How Animating Ashington restarted a mining town’s creative heartbeat

A new arts fund to support the local arts community, and an investment in arts-led events to bring the town together, are key parts of the legacy of Animating Ashington.

The year-long cultural programme in the former Northumberland mining town has changed its perception of itself, says organisers. Animating Ashington, which was funded by Northumberland Council and delivered by Walk the Plank, saw 10 events in the public realm run from November 2024 until summer 2025.

From a Toy Procession to a Feast of Fire, a major land-art commission by artist James Brunt in the public park, street art, theatre and performance, the streets and parks in Ashington became a landscape for free to access arts activity.

The cultural investment of £390,000, part of a £35m Regeneration Programme, was designed to engage with 12,000 residents and visitors in Ashington (just under half of the town’s 28k population), to bring a sense of civic pride and to deliver 10 events with “colour and excitement” to Ashington Town Centre.

In numbers, hospitality venues reported a 15-20% trading increase on event days, and both rail travel and footfall saw an increase. Over 30,000 attended the events. For every £1 invested, it saw a £2.31 return in value.

Yet for organisers it was the impact on the town and its residents that has had a profound effect.

“This is the best thing that has ever happened in Ashington, in my entire life”, said one retired resident.

In the 19th century, Ashington was dubbed “the world’s largest coal mining village,” built around the Grand Station Road shopping district and powered by the collective energy of local miners.

The town’s rich industrial heritage, including the internationally renowned Pitmen Painters, gave way to economic hardship since the decline of the coal industry in the 1970s and 1980s. While major land reclamation projects, such as the creation of QEII Country Park and the establishment of Woodhorn Museum on a former pit site, have preserved critical aspects of Ashington’s history, the town centre has struggled with vacancy, underinvestment, and low footfall.

Ashington’s children live in a local authority where about 1 in 6 children are below the poverty line before housing costs. Over half of Ashington households experience at least one form of deprivation (e.g., low pay, long-term illness, overcrowding). The North East has some of the highest child-poverty rates in England (circa 31% after housing costs), driven by both high living costs and low regional wages.

Bev Ayre is the Producer at Walk the Plank, who managed and delivered the ten events. Walk the Plank are the UK’s leading outdoor arts specialists with over 30 years of experience in pioneering creative placemaking.

“It was vital we put the art in the public realm. We proactively created theatre, performances, processions and workshops that made the audience participants, as opposed to passively watching.”

Bev, who has worked in outdoor art and festival delivery across the North West and North of England, says it requires a different approach when you are working with a community that has lost a muscle memory when it comes to arts participation.

“In cities and large towns where there is regular arts activity, even if it reduces in volume, there is still a low level understanding of what your role as an audience member is. In Ashington, and in towns that have suffered from longstanding underinvestment, you lose that muscle memory, the confidence to be creative, to engage creatively and to be part of any arts activity isn’t taught, it isn’t instinctive. So you have to bring it to someone’s front door, you have to hold out your hand and invite them to get stuck in.”

The free arts events ran alongside workshops, engagement programmes with local businesses and shoppers, and the development of a core 30 strong group of supporters in the town who shared news about the programme and encouraged people to get involved.

Art can have a real impact on a town. It can shape our sense of self and how we build a relationship with our past, present and future, says Bev. “We work with communities who think art isn’t for them. It isn’t that it isn’t accessible, it doesn’t exist. If we are going to make those communities who are under-served imagine a new future for their town, we need to go back to basics, and help them discover what art is and what it can do”.

42% of expenditure was retained in Ashington and nearby communities through contracts with local artists, suppliers, caterers, accommodation providers and crew. This ensured that regeneration funding stayed within the local economy and aligned with HM Treasury’s Green Book principle of local additionality.

Caroline Ball is Councillor and Town Councillor for Ashington Central Ward.

"It was fantastic to see world class cultural events in Ashington and I hope this is the start of many opportunities for the people of Ashington.

Arts open up a world of opportunities and experiences beyond the everyday and walk the plank brought magic to everyone young and not so young from the town and it was a joy to see residents’ eyes light up when they seen a dancing robot on the main street, or drummers in the colliery rows and the excitement from school children who took part in the parades across the program."

“This programme has marked an unprecedented outpouring of community development and support in Ashington for an incoming arts collective”, says a local artist.

Ashington has brought in a town arts and culture fund to support local arts and community groups. It is also investing in a programme of smaller scale events, produced by local arts organisations, including a Christmas lights switch on.