For Young People
For the talent of the future, our Young Creatives programme is designed to nurture young people’s creativity, provide opportunities to explore different artforms and perspectives, build social bonds and enable progression.
We value young people’s creative voices and look for authentic ways to platform the work of young artists who engage in Baltic’s Young Creative programme.
We inspire creative potential through three programme strands: Art Mix, Young Producers and Foundation Club.
Foundation Club Residency
Rachel Campbell Hewson
and Hadrian’s grief —
Rachel Campbell Hewson is an artist and writer. Her practice, which encompasses collage and animation, focuses on the manipulation and blending of images from art history, whilst reflecting on femininity, history, love, life and death.
Campbell Hewson’s installation, and Hadrian’s grief (2023), is inspired by the story of the Emperor Hadrian and his beloved Antinous. In 130 AD Antinous fell into the Nile and drowned. Hadrian’s grief was so immense, he idolised his love and made him into a God. He became ‘Antinous the good’, ‘Antinous the hero’ and ‘the new Dionysus’. The cult of Antinous became infamous and survived through the centuries. The glass sarcophagus installed in the centre of Baltic’s Level 5 Viewing Platform is a monument to Hadrian and Antinous and the immortality of love. With a score written and performed by Daisy Bell, a collaborating musician and artist, the work invites us to consider grief and desire: what is it to live well and die poorly, to live in shame and die at peace.
Campbell Hewson was commissioned to make a new work for display at Baltic as part of her Foundation Club Residency. Foundation Club has been designed to support young people from the North East aged 16–24 to access, engage with, learn from and be mentored by creative and cultural professionals to progress their artistic talent and realise their creative potential. The other selected artists in 2022 are Annabelle Blackett and Cameron Lings. Their commissions can be found on Baltic’s Ground Floor and Level 4 Viewing Terrace at Baltic between 24 March – 17 July 2023.
Annabelle Blackett
The Heart of Bernicia
Annabelle Blackett’s work considers architectural elements of the British landscape. Her research-based practice explores prehistoric art forms of Neolithic and Bronze Age cup and ring marks. The form of these ancient artworks is often reflected in her paintings and collages.
Blackett’s lightbox The Heart of Bernicia (2022), installed in Baltic’s entrance space, is inspired by aspects of the religious life in Northumbria, comprising elements from the Neolithic era, the ancient kingdom of Bernicia and of Christian Northumbria. Cup and ring marks are located around the landscape and include those found at Lordenshaw, Doddington Moor, and Roughting Linn. The marks appear through history as symbols of solar worship, fertility, astronomical calendars, and as symbols of life and the afterlife. The North East is also rich in Christian symbolism. The arch depicted in the artwork is of a cloister in Durham Cathedral. The lightbox was created using drawing and print techniques such as screen-printing and lino printing. Blackett was commissioned to make a new work for display at Baltic as part of her Foundation Club Residency.
Cameron Lings
Repercussions
Cameron Lings makes sculptures that draw from bodies of statistics and data sets. His work explores key topics around current affairs and issues regarding the environment. He uses materials such as wood and metal to make layered sculptural forms.
Lings’s sculpture Repercussions (2023) is made with acrylic, aluminium and concrete, and sits centrally in Baltic’s Level 4 Viewing Platform. The work has been created using data sets from the monitoring of air pollution on and around the Tyne Bridge (Gateshead side). It visualises this in sculptural form, following the ebb and flow of data from January 2022 to January 2023. A neighbouring graph shows the exact data collected and the peaks in pollution during this period. The paint on the surface of the sculpture is vulnerable and unprotected, and, subject to the elements; it will gradually fade over time. The sculpture is a timely reminder of how our environment can be influenced by our actions and how nature has the power to transform. Lings was commissioned to make a new work for display at Baltic as part of his Foundation Club Residency.
About Foundation Club
Foundation Club has been designed to support young people from the North East aged 16-24 to access, engage with, learn from and be mentored by creative and cultural professionals in order to progress their artistic talent and realise their creative potential. It focuses on recruiting talented young people who show outstanding potential and who might feel unable to access, or ‘locked out of’ guidance and networking experiences and opportunities. Foundation Club provides young artists with the time and space to research new ideas, make new work, develop new networks, create meaningful exchanges and interact with and find their place within the North East artistic community.
Foundation Club has four strands:
Residency – the artists have access to a shared studio space at Baltic for one month to enable them to develop their artistic/creative practice.
Mentoring – artists receive tailored mentoring support from Baltic staff and professional artists.
Art Commission – during their month-long residency, the artists are invited to develop a proposal for a new art commission at Baltic.
Collective – graduates of the Foundation Club programme become members of Foundation Club Collective, a group of artists who we hope will continue to work together and have ongoing professional and artistic support from Baltic.
Fees – the artists are awarded a £1,000 fee and a £500 bursary for travel, subsistence, and materials during the month-long residency. The artists receive an additional £500 fee for the commission.
The selected artists in 2022 were Annabelle Blackett, Rachel Campbell Hewson and Cameron Lings. Their commissions can be found on Ground Floor, Level 4 Viewing Terrace and Level 5 Viewing Platform at Baltic between 24 March – 17 July 2023.
Artmix
ArtMix is a free creative group open to all young people aged 13-19 years old. Immerse yourself into an inclusive space to create, connect, chat about art and the world around us. Free ArtMix workshops take place every week.
Working with professional artists, you’ll have the chance to develop new skills, meet like-minded people and create art that represents your voice and the things you care about.
You can join ArtMix at any point in the year and take part in as many Saturday workshops as you like or are able to. It’s free to join and materials and refreshments are provided. Sign up here
When you sign up for ArtMix, you also gain access to our regular Young Creatives e-newletter where you can find out about free events, activities and opportunities for young people both inside and outside the gallery and get great discounts in Baltic Shop.
Young Producers
Baltic Young Producers are a group of young people aged 14-17, who work with our staff and artists over one academic year to plan and deliver an event or commission. They develop a theme that celebrates young people as artists, producers and leaders and also have the opportunity to complete Gold Arts Award, which is a nationally recognised art and leadership qualification worth 16 UCAS points.
