Firstlook - Brit Art

Brit art - An empty furniture store in the centre of Gateshead has been transformed into Britain’s latest artists’ colony. 

Eleven of the region’s freshest creative business stars were given rent-free workspace by Gateshead council last November as part of a new project to help small, creative businesses get off the ground. Now, the council has begun the search for 20 more such businesses, as phase two of its innovative ‘Starter for ten’ project – developed with design guru Wayne Hemingway MBE - gets underway.

Cllr Mick Henry (pictured), leader of Gateshead council, says: “When we announced our plans to make Gateshead a centre for creativity by turning this huge empty building into temporary creative workspace, we were inundated with requests for space. Unfortunately, we simply couldn’t accommodate them all. However, now that we’ve brought the huge upper floor into use, we can offer workspace to many more fledgling creative businesses.”