Newcastle Common

2021 - 2024

Reimagining empty shop units in Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre as places for art and creativity.

Planet Dance artist residency at Newcastle Common in 2024

Appetite‘s Newcastle Common project, which ran from 2021 to 2024, reimagined empty shop units in Newcastle-under-Lyme town centre as places for art and creativity, becoming a beacon for passers by who would return for pop-up events.

We took an action research approach to create a wide-ranging programme of artist residencies, exhibitions, workshops and performances that people who live, work and visit the town could experience for free and be inspired by.

Artist, writer and creator of Empty Shops Network, Dan Thompson, helped us to imagine what the project might be during the initial stages: thank you Dan!

Along the way we developed projects with partners such as Brampton Museum and Art Gallery and many more. That included working with Staffordshire County Council Libraries to co-create a library of books at Newcastle Common showcasing under-represented authors and subjects, which anybody with a local library card could borrow.

Newcastle Common was delivered by Appetite in partnership with Newcastle Business Improvement District and supported by Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.

Thanks go to our amazing team of project managers, duty managers and volunteers who made the whole thing work so wonderfully.