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 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.