Northern Spirit
The Northern Spirit project is a new approach to collaboration between artists and cultural organisations across the the Greater North, around a shared artistic theme. It will ultimately lead to a brand new theatrical short story sequence: five original live stories for the theatre, set in five different North of England locations, each written by five inspiring contemporary writers.
Together, these stories will go some way to expressing a northern sensibility, for the present day. Whilst acknowledging the influence of the past, each story will be placed confidently in the present, and provoke important questions about the future.
This phase of the project seeks to create a new model for artistic exchange and organisational partnership, using the theatre experience as a meeting point for collaboration between emerging artists engaged in different art forms. It will be a model that will involve innovative ways of commissioning and celebrating original short stories. Theatre is a great meeting point for other art forms.
The Northern Spirit project is driven by a collective of artists from across the North of England collaborating digitally across geographical distance, and occasionally coming together physically.
You can follow the process on the Northern Spirit project blog.
Directed by Chris Meads
Funded by Arts Council England.
In association with Northern Stage, The Unity Theatre, The Royal Exchange Theatre, New Writing North, and Hope Street.