Tough times ahead for staff and fans of the National Glass Centre in Sunderland

After another shock announcement that the National Glass Centre will close on Sundays from March 16th Save the National Glass Centre Campaign calls for more boots on the ground.

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Article prepared and written for Save the National Glass Centre campaign

Why are the sands of time are running out for the National Glass Centre?

Another blow for the National Glass Centre (NGC) and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA) with the announcement that from Sunday 16th March the National Glass Centre will close on Sundays.

Yet again the offer for locals and visitors is weakening with the University of Sunderland deciding that working families will only be able to enjoy a visit to the “world-class” cultural venue on one day of a usual working week – Saturdays.

Campaigners believe that the university should not have the sole responsibility for deciding the much-loved attraction’s future. They are questioning why Sunderland’s second most popular visitor attraction, after the Stadium of Light, (Tripadvisor) will be closing on Sundays, the second most popular day for visitors (according to Google).

Tenants have been told by email that,

“The decision has been taken by the University of Sunderland to balance the needs of students, staff and visitors to the NGC, with the University’s efforts to ensure the NGC runs as sustainably as possible until the planned closure of the building in July 2026.”

The NGC used to host about 230,000 visitors in a usual year according to Sunderland Culture. People north of the river are worried about what will happen to local businesses such as B&Bs, shops, cafes and pubs if the NGC closes in summer 2026.

It has become clear that the plan for the NGC’s “replacement”, Glassworks:Sunderland, is fraught with difficulties; moving specialised glassmaking equipment out of a purpose built venue into an old building in need of repair will not come cheap.

A substantial amount of money will need to be raised, and work has barely started on developing a robust business model for the self-sustaining glass making hub. The predicted footfall of 50,000 visitors at Glassworks will make it much harder to afford to employ 16 “creative roles”.

1700 schoolchildren used to visit the NGC annually to learn about the unique heritage of Sunderland and experience the thrill of glassmaking, yet there is no mention of children in the new plan.

If the plan for Glassworks fails to overcome all the challenges, we could be left with nothing!

Campaigners now know through Freedom of Information requests that the university has written off the value of the NGC and NGCA in its accounts, previously the “net book value” was £10.6million (FOI2425/10/16), assets created for the community using a huge amount of public money.

The Chair of the Board of Governors has written that “the land is not of significant value and even that would be largely offset by the cost of removing the building and any potential landscaping” (11.04.24).

The university’s own documents show that the NGC building has not been well maintained, leading to a backlog of repairs. The documents also show that there is a workable solution with build costs of around £6.6million.

A substantial amount of that cost has already been spent recently after the university had to replace the structural features that they removed from the main glass façade in 2022, without the oversight of Planning Permission or Building Control, an action which endangered the public for 12 months before the error was noticed and rectified.

Considering all this, campaigners are appealing directly to the university to allow Sunderland City Council to step in and take back full control and return the centre to what it was, a “world-class cultural asset” for the public to enjoy.

In the summer of 2026, the last university students will leave the building. This leaves plenty of space for the important heritage of glassmaking to continue whilst developing an even more enhanced offer for visitors, artists and our future generations by celebrating the religious, industrial and maritime heritage aspects of Sunderland’s proud history.

There are several organisations in Sunderland that could be drawn together under one roof. Never forget that Sunderland was the largest shipbuilding town in the world, that there is a little bit of Sunderland in millions of cupboards around the world in the form of Pyrex dishes, or the memory of Venerable Bede and his creation of the idea of the English as a people. Why can’t our city’s proud heritage be celebrated more?

Whilst The National Glass Centre will probably never beat The Stadium of Light and become the most popular visitor attraction in Sunderland it certainly could continue to enjoy its current second place!

Remember to email us! We are planning something and we need you all to be part of it!

2024 marks 1350 years of glass making on the banks of the river Wear.

By Jo Howell Sunderland based photographic artist and save the National glass centre activist

Save the National Glass Centre needs you to share the petition!

