Latest news with #NewWritingNorth
BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Hopes Newcastle Centre for Writing will help bridge funding gap
The creation of a new £11m writing centre will help bridge the funding gap between "forgotten" artists in northern England and those living in the south, a mayor has government signed off millions of pounds of funding in January for the Centre for Writing, which will be based in will aim to provide opportunities and careers in the creative industries for those living in north-east East Mayor Kim McGuinness said the North East Combined Authority (Neca) wanted to support "home-grown talent" but said funding for the region's art sector had been outpaced by that in the south for some time. "There is not enough national money – we do seem to have been a bit forgotten about up here," she tank IPPR North said its analysis had found a £450m "culture chasm" between London and the North of England, which had added to a "vicious cycle of regional inequality"."It is unbelievable that this is happening in this day and age," McGuinness said. 'Bold step' Leaders hope the Centre for Writing will cement the region as a hub for writing and literature and attract big-name publishers to the area, as well as supporting Newcastle's Seven Stories and The National Centre for the Written Word in South will acquire a Newcastle property to house the centre, which will then be run by Tyneside-based charity New Writing North and Northumbria University, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Department for Culture Media and Sport has confirmed it will provide £5m towards the Centre for Writing, while Northumbria University is set to provide £2.5m in said it would provide £2m and Newcastle City Council is expected to provide £1m. It is hoped the remaining £850,000 will be secured through additional grants. Newcastle City Council deputy leader Alex Hay said the creation of the centre was a "bold step" for the region's creative industries."This is more than just a building – it is about growing jobs, attracting investment and giving people of all ages a way into the creative industries, ensuring the North East has a strong voice in UK culture," he said. Follow BBC Newcastle on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
Irish Examiner
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Beginner's pluck: Belfast-born and Newcastle-based Gráinne O'Hare
Gráinne's mum got told off for teaching her daughter to read before she started school. 'I always adored reading and wanted to write. I started at 12 — writing historical fiction. 'Some of my stories were the length of novels. It was my main hobby.' She continued to write and has been shortlisted for several awards including the Francis MacManus Award, and the Benedict Kiely Short Story Competition. After completing her MA in Belfast, Gráinne temped in offices for a while. Then she moved to Newcastle. I felt homesick, and so far away from my friends in Belfast. 'I started Thirst Trap as a way to live in Belfast vicariously — and to reconnect with it that way. It took a few years.' Meanwhile, she has taken a PhD, finishing her viva a month ago. 'I took it part-time and worked full-time for the city council.' In 2022, Gráinne received a Northern Debut Award from New Writing North. 'I gained mentoring for a year from Naomi Booth. And my agent, Jenny Hewson got in touch.' Who is Gráinne O'Hare? Date/ place of birth: 1993/ Belfast. Education: Fort William Dominican College in Belfast; Queens University, Belfast, English and politics, and MA in English Literature; Newcastle University, PhD in English Literature — focusing on 18th Century Women's Life Writing. Home: Newcastle, for the past eight years. Family: Mother, father, and a younger sister. 'I live with my partner, Jack.' The day job: Administrative work for Newcastle University. In another life: 'When I was young, I wanted to be an astronomer.' Favourite writers: Jane Austen; Nina Stibbe; Caroline O'Donoghue; Naomi Booth; David Nicholls; Irvine Welsh. Second book: 'I'm writing the first draft.' Top tip: 'Don't overthink things, and don't try to perfect things while you're in the process.' Instagram: @spacedolphin_ The debut Thirst Trap Picador, €16.99 Harley, Maggie, Lydia, and Róise have shared a shambolic Belfast house throughout their messy 20s. Then Lydia dies, and nothing feels the same. The one-night stands and wild parties lose their gloss, as guilt and grief damages them all. Can they recover their equilibrium, retain their friendship, and learn to move on? The verdict: Highly-relatable. A brilliant portrayal of grief — and of growing up. Written with humour, hope, and warmth.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
British culture is excluding the majority. Labour is to blame
The arts have a class problem. I can't believe I'm writing this in 2025, but it's true – in fact, the situation is worse than ever. Class is on my mind thanks to the news that New Writing North, a charity based in Newcastle, has launched an initiative called The Bee. Backed by Michael Sheen, The Bee will include a literary magazine, a podcast and an outreach programme in an attempt to increase working-class representation. They'll even offer an 'alternative canon' of fiction that includes New Grub Street by George Gissing and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. New Writing North is an important organisation, and the involvement of Sheen will hopefully add star wattage to a serious crisis. The Sutton Trust, which monitors social mobility in the UK, reported in 2014 that only 12 per cent of those who worked in publishing came from working-class backgrounds; the proportion of middle-class