New Writing North to launch skills hub in £600k project

New Writing North, the creative writing and reading agency for the North of England, is launching a writing and publishing skills hub in autumn 2022, utilising a £600,000 programme to develop its reach. 

Funded by the North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) and other local sponsors,  the hub aims to create a suite of educational and professional development opportunities for schools and teachers, students, young people and adult learners, and writers and small literary businesses in the region.

Taking place across Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland, with accompanying online resources, the hub aims to open up opportunities for pupils interested in pursuing a career in the creative industries, in addition to offering networking and business skills training.

Professional development opportunities, conferences and courses will all be available to new and emerging writers across the region, alongside new volunteer training programmes. The hub builds on New Writing North’s current artist investment programmes which support writers with bursaries for new projects.

The organisation’s award-winning Young Writers programme will also be extended, including new writers groups and a vocational summer school for aspiring writers and publishers, for which participants gain an Arts Award qualification.

The programme will be managed by a new team of three staff at New Writing North’s Newcastle office. These vacancies are now open for application.

Claire Malcolm, New Writing North’s chief executive, said: “This significant investment will support New Writing North to establish new areas of work for the long term. With our new MA in publishing created with Hachette UK and Northumbria University launching this September this region is now leading the way in creating infrastructure for the development of creative people from a range of backgrounds. My desire has always been that a young person growing up in the North East could imagine a job as a writer or a publisher. Now they will have a clear pathway to pursuing that ambition. As the programme continues to take shape, we look forward to welcoming further industry partners to help us build connections and to enrich the opportunities.”

Councillor Glen Sanderson, NTCA cabinet member for culture, creative and rural, said: “New Writing North’s programme for our writing and publishing sector will benefit thousands of people by providing access to training, learning opportunities and vocational skills development and will support the next generation of creative talent in the North of Tyne.

“It’s part of a multi-million-pound investment in Skills for Growth for the cultural sector through which we are also investing in music, the visuals arts and digital and live event production.”