2024 marks 1350 years of glass making on the banks of the river Wear. A humongous triumph to be celebrated.

Yet there is silence.

The cathedral for glass is no longer permitted to shine with pride. This is a great tragedy that we have the power to stop.

Glass heritage on the river Wear, St Peter’s

We need radical change. Right now. To stop the cultural vandalism that is going to be inflicted on Sunderland. The City builds towards net zero and digital infrastructure whilst denying the people their authentic cultural identity.

Now is not the time to divest in our unique skills and throw away more than a millennium of prestige. As we move away from plastic towards sustainability we need to be investigating the potential of glass in future technologies.

The City is enjoying success for the local film industry after the chancellors budget announcement allows for the Crown Studios to go ahead. It seems crass to allow the decline and disappearance of a unique building with such specialist artisans inside. Let me propose a UK blown away! Let me suggest that we may need glass for props in period dramas and science fiction productions.

We are a City of scientists, artists, engineers and innovators. Let’s innovate and not capitulate ❤️

Our campaign is still here and we think it’s time to supercharge it to maximum effect. Whilst we are extremely proud and grateful for every single one of you. That’s 33,000 inclusive of our local paper based petition. We want 100,000 of you on board so we can take this to government level.

I know you all agree to the vital part that the National Glass Centre has played in all of your lives is worth saving. Whether you live in one of the 78 signing countries, or right on the doorstep this legacy means something to all of you.

Please get sharing across social media ❤️ the longer we wait the harder the fight will be. Let’s get a wriggle on!

All our heartfelt thanks from everyone at

Save the National Glass Centre campaign

If you can help further please email us. We are calling all hands on deck ❤️

https://www.change.org/p/save-glass-blowing-in-the-historic-st-peter-s-ward-save-the-national-glass-centre?

We need you – Save the National Glass Centre

2024 has arrived and we need committed people to help!

By Jo Howell

As a campaign that is run entirely by volunteers from the community, and in fact from further afield, we have achieved a lot in a year.

The public meeting way back in June 2023, was well attended, and we have had a regular core group of 5 who have attended meetings on zoom and in person, and a regular in-person group of between 8 and 12.

Everyone has come to the campaign with various different backgrounds, talents, and strengths.

We are looking for some extra people to commit to our monthly zoom meetings.

We need some help digitally to ease the workload for those who have already given so much.

Do you want to help Save the National Glass Centre? Can you commit to regular attendance, and a voluntary workload?

We need the following skills:

Social media marketing – regular updates across all platforms twice weekly
Proficiency with google drive, google docs, spreadsheets, digital literacy.
Minutes and record keeping – weekly online and in-person once a month. Including meeting agendas, invites, and meeting reports.
Organisation – updating the team, events, excellent filing skills, coordination of different tasks across the team.
Data management – properly filed, and stored with data protection regulations met.
Research – archive, public data, personal stories, heritage, social equity, local economy, wider cultural landscape.
Letter writing – MPs, newspapers, governors, funders, heritage bodies, etc
Emailing newsletters – monthly newsletters with up to date info, fresh photographs, exciting and inviting, easy to read.
Blog and website management
YouTube and moving image content creators

Also in the coming months we are going to need:

Fundraisers, accountants, finance officers, policy writers and similar.

Please email Jo Howell with details of which area you can commit to help with.

You will need to have availability to attend for 1 hour Zoom meetings currently every Friday evening at 6pm, and in-person meetings are the 3rd Thursday of every month, 6pm at the Queen Vic Hotel in Roker, Sunderland.

We do have some excellent writers, photographers, industry professionals, and glass artists on board.

The second year of our campaign is going to have to raise the bar, and we need you to help.

Email: savethengc@gmail.com Include which area you are interested in helping us with, and a short paragraph about your experience.

Read through our website and blog, and share this with anyone you think could be a good fit for the campaign.

Thank you!

