North East community arts organisation celebrates 40 years of trailblazing innovation

An arts organisation is celebrating 40 years of championing social change through creativity across the North East.

Helix Arts has advocated for arts initiatives since the early 1980s, fostering relationships between the local community and artists to create change and promote equality and diversity.

Originating in Sunderland, Helix now calls North Shields home with inclusive celebrations marking its four decades. A public festival will be taking place on Saturday 23 March with all welcome.

Cheryl Gavin, director of Helix Arts, said: "We're not like normal arts organisations. We do everything with the community. Over the past 40 years we've had different priorities because obviously the world changes.

"We're all about what the people think needs to change in society. We collect stories and really listen to people."

Through the years, Helix has tackled difficult topics from HIV to drugs in order to reflect community concerns and prejudices with the help of artists.

"We've done some really challenging stuff," continued Gavin. "But it leads to a lot of acceptance and understanding."

A current project sees Helix working with the young people across North Tyneside to investigate their relationship with drugs.

“Pride doesn’t cut it when I get to share the masses of experiences and projects that this organisation and its team has achieved over four decades," said Gavin.

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"The partners, the artists, the communities, and our audiences never cease to make me stop in my tracks and think differently about what matters, our lives and the catalyst that creativity has in people’s lives.”

Helix Arts is hosting a public festival on Saturday 23 March made up of exhibitions, films and performances to celebrate its 40 years of community collaboration.

For more information and event details, visit https://www.helixarts.com/