HISTORY

Star & Shadow started its life in the early 2000s with screenings and events at the Side Cinema, Waygood Gallery and Bookville from 2001 to 2005. It was made up of people with ideas about open source culture, direct action, artist-run spaces, radical politics, DIY music and film, LGBTQ+ identity and community activism.

In 2006, we redeveloped a building on Stepney Bank, in the Ouseburn area of Newcastle and programmed alternative, independent events, films, parties, gigs and festivals for nearly 10 years. We were just tenants and when the landlord sold the building we had to move.

In 2015, through a loan from Newcastle City Council, we bought a former derelict furniture warehouse on Warwick Street in Newcastle’s East End. We spent 3 years fundraising and rebuilding and redeveloping the space. We reopened in 2018. In 2019 we won the national RIBA MacEwen Award ‘Architecture for the common good’