Placing artistic experimentation and collaboration at its core, GIFT’s annual three day festival offers a supportive platform for artists to come together, to push the boundaries of their practice. International in scope and interconnected in approach, GIFT is a carefully curated conversation, providing a meeting point for meaningful exchange between artists and audiences based in North East England, and the wider world. 

 

Founded in 2011 by Festival Director Kate Craddock, in response to a gap in the regional cultural offer, GIFT is committed to presenting contemporary and experimental practices that otherwise wouldn’t be seen in the North East. 

 

The festival supports artists at all stages of their careers, enabling them to use GIFT as a space to come together, to take risks, and test out new ideas. We embed opportunities for audiences to get involved, and to connect with artists and their work across all festival activities. 

 

GIFT links otherwise disparate organisations and locations - with events traversing the culturally regenerated Gateshead quayside and the commercially redeveloped town centre - and beyond. GIFT serves as a direct response to a location in transition and flux.​