At MagNorth we constantly talk about ambition becoming a different proposition when there's somewhere nearby you can take it seriously. A place to train, teachers who learn your strengths, and people who can explain how an interest might actually become a working life.
In Byker, SA Performing Arts Centre has spent 25 years offering that possibility to North East performers. Founded by principal Lucy Sage in 2001, the centre marked its very special anniversary on Tuesday 13 October with performances, an exhibition and announcements intended to carry its relationships with graduates into the years ahead.
The occasion brought current students together with former students, teachers, patrons and supporters. There were messages from familiar names, including Tim Healy and Sting. But the centre’s enduring significance lies in the opportunity it aims to provide: professional performing arts training in the North East, without requiring a move to London to begin.
That geography is clearly understood by everyone at the organisation. Leaving home to train can involve accommodation costs, travel and the practical demands of establishing a life elsewhere. For a young person and their family, the location of a course can shape whether an ambition feels manageable at all.
A regional training centre gives them another option. It allows the decision about where to study to include the possibility of remaining close to existing relationships while preparing for work that might eventually take them much further afield.
Our recent conversation with photographer Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen returned repeatedly to the importance of relationships in Byker. Her photographs grew from living among people, spending time with them and returning. When she came back to a changed neighbourhood, understanding the place required listening afresh to the people making their lives there.
That attention's useful here too. Byker continues to be a place where people learn, work and imagine futures. SA’s anniversary offers one account of that continuing life, through the students and teachers who've made a performing arts centre part of it.
“I’m overwhelmed by the support for SA this week and over the past 25 years,” Sage said in a statement marking the celebration.
“Seeing guests join graduates, teachers and patrons to celebrate and inspire our current students was a joy. The passion and dedication shown to our young performers makes me confident that we can continue to champion North East talent and make their dreams come true.”
The organisation brings together three strands. SA College offers a full-time, three-year course for students aged 16 and over, training in dance, acting and singing. The Youth Academy provides evening and weekend training for children and young people aged three to 18. Alongside them, SA Talent Agency represents young performers seeking professional work.
These are distinct stages of involvement, from an early interest through to vocational training and representation. Their presence in one organisation makes the anniversary an opportunity to consider how creative development is sustained over time.
At the celebration, full-time students performed numbers including Hello! from The Book of Mormon. Graduates Jada Langley, Poppy Keith and Scarlett Robinson also performed. A temporary exhibition assembled photographs, news clippings, costumes, props and television footage from the centre’s history.
Those materials make a different kind of record from the finished performance. They hold the accumulated work of an institution: productions rehearsed, students taught, people returning to see what the next cohort is doing.
Actors Sam Lupton, Chelsea Halfpenny and Jordan Todd were announced as new patrons. The centre also launched an ambassador programme to connect graduates working in the industry, with Andrew Davison introduced as its first ambassador.
The intention to support performers beyond graduation deserves special attention. Entering the industry can mean moving between jobs, places and professional relationships. A continuing connection with the people who trained you can offer a valuable point of contact as that working life develops.
Long-standing patron and producer Michael Harrison described the centre’s contribution in practical terms: “SA Performing Arts Centre gives young people the tools, experience and confidence they need to take their first steps into a career in the theatre industry.”
In a written anniversary message, Sting also drew attention to confidence and teamwork, alongside preparation for performance. Those are worthwhile parts of an arts education, whatever direction a student’s life eventually takes.
There's good reason to celebrate graduates who reach major stages and screens. There's also value in the sustained teaching that makes a first audition conceivable, helps someone work with others, or gives a young performer the confidence to try again.
A quarter-century is long enough for those experiences to accumulate across generations of students. In Byker, SA Performing Arts Centre’s anniversary asks us to notice the place where that work happens - and the importance of having such possibilities within reach.
Find out more about SA Performing Arts Centre, its college, youth academy and talent agency HERE
Read our interview with Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen on photographing Byker and belonging HERE
Photography: Paul Lynch Photography.
Header image: SA Performing Arts Team and Graduates outside the centre (Paul Lynch)
