Hexham Arts Town

Hexham is embarking on an exciting journey to become an Arts Town, fostering creativity, culture, and community engagement. This initiative aims to celebrate the arts in all its forms, from visual arts and music to theatre and literature. Here’s what it means and how you can get involved!

What has happened so far?

Three engagement meetings took place at Queen's Hall, facilitated by the Hexham Cultural Network. Over 180 people came to these sessions and helped us answer some questions about what being an Arts Town means.

You can find all the feedback gathered from the sessions—originally written on post-it notes and kindly typed up by Clare Mwande at the Forum here. We’ve begun distilling this information to guide our next steps, but it will also serve as a valuable resource for future projects when more funding and support become available.

If you didn't attend the sessions but would like your voice heard, it is not too late to get involved! Please fill in the short survey below to answer the questions that were asked at the session. You can respond to the survey individually or as a group, whatever works best.

Fill in the survey >

What next?

Expanding community engagement:
We’ve identified key groups within Hexham and are conducting presentations to inform and involve as many people as possible.

Regular in-person meetings:
While an online presence is important, we believe face-to-face meetings will help keep momentum strong. Expect a regular schedule of gatherings soon (watch this space!).

Opportunities for collaboration:
Many of you expressed interest in working together, so come along to freelance co-working days at Queen's Hall as a space for artistic collaboration. Additionally, we’ll create a listings framework to help artists connect.

Finding creative spaces:
Space for artistic activities is a top priority. The Town Council will be mapping available spaces — whether it’s underused rooms in churches, empty storerooms, or hidden gems around town. If you know of any, please let us know, including contact details.

We’re also looking for screens around town that could be used for displaying content—if you spot one, let us know!

Exploring Community Studios/Performance Space:
Many have raised the need for artist studios and performance spaces. To make this a reality, we need to identify successful funding and operating models—if you have insights, let us know.

If you can help with either of the above points regarding creative spaces, community studios and performances spaces - please email Andrew at the Town Council.

Learning from Best Practice:
We don’t need to reinvent the wheel! If you know of inspiring arts initiatives elsewhere, please share them with us.

Amongst others, we have been sent links to the following so far:

Updating the Arts Map:
The Hexham Arts Organisation Map has been updated. Please take a look and check the organisations that you’re involved with are there along with any others you may be aware of. If anything is missing, let us know by emailing Andrew at the Town Council.

How can I get involved?

If you are not already on the Arts Town mailing list and would like to be included, please fill out this consent form and email it to Andrew at the Town Council.

Upcoming events!

Later this year...

Community Arts Fair: Watch this space to showcase opportunities in Hexham’s arts scene.

Hexham Open Studios: We would like to run an open studios event later this year.

...and many more!