Culture House Sunderland is getting ready to open its doors on Saturday 12th September, bringing a new four-floor cultural venue, library, gallery and creative space to the heart of the city. With immersive exhibitions, digital spaces, podcasting facilities, workshops and a rooftop Sky Garden, it’s designed to be somewhere people can simply drop in and make their own. Liza-Lou Campy spoke to Director Leanne Littlewood about bringing the project to life, why community is at its heart and what she hopes it will become.
You’ve been working towards this for several years. How does it feel knowing the doors are finally about to open?
I’m ecstatic. I cannot wait to share Culture House with people. Any house that opens, any house that we build, there are always ups and downs. With such a big building and such a complicated installation, with so many different types of space and different elements of infrastructure, it was never going to be a straightforward journey. But we’ve been on site since September 2023, so it’s been a long journey. I’m very excited to finally be able to say, ‘I can let the neighbours in now.’
What do you want people to feel when they walk through the doors?
You walk through the front door, and you can come into the City Lounge, sit your bum down, and you don’t have to do anything. You can just watch your friends, sit and play on your phone, have a chat with the person next to you. You don’t have to engage with anything else within the building. You might just want to come into a nice place, and it’s a nice place to be. That’s absolutely fine. Or you can gravitate up the building and see our exhibitions and gallery spaces, go to a workshop or access the library. There are so many different ways a person could have a connection with the building.
Community seems to be a huge part of that. What does culture mean to you?
I try to apply it by saying culture is the thing that connects us to other people. It’s the thing that puts a smile on your face at the end of a lovely day and makes a good day even better. Your culture might be football; it might be music; it might be something about your background. It could be absolutely anything. Whatever makes you smile, that’s what culture is. It’s the thing that connects us.
You’ve also worked closely with young people to shape the building. What did they tell you they wanted?
We built Culture House in Minecraft. We left the whole section that we identified as being for young people empty and sent the Minecraft project out to schools across the region and said: ‘Build us what you would like.’ We had about 100 submissions. What came through strongly was that young people wanted us to update our bookshops; they wanted to play games, use modern computers and have music-making and production facilities.
Throughout all the things we do in the building, it’s about curiosity. How do you know you could actually be the world’s best music producer if you’ve never tried? How do you know you’re not the world’s best digital artist if you’ve never had a chance to do a workshop? We’re about removing the barriers and providing access to something that you can use.
What do you think will surprise people most about Culture House?
I think it will be the way they experience the content and how you can tell stories using digital screens. Experiences don’t have to be two hours long. They can be three minutes long; they can be short films, and they can be really pointy. And I think the library will surprise people. Libraries can be transformational spaces. They can be the perfect place to tell stories.
Why was ‘Our Home in Space’ the right exhibition to open with?
We wanted an exhibition to tell stories, to make you think about something and give you space to reflect. ‘Our Home in Space’ is about linking you to the rest of the universe. We’re all connected; we’re all part of one collaborative thing, regardless of what we look like, what we sound like or where we come from.
Find out more about Culture House Sunderland by heading to culturehousesunderland.co.uk.
