharing learnings about solidarity economies.
In Summer, artist and choreographer Lizzie Klotz, designer Bethany Wells and a host of collaborators from NewBridge’s neighbourhood programme will create a new sculptural installation in the gallery. Open from 6 June – 15 August, the gallery will become an immersive, soft environment built from duvets – objects of rest, intimacy and transformation.
Abundance builds on an intergenerational dance developed for theatre in 2023, asking what it means to have, and to feel, enough. Abundance is developed in partnership with Dance City, The NewBridge Project & Northumberland Dance Development and will include dance made for theatre in various sites across the UK.
“The NewBridge Project first worked with Lizzie in 2023 when she was awarded a residency as part of MOTHEROTHER with artist Sue Loughlin. The residency was for artists who are also carers; and Lizzie undertook the residency with her newborn baby Frank, gently developing ideas that would become this new iteration of Abundance. We’re really excited to support this expansive and playful project, bridging performance and sculpture, in which Lizzie will work alongside and create new spaces with members of our established community initiatives at NewBridge”.
Frances Stacey, Programme Director, The NewBridge Project
From here on – a new film installation by Swedish filmmaker Petra Bauer and cinematographer Marius Dybwad Brandrud and group of women, organisers, friends and community leaders from the neighbourhood of Järva, Stockholm – will be presented in Autumn 2026. From here on is part of a series of films exploring feminist organising, collective resistance and community care through situated collaborations.
The film is produced by MDEMC/Marta Dauliute and F.A.M/Frances Stacey, and commissioned by The NewBridge Project; and a public programme around the film will connect people trans-locally, linking to organising happening today in Shieldfield, Newcastle.
Artist development is core to NewBridge’s work – creating the conditions for artists to work collaboratively, think critically, and shape culture from the ground up. The formative and experimental artist development programme The Collective Studio is now in its 9th year, supporting 35 artists in 2026. Co-Act supported by Jerwood Foundation will launch in January 2026 with two Newcastle-based socially-engaged artists: Alia Gargum and Jakarin Shah. Over the next 18-months they will be supported to develop their practices, with a focus on food stories and the bringing together of local diasporic communities.
In the neighbourhood in 2026, Shieldfield Youth Programme will focus on music as an anti-racist tool through Shieldfield Sounds: supported by Youth Music; and we continue to host weekly sessions with Dwellbeing Shieldfield shaped by the needs and interests of local young people. Photographers Phyllis Christopher and David Hall are embarking on a long-term project to document the community that forms in, and around, The NewBridge Project – studio artists, art workers, groups and community initiatives.
The NewBridge Project is a charity, registered charity no. 1173849.
We are grateful to our funders, including Arts Council England, Newcastle City Council, Garfield Weston Foundation, Jerwood Foundation, Community Foundation North East, Newcastle University and the The North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.
We are proud to be a Gallery of Sanctuary.
