SALTo Arts Productions

Bringing communities together in celebration, making meaningful things happen and building traditions.

Making partnerships with local groups and individuals helping realise their ambitions for their neighbourhood.

Using modest budgets as the seed to raise private sponsorship and grant funding.

Adding value to existing programmes of development work.

We believe that community activity and celebration knit together allowing new stories to be told about a neighbourhood or a city.

Personal anecdotes become the stories that define new traditions, gradually changing perceptions.

When local people take part in making things happen the community starts to take ownership and works with local authorities and organisations as a partner rather than a passive consumer

Whitley Bay Carnival

Our team have been working with the residents and business community in Whitley Bay in partnership with Whitley Bay Big Local and New Prospects Association to create the Whitley Bay Carnival since 2014.

Since it’s revival,  Whitley Bay Carnival has grown from a half day parade and exhibition involving 200 promenaders and an audience of around 2,000 to a two day festival actively engaging over 2,000 participants and attracting audiences of around 30,000 from far beyond the town. The Carnival has contributed to local pride and played a key role in changing the narrative of this seaside town from one of neglect and negativity to pride and optimism.

Find out about this years Carnival

Whitley Bay Carnival 2024

Next May 25th and 26th, 2024, we hope to be inviting Whitley Bay to take a leap out of the ordinary for the 11th Whitley Bay Carnival

For the first time we are starting from scratch to raise the matched funds we need to be able to apply for grants at the level we need to make it all happen. Tyne Tees Entertainments, TJ’s American Pastimes, the Whitley Whaler, Scoops, Whitley Stay Di-Meo’sMiss Persnickety and Big Purple Box Creative have pledged support but we have a long way to go. You can help by donating whatever you can afford, every single £1 makes a difference – it doesn’t have to be much.

You can also help by sharing the funding link in your networks.

Since 2015 local businesses have been the backbone of the carnival helping to reach the necessary match for grant applications. Some have dropped in and out but Di-Meo’s, TJ’s American Pastimes, The Whitley Whaler and Big Purple Box have been with us from the start and we thank them for their support.

We hope new stalwarts Tyne Tees Entertainments, Fisherman’s Bay, Pure Knead, Scoops, The Round Table and Whitley Stay will stick with us for 2024 and we are hoping that Pantrinis, the Crab and Waltzer and The Venetian will come back! All of their support has been so important.

Pageantry, Mardi Gras and Carnival

North Tyneside Council first commissioned us to produce the children’s Pageant for the Mouth of the Tyne Festival in 2017 and in summer 2018 we began working with Newcastle City Council and Vamos to develop the celebratory community offer in the city.

Bedlington Street Fair

On August Bank Holiday Saturday 2018 SALTo Arts staged the Bedlington Live Street fair with a brief from West Bedlington Town Council to produce an affordable event with something for everyone. Along with live music, street theatre and circus we ran activities from drumming and carnival crafts to cookery and circus skills with Chef Sam Storey making 20 kilos of strawberry jam in the Bedlington Jam Factory with the aid of around 100 local youngsters. Local businesses reported busy trade on the day and stall holders Sea Drift Design had their best trading day of the summer. 

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