Sunderland, Our Home
Sunderland: Our Home
Sunderland is an amazing place - home to hundreds of thousands of people, and every one of them different.
Different opinions, ideas, origins and backgrounds. Different stories to tell.
But difference can be challenging, and hearing only the same old story can be dangerous – it can spark anger, resentment, division.
But our differences are what make us brilliant, and they should be celebrated. And that same old story should be challenged
So, join us at Sunderland: Our Home – a vibrant programme of eye-opening events made with and by the people of Sunderland, designed to open the door to everyone – whoever they are.
So come and meet your fellow Mackems.
Hear new stories.
Share your own
And be part of a more united Sunderland
Sunderland, Our Home is all about bringing together a host of vibrant, eye-opening events made with and by the people of Sunderland.
The programme is designed to open the door to everyone - whoever they are - and bring communities closer together.
Upcoming Events
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Dear Sunderland
By Unfolding Theatre
26th March, 6.30pm-8.30pm
Pop Recs, High Street, Sunderland
Tickets: £5 (£3 concessions)
A live performance combining spoken word and music, sharing stories from real people across the city. Expect honesty, humour and heart.
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3:1
By Southpaw Company
31st March - 3rd April, Various Times
7th - 10th April (VR Only performances), various times
Southpaw Studio, Sheepfold Stables, Sunderland
Tickets: £5 (£3 concessions)
Concession ticket is £3 using code 3POINT1 at checkout
Concession tickets are available for students, seniors, movement practitioners and anyone who needs a reduced fee ticket.
A live VR performance sharing four real perspectives on the Sunderland riots and what belonging really means.
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Pieroginie Community Feast
By ICOS and FODI
Saturday 28th March, 5-7pm
St Michael’s Community Centre, Stannington Grove, Sunderland
Tickets: Free
A creative community feast with Eastern European food, shared stories and art made together in Sunderland.
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Your Sunderland Story
By Sunderland Family Hubs
This is a closed event for invited participants
Sunderland groups discuss their Sunderland stories, enjoy afternoon tea and inspire a new work of art.
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Being a Mackem
By Targeted Youth Services, Sunderland
This is a closed event for a small, invited audience.
Young people share artwork exploring what it means to be a Mackem.
Events Programme
Dear Sunderland
By Unfolding Theatre
Thursday 26th March, 6.30pm - 8.30pm
Pop Recs, 172-175 High St W, Sunniside, Sunderland SR1 1UP
All ages welcome!
If you could write a letter to Sunderland, what would you say?
Dear Sunderland is a powerful live performance bringing together spoken word and music to share stories from across the city. From children to elders, lifelong residents to new arrivals, this event celebrates the voices, memories and experiences that shape Sunderland today.
Expect surprising connections, differences of opinion, moments of pure joy and flashes of deep frustration (and yes, that includes the football). Above all, expect honesty, humour and heart.
Created with and inspired by people from across the city, Dear Sunderland is a celebration of community in all its complexity – the stories we carry, the places we love, and the conversations that bring us closer together.
Come along, listen in, and see Sunderland through someone else’s eyes.
Includes support from Miley Wardle and Chloe & Imogen.
Ticket price includes refreshments and a slice of pizza from Midnight Pizza Cru!
Accessibility: Pop Recs is wheelchair accessible. The performance will be captioned
Created by Unfolding Theatre, commissioned by The Cultural Spring.
Created by Unfolding Theatre · Directed by Annie Rigby · Written by Ray Hopkins, Annie Rigby & Midge Ryall · Music by Ray Hopkins & A Band Like This · Story Collectors: Ray Hopkins, Joy Omotade & James Williams · Produced by Midge Ryall.
With enormous thanks to everyone who wrote letters at CFO Sunderland, Sunderland MIND, Sunderland Student Union, A Band Like This, Creative Sparks Culture Start Group in Sulgrave, Winnibell Family Hub, Friends of the Drop-In at Space 4 in Houghton-le-Spring and everyone who sent a letter online.
Photo credit: Mark Savage
3:1
By Southpaw Company
Tuesday 31st March - Friday 3rd April, various times
Tuesday 7th April - Friday 10th April (VR Only Performances), various times
Southpaw Studio, Sheepfold Stables, Easington Street, Southwick, Sunderland, SR5 1BA
Running time: 1.5 hours, including set up, show, and post show activities
Age - PG: young people are recommended to attend with a responsible adult or guardian
A mixed-reality dance-theatre experience
Live at Southpaw Studio
It takes 3.1 seconds to form a judgement.
To scroll.
To decide who someone is.
What begins in bedrooms, buses and comment sections builds into something none of us
can control.
Blending live performance with immersive digital environments, 3.1 transforms Southpaw
Studio into a shifting cityscape where physical movement and projection collide.