workers has risen steadily since. I fear that as advances for novels and publishing salaries continue to stagnate, talented youngsters will choose better-paid and more secure professions such as law or accountancy. We're too easily fooled by the odd high-profile success. Much was made, for instance, and quite rightly, of Douglas Stuart's assured 2020 debut novel Shuggie Bain which drew on his impoverished and dysfunctional Scottish childhood. But Stuart wasn't a young voice who'd been financially cushioned – he was a working professional in his mid-forties, a boy who'd grown up poor in the 1980s and through talent and determination forged a successful career in the New York fashion world. It isn't just books. Careers in the arts are, in generally, badly paid, and any working-class youngster hoping for a career in theatre, opera or visual art (whether as an artist or behind the scenes) will struggle to make a living. Even pop, once seen as the preserve of the working-class young, feels as if it's becoming increasingly bourgeois. Charli XCX, Mumford and Sons, The Last Dinner Party – so many leading musicians can boast of a pukka education. This has been the case for a couple of decades now – but once upon a time it was just Joe Strummer and the majority of Genesis. The depressing thing about all of this is that we have gone backwards. Social mobility, in truth, ended at some point in the 1970s. Blame the Labour Party: under their education secretary Anthony Crosland, they scrapped a grammar-school system that had worked perfectly well for 40 years and thus – surprisingly for a bunch of socialists – blocked poor children's path to a brighter future. Tracey Emin proved that a non-Establishment voice still had the power to make a mark on the cultural landscape - Lion Television Up to this point, the grammar had been the great social leveller. It ensured that British artistic talent was diverse: we had actors such as Eileen Atkins, artists such as David Hockney, and authors such as David Storey and Shelagh Delaney. Yes, as Britain boomed in the years that followed, the less privileged could still gain a foothold and make a decent living – an artist such as Tracey Emin proved that a non-Establishment voice still had the power to make a mark on the cultural landscape. And, superficially at least, efforts have been made to make the arts more diverse. Most big organisations now have outreach programmes in a bid to make culture less posh. But while this is laudable, granting someone access to culture isn't the same as helping them to pursue a career in it. In talking about this problem, we say 'working class' as a catch-all; but, in truth, it's no longer only working-class Britons who are being shut out from culture. If you're from a bog-standard middle-class family with a household salary of £35,000 – pretty much the national average – it's unlikely that you'll be able to afford the luxury of trying to write that novel or screenplay. There's a reason you don't hear of many playwrights who are the children of nurses or primary-school teachers. And experience bears this out: the vast majority of professionals I encounter in the arts are well-to-do. Time and again, I meet people with lovely, creative jobs and wonder: 'How on earth can you afford to live in West Hampstead?' And then the penny drops. English actress Eileen Atkins in 1966 - Evening Standard/If Labour were to blame for essentially destroying social mobility 50 years ago, then they are hardly making amends under Keir Starmer. Earlier this year, the Prime Minister did address the 'posh problem' in the arts when he acknowledged that almost half of British cultural stars nominated for an award over the past decade were privately educated. He also recognised that the UK creative industries are worth £1.25 billion to the economy, and pledged to make the arts more accessible. These are useful facts, but there has to be more than words. The problem is that nobody is joining up the dots here. The promised access will not necessarily materialise into any sort of career opportunities for those from a poorer background. Unless arts organisations or publishers can start to make starting salaries more attractive, culture will continue to be ruled by an elite minority. And the issue isn't simply one of money: introducing a new generation of youngsters from all backgrounds to art and literature will have benefits to them, and in due course, to older Britons too (in the culture they create). To keep pressing for this has never seemed more important, especially in a country where the arts in education, under the last Conservative government, were denuded. I hope The Bee, and projects like it, can succeed. Otherwise, effecting real change, and creating a meritocracy that cuts across class barriers in the way that it did until half a century ago, will forever feel like an impossible dream. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
British culture is excluding the majority. Labour is to blame
