Sting backs Baltic Gateshead with major donation and performance to launch £10m Endowment Fund

Having welcomed its 10 millionth visitor in April 2025, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead has announced an ambitious initiative to fundraise a £10 million Endowment Fund.

Wallsend-born musician Sting has generously donated to Baltic to help launch this fund – which will combat the ongoing challenge of rising costs that threaten free entry in a region where a third of children grow up in poverty.

As the most visited free cultural venue in the North East, annually Baltic engages 183,000 children and young people through activities and programmes that enhance their confidence, skills, and wellbeing.

The Endowment will safeguard this crucial activity and creative futures on Tyneside by sustaining free access to Baltic’s exhibitions, its building, and creative learning and community programmes.

Sting will also give an exclusive music performance and Q&A at Baltic's flagship Fundraising Gala on October 30 2025 to an audience of philanthropists and patrons of the arts, to further support the initiative.

Sting said: “For me this is about legacy. The culture of the North East made me who I am, and I am proud of those roots. I want to acknowledge how lucky I have been and pay that debt back.

“Giving to Baltic is a way of saying thank you and ensuring that the next generation of young people on Tyneside have access to arts and culture.

"I’m hoping that my donation to Baltic’s Endowment Fund will encourage others to give. We need to do everything we can to safeguard public funding through the Arts Council and bolster philanthropic giving.

"This is about investing in the future of the North East. It’s about unleashing the creativity of children and young people so they can dream and think big”.

The fundraising gala will also stage an auction of unique experiences, and art works donated by internationally renowned artists Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Cornelia Parker.

Celebrated South Tyneside-born singer songwriter Nadine Shah is confirmed to open the proceedings.

Baltic Director, Sarah Munro said: “We are incredibly grateful to Sting for his generous donation which is a major step in establishing a crucially needed £10 million Endowment.

"We are a much-loved gallery, welcoming 400,000 visitors through our doors each year, platforming artists, connecting communities and inspiring children and young people. We need to preserve this for generations to come.”

Baltic Chair of Trustees, Kirsty Lang said: "The North East of England has a long history of creativity. New technologies that changed the world were invented in this region from the locomotive to the lightbulb.

"We want to nurture the creative spark in our young people so they can be optimistic about their future. Sting’s generous gift will help us do that.”

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness added: “A big part of my mission as Mayor is to inspire our children to think big and dream big from an early age, so that every child growing up in the North East has the confidence and skills to fulfil their potential.

"Our cultural centres have a huge role to play so it is amazing to see Sting and Baltic come together.”