Four people.
One city.
Trying to live in the same space.
It takes seconds to divide. Years to rebuild.
Performances are intimate with limited capacity.
Credits: Immersive technology - Tom Scarborough | Touchdesigner Developer - Paul Trickett | Written by Robby Graham with communities across Sunderland | Directed and Choreographed by Robby Graham and dancers | Performers - Martin Hylton, Viv Wood, Billy Keen, Jon Rodd, Megan Harman
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3.1 is an intimate mixed-reality performance combining live performers with immersive digital environments inside Southpaw Studio, experienced by audiences through VR headsets.
Through four interconnected stories, the piece explores how quickly assumptions and divisions can take hold of a community. Inspired by real conversations and experiences shared across Sunderland, the performance blends theatre, movement and digital reconstruction to place audiences inside a shifting version of the city.
Live performances interact with projected environments and archive material, transforming the studio into spaces that echo bedrooms, buses, streets and online worlds as the stories unfold.
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3.1 explores the events connected to tensions and unrest in Sunderland 2024. The performance references social divisions, protest, racism and misinformation. Some audience members may find these themes sensitive, and audience discretion is advised.
The work uses VR headsets and immersive environments, including moments of darkness, spatial sound, and shifting visuals. VR can occasionally cause motion sensitivity or mild discomfort: audience members are welcome to remove the headset or step out at any time.
The show is open to younger audiences, though children and young people are recommended to attend with a responsible adult or guardian.
For accessibility needs or concerns about content or VR technology, please contact info@southpaw.org.uk
Dates:
Tuesday 31st March - 6.30pm
Wednesday 1st April (Guest Performance) - 6.30pm
Thursday 2nd April - 12pm, 2pm & 6.30pm
Friday 3rd April - 12pm, 2pm & 6.30pm
Digital Only performances:
(the same show, but a VR only experience,)
Tuesday 7th April - 11am, 2pm & 5pm
Wednesday 8th April - 11am, 2pm & 5pm
Thursday 9th April - 11am, 2pm & 5pm
Friday 10th April - 11am, 2pm & 5pm
Pieroginie
A creative community feast with Eastern European food, shared stories and art made together in Sunderland.
By ICOS and FODI
Saturday 28th March 5pm-7pm
St Michael’s Community Centre, Stannington Grove, Sunderland, SR2 9JT
FREE
Pieroginie is a community celebration inviting the people of Sunderland to pull up a chair, share a meal and connect through creativity.
Participants from ICOS have worked alongside artist Sabina Sallis to co-create a sensory dining experience, designing and making the pieces that will shape the evening — from table coverings and glassware to handmade lanterns.
At the heart of the celebration is a vegan menu inspired by the group’s Eastern European heritage, developed and prepared by the participants themselves. Expect pierogies, beetroot soup and home-baked bread, shared around the table.
To spark conversation, guests will be invited to explore a ‘Conversation Menu’ — a simple, thoughtful way to encourage dialogue and connection through shared experiences. During the evening, Sabina will also lead a relaxed creative activity, offering another way to connect.
Artwork from FODI will be on display, and their members will help shape the menu and the conversations that unfold.
What’s Your Sunderland Story?
Share your Sunderland story, enjoy afternoon tea and inspire a new work of art at Thorney Close Family Hub.
A closed creative event with Sunderland Family Hubs
What is your Sunderland story?
Artist Sally Southern has been working with groups across Sunderland to collect stories and ideas about what the city means to them.
The groups will work with Sally to turn these stories into a new work of art, celebrating the memories, voices and histories of local people.
This April, the community groups are meeting up for afternoon tea to share their Sunderland stories. It’s a chance for everyone to chat, create art together, and start planning their exciting new installation.
Being a Mackem
This is a closed session for invited guests.
Young people from Sunderland’s Targeted Youth Services have been working with professional artist Tallulah Lines to explore one big question: What does it mean to be a Mackem?
Across a series of sessions, participants have experimented with different art forms — including ceramics, portrait drawing, mapping and graffiti — creating work that reflects their identities, experiences and everyday lives in Sunderland.
The young people have also been collaborating with artists Kate Hunter Parker and Chris Clark, alongside Rosebud Ceramics and Thrown Together Pottery to discover how art can improve wellbeing. These sessions are all about building confidence and making sure young people's voices are heard.
Working with Tallulah, the group have created portraits and maps exploring who they are, where they spend their time, and what they would like to see more — and less — of in their communities. These individual pieces will come together at the showcase to form a collective picture of young people’s lives in the city.
during the event, he will also lead a graffiti-style flag-making activities.
Guests will also be invited to contribute to a collective zine, sharing their own reflections on life as a Mackem in contemporary Sunderland.
