The Glasshouse – Sage One Renewal

For more than twenty years, Sage One at The Glasshouse has been one of Gateshead’s defining cultural spaces, welcoming internationally renowned artists, orchestras and performers while providing a home for Royal Northern Sinfonia and supporting generations of musicians, students and audiences. Since opening in 2004, the building has become a national landmark and one of the North East’s most recognisable cultural venues, with Sage One at the heart of that story. Its stage has hosted an extraordinary range of performances, from major names in rock, pop, jazz, folk and classical music to festivals, special commissions and landmark regional events, making the hall part of the cultural memory of the region.

As part of the venue’s biggest programme of improvements since opening, Sage One underwent a major renewal designed to protect and upgrade the hall for the next generation. The first phase formed part of a wider multi-year capital programme, with around £4 million invested in replacing ageing infrastructure and improving the performance environment. Works included a full stage refurbishment, improvements to the power flying system, stage lifts and orchestral risers, alongside major upgrades to cooling systems and other technical infrastructure. Many of these systems had been in place since the building first opened, making the project not simply a refurbishment, but an important investment in the future of one of the UK’s great homes for live music, creative education and artistic expression.

Following the renewal, Jonpaul Kirvan was invited by The Glasshouse to create a series of artworks using sections of the original Sage One stage flooring, transforming material that had supported thousands of performances, rehearsals and events into something that could continue to carry the story of the venue in a new way. Created around The Glasshouse World – Celebrating Achievements, the works included titles such as Creating Experience, Making It Happen, Rising Star and Creative Impact, celebrating not only the artists who have stepped onto the stage over the past two decades, but also the many people behind the scenes whose work has shaped the life of the building.

The finished pieces brought together the physical history of Sage One, the significance of the original stage material and a contemporary creative response, turning part of the venue itself into a lasting celebration of the people, achievements and community that have helped make The Glasshouse such an important part of Gateshead’s cultural identity. For Jonpaul, being trusted to work with material from such an iconic space was both a genuine honour and an opportunity to give something back creatively to a place that has played such a significant role in the cultural life of the region.