Colourful New Street Art on Marlborough Crescent Gets the Ball Rolling on NE1’s Plans to Create a City of Villages

The first installation is a vibrant piece of road art, commissioned by NE1 and designed by Sail Creative. The artwork called ‘United Together’ depicts an abstract image of two hands held together in solidarity, on a coloured and patterned background. The hands reach across the road from one side of the street to the other representing a warm welcome to the area.

The artwork was installed on Wednesday 19^th June.

NE1 has worked closely with LGBTQIA+ groups, Curious Arts, local community groups and businesses in the area, including hosting two workshops to work on ideas for the design of the road crossing and to create something that celebrates the area, its businesses and the people who live, work and visit. Community consultation provided an insight into what made the area unique and revealed that the creative project should harness pride in the area and convey a sense of connection, celebration, togetherness and, most importantly, visibility. The ‘United Together’ design focuses on showing the strength of the LGBTQIA+ community by coming together through celebration and support.

The installation is part of NE1’s wider placemaking efforts to celebrate the unique areas which make up the city centre, ranging from Chinatown to the Quayside, the Bigg Market to Grainger Town. NE1 plans to work with different parts of the city to identify what makes them distinct and collectively decide how to celebrate their uniqueness.

After feedback from businesses, NE1 made it a key pledge of its five-year BID renewal programme to mark out ‘villages’ in the city and celebrate their distinct identity, qualities, characteristics and personalities. NE1 is keen to encourage businesses, residents and people who work in and visit these areas to help forge these unique identities.

Different parts of the city will be given NE1 signature treatments to reflect their individual characteristics and unique strengths.

Commenting on the first installation and its placemaking significance, Stephen Patterson, Chief Executive, NE1 Ltd said: “NE1 is committed to bringing new life into the city’s public spaces and working with businesses to celebrate and elevate individual areas within our BID boundary.

“Over our coming five-year term, we are committed to celebrating distinct villages in Newcastle and helping them forge their unique identities. We worked closely with community groups and local businesses to agree on a design for the Marlborough Crescent crossing. We have been working on these placemaking efforts for the past year and we are delighted that the crossing has been aptly installed during Pride month.”

Mandy Barker, Founder and Creative Director, of Sail Creative said: "We were commissioned by NE1 to increase the visibility of the Marlborough Crescent area using a creative piece of artwork. As an LGBTQIA-led studio, we couldn’t wait to get started. We worked with communities and venues to gain an insight into what made the area unique and discussed how a large-scale creative project could harness pride in the area. The ‘United Together’ concept is about showing the strength of our LGBTQIA+ community, coming together through celebration and support.

“It is exciting to see the plans for the crossing that we have worked on for so long come to fruition. This is a wonderful addition to the area. The image of the hands clutched together signifies strength, solidarity and support and sends a clear message of hope, celebration, progress and joy. We hope this will be a catalyst for greater things to come for the area, a positive move towards a safer and more inviting space that will build pride, whilst celebrating difference and togetherness.”