All the best

Jo Howell

And everyone working in the Save the National Glass Centre Campaign

What’s the crack?

Save the National Glass Centre campaigner Keith Brown explains

On the 8th of December 2022 the University of Sunderland announced its shocking decision to close the National Glass Centre (the NGC) on the banks of the river Wear in Sunderland.

The campaign to reverse that decision and to keep the NGC open in some form is gathering momentum. Campaigners have highlighted the NGC’s iconic architectural status; the devastating cultural and artistic impact of the NGC’s work, not only upon Sunderland but also upon the north-east and the entire UK. People need to be made aware that the cost of repairs widely broadcast by the University are grossly inflated.

Well-over 31,000 people have signed a petition against its closure and demolition. Campaigners are now calling for more people to help save the award-winning NGC, cited as a “World-class cultural asset” in Sunderland council’s 2021 UK City of Culture bid. The campaign already involves many local people, and also receives support from key national bodies.

Renowned international architect Piers Gough in the 20th Century Journal has said that

“Sunderland cannot afford to lose such an icon. It would seem ideal for a forward-looking University to use or repurpose, but should it be superfluous another more appreciative owner should be found.” He also stated that “the NGC references Sunderland’s shipbuilding heritage as well as glass making past, making this unique building special to its particular location. It is the best and most apposite 21st Century Building of the region“.
Architect Piers Gough in the 20th Century Journal

The 20th Century Society (C20) , the professional organisation which saves endangered buildings, has sought independent advice from experts in building lifespan and sustainability. They have cast doubts on the figures quoted for repair and renovation.

“condemning this landmark building that’s barely 25 years old and in the process losing one of the few purpose built glass blowing facilities in the country, is unconscionable“.
C20’s article 21.6.23

In 2000, the Design Council awarded this unique building Millenium Product Status in recognition of its creativity and environmental approach. The building also received commendations from the Craft Council, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the DTI.

The National Glass Centre is owned and maintained by the University. Sir David Bell, the vice chancellor and chief executive stated in May 2023 they could close it as early as 2025, he also stated, without any prior consultation, that the National Glass Centre will be demolished.

The building sits adjacent to the University campus where the University is planning to undertake significant capital works over the next five years. This suggests it intended all along to expand onto the NGC site.

National Glass Centre photography by Gill Helps

The University’s Intention to demolish and redevelop, releasing embodied carbon in the process, is the wrong decision given the concern over accelerating climate change. Retro fitting is by far the best solution. This academic institution should focus on STEM subjects and treat The National Glass Centre as a case study for sustainability and growth rather than managed decline and potential destruction.

The repair costs of £45m broadcast by the University are now widely believed. How the costs can be so high for what essentially should be the refurbishment of the existing building needs further clarification by the University because such an inflated figure is guaranteed to deter any potential funders.

The published costs are not for repair alone, but for an array of other enhancements including replacing the entire roof (solid & glazed) all the glass curtain walling, installing photovoltaic panels, and replacing all the mechanical and electrical systems. Even with these enhancements the reported figure appears seriously inflated, particularly when the construction cost for Culture House, a brand new building in the centre of the city, is reported as being £25m.

Retired planning inspector David Vickery wrote in a recent campaign article: “Sunderland City Hall was completed in November 2021 costing £42m (which is £3 million less) and for that £42 million Sunderland got two large glass and steel office blocks, one of five storeys high and the other of six storeys (190,000 square feet), both buildings connected by a glass atrium. How can it cost £45 million just to repair a roof?”

Early in 2023, the campaign gave the University a Freedom of Information request to enquire how the University had come to their decision to close the National Glass Centre.

In March 2023 the University published documents online, showing the consultation that they had based their decision on.

https://www.sunderland.ac.uk/help/corporate-legal/legal-finance/national-glass-centre/

The campaign followed up by meeting in person with executives from the University on 22.06.23. (The day of the public meeting at Saint Peter’s church.) During this meeting the campaign requested access to all of the NGC’s maintenance records.