The arts have a class problem. I can't believe I'm writing this in 2025, but it's true – in fact, the situation is worse than ever. Class is on my mind thanks to the news that New Writing North, a charity based in Newcastle, has launched an initiative called The Bee. Backed by Michael Sheen, The Bee will include a literary magazine, a podcast and an outreach programme in an attempt to increase working-class representation. They'll even offer an 'alternative canon' of fiction that includes New Grub Street by George Gissing and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. New Writing North is an important organisation, and the involvement of Sheen will hopefully add star wattage to a serious crisis. The Sutton Trust, which monitors social mobility in the UK, reported in 2014 that only 12 per cent of those who worked in publishing came from working-class backgrounds; the proportion of middle-class workers has risen steadily since. I fear that as advances for novels and publishing salaries continue to stagnate, talented youngsters will choose better-paid and more secure professions such as law or accountancy. We're too easily fooled by the odd high-profile success. Much was made, for instance, and quite rightly, of Douglas Stuart's assured 2020 debut novel Shuggie Bain which drew on his impoverished and dysfunctional Scottish childhood. But Stuart wasn't a young voice who'd been financially cushioned – he was a working professional in his mid-forties, a boy who'd grown up poor in the 1980s and through talent and determination forged a successful career in the New York fashion world. It isn't just books. Careers in the arts are, in generally, badly paid, and any working-class youngster hoping for a career in theatre, opera or visual art (whether as an artist or behind the scenes) will struggle to make a living. Even pop, once seen as the preserve of the working-class young, feels as if it's becoming increasingly bourgeois. Charli XCX, Mumford and Sons, The Last Dinner Party – so many leading musicians can boast of a pukka education. This has been the case for a couple of decades now – but once upon a time it was just Joe Strummer and the majority of Genesis. The depressing thing about all of this is that we have gone backwards. Social mobility, in truth, ended at some point in the 1970s. Blame the Labour Party: under their education secretary Anthony Crosland, they scrapped a grammar-school system that had worked perfectly well for 40 years and thus – surprisingly for a bunch of socialists – blocked poor children's path to a brighter future. Up to this point, the grammar had been the great social leveller. It ensured that British artistic talent was diverse: we had actors such as Eileen Atkins, artists such as David Hockney, and authors such as David Storey and Shelagh Delaney. Yes, as Britain boomed in the years that followed, the less privileged could still gain a foothold and make a decent living – an artist such as Tracey Emin proved that a non-Establishment voice still had the power to make a mark on the cultural landscape. And, superficially at least, efforts have been made to make the arts more diverse. Most big organisations now have outreach programmes in a bid to make culture less posh. But while this is laudable, granting someone access to culture isn't the same as helping them to pursue a career in it. In talking about this problem, we say 'working class' as a catch-all; but, in truth, it's no longer only working-class Britons who are being shut out from culture. If you're from a bog-standard middle-class family with a household salary of £35,000 – pretty much the national average – it's unlikely that you'll be able to afford the luxury of trying to write that novel or screenplay. There's a reason you don't hear of many playwrights who are the children of nurses or primary-school teachers. And experience bears this out: the vast majority of professionals I encounter in the arts are well-to-do. Time and again, I meet people with lovely, creative jobs and wonder: 'How on earth can you afford to live in West Hampstead?' And then the penny drops. If Labour were to blame for essentially destroying social mobility 50 years ago, then they are hardly making amends under Keir Starmer. Earlier this year, the Prime Minister did address the 'posh problem' in the arts when he acknowledged that almost half of British cultural stars nominated for an award over the past decade were privately educated. He also recognised that the UK creative industries are worth £1.25 billion to the economy, and pledged to make the arts more accessible. These are useful facts, but there has to be more than words. The problem is that nobody is joining up the dots here. The promised access will not necessarily materialise into any sort of career opportunities for those from a poorer background. Unless arts organisations or publishers can start to make starting salaries more attractive, culture will continue to be ruled by an elite minority. And the issue isn't simply one of money: introducing a new generation of youngsters from all backgrounds to art and literature will have benefits to them, and in due course, to older Britons too (in the culture they create). To keep pressing for this has never seemed more important, especially in a country where the arts in education, under the last Conservative government, were denuded. I hope The Bee, and projects like it, can succeed. Otherwise, effecting real change, and creating a meritocracy that cuts across class barriers in the way that it did until half a century ago, will forever feel like an impossible dream.
BBC News
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Magazine to boost working class writing launched in Newcastle
Magazine launched to promote working class writers A new writing platform has been launched to promote working class writers and tackle the publishing industry's "class crisis". The Bee will consist of a website, literary magazine, podcast and outreach programme to support the development of working class writers. It has been produced by Newcastle-based charity New Writing North and is part of the A Writing Chance programme, which is co-founded by Northumbria University, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and actor Michael Sheen. New Writing North CEO Claire Malcolm said: "Talent is classless. Opportunity, however, is class-bound. The Bee is an urgent response to that."
