Made in Newcastle

The opening...

Made in Newcastle, an Empty Shop Project baby that we found out about from the lovely Craft Mafia people at the Sunderland Friendship Festival (see last post). The aim is to bring together a community of local crafters, makers and artists into a space where they can display, sell and help others. It's an excellent opportunity that I have been very lucky to be a part of. The Paper Jam Comics Collective have our comics and stock and ready for the lovely customers to buy.

Many of the gang were present for the opening and much glorious fun was had by all, as can be seen in the photos below.

Oh yes, as you can see here, we had a doodle wall, it was amazing!

The things we've done...

Made in Newcastle has provided a home for over 30 creatives in the North East, helping them in all kinds of ways, this is a photo of the shop a few days after opening, it has changed a lot since then, it's hard to believe it was only a few months ago.

The end...

In some ways this blog post is bad timing. We have just recently received news that we will need to leave 22 Nun Street (our current home), as is the nature of Empty Shops, they get filled. We have until the 10th of October to make the most out of what we have in our current home! If you haven't been along to say hi yet, please do, and purchase some of our wonderful crafty items.

The beginning...

As is the nature of enthusiastic creatives, you can't keep them down for long. Like a phoenix from the flames we shall rise from the ashes (metaphorically, we don't want to be done for arson) of 22 Nun Street with a new name, a new home and a wonderful new outlook on life! The group of strong minded individuals who have met through this project refuse to see it stop so easily, we will continue until the mythic day when there are no longer any empty shops left in the whole of Newcastle city centre!

To that effect, this is where you can help! If you, my lovely blog readers have any contacts at the council, any help you can offer with funding sources and applications or any well wishes, please pass them on. Made in Newcastle started as a community project and whatever it may be in the future it will continue to be for the community, for people to contribute to and benefit from. We welcome any help, whether it be that you have a premises you want us to fill or a spare sack of money lying around that you wish to donate.

Wish us luck!

Sunderland Friendship Festival!

Yet again it took me too long to post about things I've done.

So, the Sunderland Friendship Festival was awesome.

Paper Jam had a table! It was awesome. There were lots of kites and friendship things happening. We were fortunate to be sharing the tent with such wonderful people as the Newcastle Craft Mafia (who offered us a wonderful opportunity, to be part of Made in Newcastle, more about that next post), Red Squirrel Press and many others that I fail to remember, including some local curry sauces which were delicious.

This is one of my favourite shots from the day, not only were there the professional kites, the huge showy ones but also a great amount of hand made kites, most made on site inside one of the crafty tents. Everyone was having such a great time!

Behind the Paper Jam table we were visited by faces old and new and it was great to see some of the younger people getting really interested in reading our comics. The free sweets had nothing to do with it!

One of the highlights of the weekend was the Always Drinking marching band who started their sets within the music tent and then drifted out into the field. They performed some extremely fun versions of modern tunes that tended to bring a smile to everyone's face.