Alongside partners Washington Heritage Partnership, University of Sunderland, Baseline Shift and Arts Centre Washington, We Make Culture contributed to the creation and development of ‘The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass - Collecting and Sharing Stories of Washington’, an ambitious heritage project that worked alongside communities in Washington to collect and share experiences of life in a new town.

The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass was created to celebrate Washington’s 60th birthday by collecting family and community stories from the birth of the New Town, and utilising them as inspiration to create songs, poems, podcasts, artworks and live performances.

On 13th March, WMC had the privilege to participate in a Celebration Performance at the Arts Centre Washington to showcase the art created in honour of Washington’s history! In this live performance, WMC musicians David Brewis (Field Music) and Paige Temperley shared the songs they had written, and were joined by Young Musicians Project members Chloe Jones, Lydia Harvey and Leighton Hepburn. The young musicians had also written songs exploring Washington’s stories, as part of a summer school they participated in at the Arts Centre Washington. The performances were topped off by Washy-born, award winning poet Nasim Asl and gorgeous visuals by Baseline Shift.

You can now hear the songs featured in 10 themed podcasts produced throughout the project using the link bellow!

The Ballad of the Crocodile and the Underpass is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and supported by Sunderland Culture and the Sunderland City Council.