Save the National Glass Centre public meeting photography by Phil Vickery

In August, the University stated via email that the FOI was not received, the campaign issued a new FOI request on the 14th of August ’23 (FOI 2323/0814).

The University said they were gifted the NGC when it was 12 years old, however the land registry document appears to show they were given it for no recorded price when it was only 8 years old, (GOV.UK Title register for: National Glass Centre, title number: TY454590).

There is no doubt that the University has struggled to maintain the NGC, a fact that was recently noted in its Future Strategy Statement.

Also the University’s Head of Estates stated in 2013 ” the centre has suffered as a business and its maintenance regime hasn’t been as robust as it could have been.” Since then, the exterior has further deteriorated under their stewardship.

” The centre has suffered as a business and its maintenance regime hasn’t been as robust as it could have been.”
Future Strategy Statement. The University’s Head of Estates stated in 2013

Sadly, the deterioration and destruction continues and in January 2023, due to some corrosion and safety concerns the University removed and rapidly disposed of the massive heat sink (brise soleil) which was a superb and crucial design feature on the front of this monumental building.

In addition, in 2013 the NGC received £2.5m for an internal refit. This grant aided alteration allowed the University to move their glass and ceramics course into the NGC, also Sunderland Council moved the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art into the building. Two property moves that achieved substantial ongoing financial gains for the University and in particular Sunderland Council.

Opened on the 23rd of October 1998 by Prince Charles, now our King, this iconic building encompasses a vast array of crucial delights: substantial visitor experiences and facilities; brilliant collections and exhibition spaces; the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art; workspaces for the academic courses, the tenanted artists’ studios; and the specialist facilities for the creation of ceramic and glass artwork – all housed within the building. Plus, there are numerous creative and constructive magical children’s workshops, some where children see their designs being cast in molten glass.

Also this extensive and marvelous property used to occasionally be used for weddings, and could actually accommodate many special events if properly managed and promoted.

National Glass Centre photography by Jo Howell

We cannot afford to let this delightful institution go, not just for the enjoyment of locals and many visitors, or even for its national and international status promoting glass and the Arts… but for the cultural heritage of our future generations.

Amid this tangled tale let us not forget that Sunderland is the birthplace of stained glass in the UK; The National Glass Centre can have a viable future and should be allowed to continue the tradition of glass making that was first started here in 674AD.

Please come and visit this unique wonderful place and see why it must be saved.

We strongly urge the University of Sunderland to reconsider their plans, and for local and national politicians to become actively involved. And you can help by supporting the campaign:

#SaveTheNationalGlassCentre

Please help, sign and spread the Petition

https://chng.it/WH4sfjzXk4

Front page of the Sunderland Echo #SaveTheNGC

By Jo Howell

Save the NGC coordinator

Front page Sunderland Echo report by Katy Wheeler

My mind has been blown! The overwhelming support that we have received in the last few days has been amazing. When we met with the the photographer, and Katy, we found out that the petition was nearly at 20,000 signatures. Today we are at over 25,000.

I think it safe to say that there is a lot of support for the national glass centre to continue on in it’s current format. The loss of glass blowing would be untenable by all the signatories. We have been inundated with testimonies about how important the centre has been to people. Reasons ranging from fantastic career opportunities the NGC and NGCA have offered artists, to the importance of its role in mental health and wellbeing. The National Glass Centre is a source of great pride.

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If you want to read the full article and watch the short video, please click the link below:

Sunderland Echo Katy Wheeler Article

In other news, we have set a public meeting for June 2023 at St Peter’s Church. I need to approach some key speakers, and to organise the format. So, more details will soon follow.

Keep sharing the petition, and if you haven’t written to our MP yet, neither have I! So we had better get on with writing emails, letters, and organising the public meeting.

Thank you all for your continued support ❤️

Click to sign our petition

I will also hand print cyanotype versions of the below design in a made to order format.

