Hartlepool-based creative organisation moves into new base and is helping deliver new pop up project across Tees Valley
A Hartlepool-based creative organisation has secured key funding to deliver a project across the Tees Valley and establish a new base in the town.
SIDEQUEST, a producing practice for people and artists that often get overlooked, has secured funding from Arts Council England.
It will support the next phase of a participatory arts project called the Pop-Up Cardboard Museum which will take place across Hartlepool Art Gallery, Preston Park Museum and South Bank Library.
SIDEQUEST has also moved into the BIS centre for creatives, in Whitby Street, where it will develop and delivering creative projects rooted in the community of Hartlepool and the wider region.
Director Aaron Bowman said: “We’re really excited to be growing SIDEQUEST in Hartlepool and to be working across the Tees Valley with this support from Arts Council England.
"The Pop-Up Cardboard Museum is all about giving people the tools and space to imagine different futures, starting from where they are.
"Moving into the BIS gives us a proper base to build from and to keep developing work with and for our communities.”
the Pop-Up Cardboard Museum by Hollie Notman and Kat Lynas invites communities to imagine the future through making and storytelling using cardboard.
The project will bring artists and communities together to explore themes around ecology, local stories and collective imagination, and will include a series of public workshops, installations and family-friendly events with each venue shaping the project in response to its own community.
Participants will work alongside artists to build large-scale cardboard environments, create their own artworks, and contribute to a growing “museum of the future”.
SIDEQUEST’s role with the project builds on its recent work across the North East, such as large-scale installations, creative consultation programmes in town centres, and projects with local residents exploring identity, ecology and local storytelling.
Its move into the BIS marks a “significant step in strengthening Hartlepool’s creative infrastructure”, supporting locally-led cultural activity and creating new opportunities for artists and residents to work together.
Funded by Arts Council England The Pop Up Cardboard Museum Of Natural History is being supported by councils in the region including Hartlepool Borough Council.