North East Artist Commission Announced

An Open Call for visual artists to create a mural on the wall in the 1867 Hall, Tyne Theatre & Opera House.

Tyne Theatre & Opera House has a blank wall as part of the newly developed 1867 Hall. We invite commissions from local independent artists to create a mural which reflects the heritage of our Victorian venue and the community that surrounds it.

The available space is 9ft x 9ft square (image below). The artwork must be an original piece of art, with your idea responding to the theatre’s unique heritage and place in the community.

As we envisage the space may be re-developed in the next few years, the mural will need to be painted onto a canvas or similar that will then be attached to the wall with batons, rather than painted directly onto the wall. It is likely that the mural will be in situ for approximately 2 years.

We would like the project to include two half-day open sessions with community participants. These could be research-based sessions or facilitated creative sessions. The community engagement aspect of the commission will take place at the venue (date to be agreed between the artist and TTOH) and supported by TTOH staff.

Timeline
Work can be completed on the freelancer’s own timeline but we would hope installation could take place during April 2026.

Fee
The fee for this work is £2100 to include preparation, materials and facilitation of the community sessions alongside completion of the Work. TTOH will cover preparation of the space including provision of the canvas, installation/destall, and support of the community sessions.

Applications
Applications should be equivalent to 1 side of A4 in total or a maximum 2-minute audio/video recording, and include:

• A brief artist biog including links to your previous work or webpage that support your application.
• An outline of your proposal including any separate project stages. Please make sure this includes information on the community session and how your proposed mural reflects the heritage/community brief.

Please note that we are inviting applications from North East based artists only.

To apply, please download the full commission brief and submit your application via email to rachel.snape@ttoh.uk by Friday 13 February 2026.

The commission is supported by Creative Central NCL.