All proceeds will go towards campaign costs like signage and mail outs. The campaign is run by volunteers made up of concerned locals, and people whose businesses are likely to be affected. We encourage you to sign up for our mailing list, and to follow our blog for updates.

Save the National Glass Centre original made to order prints

Buy a print £20 https://etsy.me/3LkL8tV

Printmaking #SaveTheNGC

Save the National Glass Centre campaign continues to gain support

Across the world people have taken time to tell us how much the National Glass Centre means to them

Read a new article about the campaign here:

https://facadenews.co.uk/news/national-glass-centre-on-the-brink-of-destruction-is-there-any-hope-for-salvation-sensational-news-daily/

The petition is nearing 20,000 signatures. We have cross party support. Now we are going to take this to the Sunderland MPs. There is definitely a need and a want to save this important asset.

Save the National Glass Centre photo by Jo Howell 2023

#SaveTheNGC

#SaveTheNGCA

Sign our petition

George Clark says Save glass blowing in Sunderland

Update from Jo Howell April 2023

Screenshot from Instagram April 2023 showing George Clark’s support

Shy bairns get nowt!

The wonderful George Clark is an architect, a TV personality, and he was raised a mackem in Sunderland. Lots of people in the area look up to George as a beacon of success, and he still talks very fondly of Sunderland. Bearing all of this in mind, I thought I’d try to reach out to him, and a couple of other local heroes via Instagram and twitter.

So far, George is the only one to have picked up our campaign. Thank you 🙏 that doesn’t mean that the other celebs won’t jump on board, they may just need a little more courtship.

Directly because of George’s post on Instagram we gained over 100 new signatures on our petition! And, lots of people learned of the #SaveTheNGC campaign via the comments underneath.

We need champions of all kinds to help us turn the tide to save the national glass centre and the national gallery of contemporary art (situated inside NGC). We need to show that value and cost are two entirely separate things. And, the value of what we currently have far outweighs short term commercial gain.

Artwork by Regeneration North East SALT art group 2023

Once it’s gone there will be no resurrecting it. The 25 years of kudos and excellence will go with loss of the artists and the skilled staff and the building.

Sign our petition. Write to your MP. Share far and wide. Ask your celeb mates to get in touch. Send me NGC art, stories, articles, films and whatever you have. Let’s prove the value.

Thank you in advance!

International artists for #SaveTheNGC

As the campaign reaches further and further afield, people from all over the world have offered their support.

The national glass centre in Sunderland has a global reach. The world of glass artists and artisans is fairly small and well connected. Many have reached out to tell us of their dismay at the peril the National Glass centre’s news of closure and relocation.

There is a lot of unrest and concern surrounding the loss of heritage craft. International researchers who the NGC and the university draw into the city, will no longer have any reason to come here.

Why is this important?

Back in 2011 Creative Cohesion headed a glass exchange program with Washington DC Glass, our sister City. The link between Washington DC and Washington in the North East goes back to the president, George Washington, for whom both were named. In conjunction with creative cohesion and the National Glass Centre lots of local artists benefited from the exchange, and we have kept lasting friendships with our Washington DC colleagues.

Without those organisations, and the magnetic draw of the national glass centre for research, we wouldn’t have had any of the opportunities that we have enjoyed since that program. International trade, introduction to the American market, skills shares, exhibitions, conferences and so much more.

Please read Michael Janis’ blog from the time. It has recently passed 11 years since their visit, and it still resonates with everyone who was privileged enough to be involved.

https://fulbright.org/2021/07/19/strong-heart-of-glass-michael-janis-united-kingdom-2012/

Besides working with the University students and faculty, we also were able to create informal workshops on how technology and social media is changing the art world. These talks were extremely popular – with the standing room only audiences that came from the student body of the University as well as working artists from Sunderland, Newcastle, and as far away as Edinburgh, Scotland. The audience stayed long after the talk, and topics from the discussions continued to come up during our entire Fulbright program stay (and indeed, afterwards via the internet) showing the strong relevance of the concepts.

