Most Creative Train Station Artist Commissions

Navigator North has been appointed by Middlesbrough Council to deliver a programme of artists residencies and commissions which aim to make Middlesbrough the most creative train station in the UK.

The programme forms part of a large-scale project to transform several of Middlesbrough’s cultural anchors including the Central Library, MIMA, The Auxiliary and Platform A with support from The Cultural Development Fund, a Department for Digital, Culture,Media and Sport (DCMS) fund administered by Arts Council England.

Between 2021 and 2023 Navigator North developed and managed Celebrating Hidden Middlesbrough, part of a national £2m High Street Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) programme funded by Middlesbrough Council, Historic England, Arts Council England and Heritage Lottery Fund.

The programme included a series of commissions for The Tunnel Gallery at Middlesbrough Train Station, alongside place-based artist residencies and commissions that invited artists to respond to the history and heritage of the HSHAZ and a High Street Project Space – The Masham on Linthorpe Road.

Following this initiative, this brief is the first in a series of new creative commissions for the train station with applications for an artist residency and a larger commission for the station to be announced at a later date.

The Most Creative Train Station commissions will link to a public art programme developed in partnership with Tees Valley Combined Authority and its five boroughs and delivered by Navigator North and Middlesbrough Art Week until 2026.