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New opportunities for Sunderland graduates

“WE want our graduates to stay in Sunderland.”

That was the message from Councillor Paul Watson, the Leader of Sunderland City Council, at the grand opening of a new £6.5million business and arts centre in the city’s cultural quarter.

And a Sunderland University photography graduate, Mark Shotton, the first person to exhibit at the new centre, said: “Students should join us.”

Cllr Watson and Mr Shotton were just two of the many guests at the official opening of thePlace in Sunniside.

ThePlace, in Athenaeum Street, offers a number of performance and conference spaces, an art gallery and studio, a range of business suites and a café, restaurant and bar facilities.

The new centre has already attracted interest in its first few months of opening.

Ben Hall, Director of the Sunniside Partnership, which is overseeing the regeneration of the area, said: “We’ve invested £6million into thePlace and we’ve already attracted an eclectic range of creative businesses.

“This building is absolutely key to our overall ambition for the area. It clearly shows to the private sector that we are serious about the regeneration of Sunniside.”

He added: “We are looking for a broad spectrum of creative industries. There is a lot of work we are going to be commissioning.

“We have fantastic courses at Sunderland University which are really well respected and some very talented graduates. I think what we need to do is retain and capture some of this talent for the city.”

Cllr Watson described the centre as acting as a catalyst for the arts and creative businesses in the city and hoped Sunderland graduates will use its facilities.

He said: “If we can create the opportunities for graduates to take up then that obviously gives them that option. I am quite sure some of them will take advantage of these options.

“Quite a lot of money has been spent here and we want to create these opportunities. We want graduates to stay here and raise the aspirations and whole standard of the city.”

Mr Shotton, whose exhibition of photographs of famous stars who appeared at the Sunderland Mecca, said: “It has been thought that Sunderland graduates will come here.

“It would be ideal if a group of students who have graduated created a creative community and based themselves here. That would be really good.”