Since our mission, we were invited to show as artists at galleries in London and at the Sunderland Museum, and we had the Sunderland artists featured in an international exhibit held in Washington, DC the following year.

While our mission as Fulbright Scholars was to impart information, we left having learned many lessons.
Michael Janis, Fulbright Scholarship

These artist exchange programs and research fellowships are the life blood of creativity in Sunderland. They are one of the few things that has global reach and appeal. Without this amazing national institution and it’s powerful ethos of exchange and support, how can somewhere like Sunderland truly level up?

We don’t pick and choose our heritage or our culture. It grows as a natural response to our history and how we view our future. Up until last year the National Glass Centre was still being billed as the gem in Sunderland’s crown. There have been many recent project’s highlighting our glass heritage People’s Pyrex, art deco Joblings glass, Love Pyrex. To name just a few.

Glass is still very much at the heart of Sunderland. We need to work together to make it known that the National glass centre, and all it embodies, is cherished and respected the world over.

To deny public consultation on such important local issues is culturally insensitive at best, and woefully ignorant of the community’s they serve at worse.

Do you have a story about the National Glass centre? We are actively looking for articles to publish on the blog to keep up the momentum we have built so far.

Thank you for reading! Sign our petition. Share far and wide!

http://washingtonglassschool.com/

Apollo Magazine Article

By Emma Park

Click the link below to read the article ❤️❤️❤️

https://www.apollo-magazine.com/national-glass-centre-sunderland-closure/

The National Glass Centre Grief to a Smile – My Journey by Derek Newton Lynch

Derek Lynch Website

How might you ask? Well let me tell you a story…...

I make ceramics, I’m not a well-known artist, I don’t sell anything, I don’t make money from it and my career was in computing as an I.T. Manager.

Sadly, my ceramics journey started with someone’s death. It wasn’t just anyone’s death but my mother’s my “Mam” as we call them in the North.

In 2001 my Mam suddenly passed away. The shock and loss of a parent is always hard to cope with and I wasn’t doing it very well at all and I was at a loss at how to stop feeling so sad all of the time.

My life at that time was basically go to work and solvecomputer problems, then come home and just think about missing my Mam. There seemed to be no way out of the sadness I felt. This couldn’t go on and after a few weeks of this misery I decided something had to be done and I needed to break the cycle.

I thought perhaps an evening class would give me something to occupy my mind. I saw a Ceramics class advertised. Not only had I never done pottery before, but even better the course was free. I went along with some trepidation, thinking “what have I signed up for?” After all, I considered myself to be a “techie” rather than an “artist”.

In the class I was seated with 4 fantastic ladies who were around the same age as my Mam and they laughed and jokedthe whole time. They reminded me so much of my Mam, but in a much happier time.

They brought laughter back into my life and the sudden realisation that I enjoyed ceramics helped me to cope with grieving for her, by remembering the good times rather than her death. Suddenly life seemed a whole lot better.

More importantly, every time I started making a ceramic piece it always reminded me of my Mam. 21 years later it still doesand I have a huge smile thinking of her.

After a while I signed up for even more evening courses but this time at the National Glass Centre. Wow I was so overawed at their facilities and couldn’t believe I was making things there, me a mere hobby potter.

How proud I was that I was not only going to a centre of excellence but even more than that my Dad had been a “Plater” at the very shipyard which was situated on the site of the National Glass Centre. Even he was proud of me, a tough no-nonsense northern shipyard worker was impressed with his son’s creations,

what a surprise in my life.

I even managed to appear in the University’s learning booklet.

The professionalism of the staff teaching me, the chance to meet other students at the Glass Centre and being able to see what I could achieve eventually led me to purchase my own kiln. Contacts I made on the courses also led to the purchase of my first pottery wheel.

