A PROJECT aimed at nurturing the North East’s young film and music-making talent has received a major funding boost.
The Tyneside Talent Unit is the brainchild of Newcastle’s Tyneside Cinema and aims to create a dynamic home for young content makers to explore, develop and support creative skills in the screen and music industries.
Based at the cinema in Newcastle city centre, the unit will support more than 150 young people a year and carry out a range of activities designed to encourage and develop working-class talent in film and music.
The Sir James Knott Trust, which works to support charitable activity in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, County Durham and Hartlepool, has now given Tyneside Talent Unit a grant of £75,000 to kickstart the programme in 2025.
The funds will be used to kickstart the project, helping set up the Unit within the Tyneside Cinema, creating a hub of production and learning, with supported and targeted networking for content creators in the North East.
Tyneside Cinema CEO and custodian, Nic Greenan, said:
“We’re absolutely delighted to have secured such a vital source of funding and are extremely grateful to everyone at the Sir James Knott Trust for their fantastic support.
“The need to nurture and retain film and music-making talent in the region is vital and we want to support the next generation with the skills, space, confidence, networks and opportunity to create and showcase their talent in the heart of the city at the Tyneside.
“The Tyneside Talent Unit will work to supporting young people to have equal free to access support development that will help fuel a future talent base and bring new life to the Tyneside Cinema and to the cultural sector in the region.
“North East talent is palpable – it just needs the opportunity to flourish.”
Once complete, the Tyneside Talent Unit will provide full-service editing bays, high quality production equipment, and meeting and screening areas for self-scheduled events as well as a programme of events and workshops.
As well as supporting 150 young people a year, the Unit will also:
- nurture up to 10 individuals annually that have extraordinary talent to progress careers and provide them with industry mentors
- commission up to 100 hours of new screen content
- fund a library of new content telling the stories of the North East through young people’s perspective with the aspiration to produce the next Ridley Scott
There are also plans to hold an annual awards ceremony to highlight and celebrate the work created and the people behind it.
Nic Greenan said:
“Research shows that interventions at a young age can transform young people’s future and provide the environment for them to succeed, especially those that might have struggled with mainstream education.
“This funding will ignite a new approach of working at the Tyneside, putting young people and talent development at the heart of the charity’s objectives.
“It will change opinions, positively disrupt industry and create role models for others.”
A spokesperson for the Sir James Knott Trust said:
“Sir James Knott Trust recognise the significance of The Tyneside Cinema to the cultural landscape of the region. We are excited by the
opportunities for film making in the North East.
“This is an investment in harnessing all the talent that we have here by encouraging people from all backgrounds to get involved in creative industries and the arts.”
Sir James Knott Trust funds charitable activity in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Durham and Hartlepool. £3m is available each year. www.knott-trust.co.uk
Further details on all the Tyneside’s activities can be found online at www.tynesidecinema.co.uk or by calling in to the venue on Pilgrim Street in Newcastle.