Every time I either make a ceramic piece or look at the many pieces either in my house or the homes of people who have my art, I think of my Mam. Not with sadness but with a hugesmile and I say thank you to her.

So, this story isn’t really about me it’s about my Mam, who sadly never got to see any of my ceramics or my journey from an evening class in a little school through to the country’samazing National Glass Centre.

The National Glass Centre was key to changing large parts of my life, all linked with someone sadly passing away and enabling others to smile when they receive a piece of my amateurish pottery, who would have thought it!!

My career was in computing, did I like it, well yes but my soul is in ceramics, do I like it, just ask my Mam she knows.

This is why all of my ceramics are dedicated to her.

#SaveTheNGC #SaveTheNGCA

Do you have a story about the National Glass Centre?

Has it changed or improved your life as well?

Write to us! We would love to share it here.

Regeneration: An artist’s journey with the National Glass Centre

Gary Nicholson, Artist

After the stinging news that the National Glass Centre (NGC) is under threat of closure, many people have come forward to share their memories and concerns for the future of glass in the City of Sunderland. Here are my thoughts.

In 2012, I arrived at the NGC to do a Foundation Degree in Art and Design. I made friends and lots of good memories. I went on to do a B.A. (Hons) Illustration and Design, then an M.A. Design (Illustration) on the University of Sunderland’s City Campus. In fact, I returned to the NGC to work with the technicians on some glass sculptures for my final exhibition. In January 2018, I founded Regeneration NE Community Interest Company with my long-term friend, who himself studied Ceramics at the NGC.

In 2019, The Art Studio, a mental health charity in Hendon, closed down due to lack of funding. Having volunteered and worked as a tutor there, regular service-users, who were living with serious mental illness looked to me and Regeneration NE for help. It was the NGC where we would meet up, have a coffee and perhaps do some sketches overlooking the river.

Above: The glass sculpture, Regeneration 2017, created by Gary Nicholson at the NGC.

Among the meeting rooms in the NGC, I attended Artworks-U Networking and Support meetings which gathered local artists to discuss projects, problems, new ideas and potential collaborations. It was a safe place for new graduates like me to watch and learn from more experienced creatives who travelled from across the region to be there. Kids and families often head over to the building to see the exhibitions and amazing glass-blowing demonstrations as an educational and cheap day out. Local artists can also hire the facilities to create and run their businesses. You can even buy affordable and unique glass pieces created by the artists on site.

The NGC is a landmark and a place of education, history, heritage, community and culture. It links modern Creative Industries with the City’s proud industrial past. It has impacted the local economy by attracting students who want to study Glass and Ceramics. In the past 10 years, other universities have dropped Art, Glass and Ceramics courses from their prospectus, (e.g. Falmouth, Kent, Roehampton, Wolverhampton), which makes the dedicated centre for the tuition of Glass and Ceramics all-the-more precious at a national level.

It’s true, sentimentality won’t pay the NGC bills. However, the same Sunderland people had the self-belief, business and creative expertise to be shortlisted for City of Culture 2021. Regeneration NE urges them to now work on saving the NGC. It will be a logistical and safety nightmare to squeeze everything into shared spaces in the City Centre. It would be just plain wrong to let it slip away without a fight.

Gary Nicholson (Artist).

Director and Co-Founder of Regeneration NE.

email: regenerationnecic@gmail.com

Regeneration NE uses art as therapy to support better mental health and wellbeing in the community.

Artists using the National Glass Centre in 2012

#SaveTheNGC #SaveTheNGCA

We need your memories! Would you like to know how to help our campaign? Well, we would love to publish your articles on our blog! Let us know how the National Glass Centre has helped or influenced you.

If you want to remain anonymous, that’s ok as well. The campaign is about saving these much loved national organisations, so keep it clean, concise, and cheerful.

Phil Vickery Glass in 2012 working with Roger Tye in the National Glass Centre, Sunderland