The Auxiliary

28/07/2026

🗣️ It's official, we're finally opening our doors! After months of delays and many bumps in the road, there's light at the end of the tunnel. ✨

On Wednesday, September 9th, we'll be unveiling The Auxiliary now that its capital development is complete. The project has been led by Middlesbrough Council and funded by Middlesbrough Development Corporation, DCMS's Cultural Development Fund, and Tees Valley Combined Authority. The Auxiliary is a National Portfolio Organisation for Arts Council England since 2023.

With Middlesbrough on the City of Culture longlist, The Auxiliary reopening and the Turner Prize coming to town, the future is bright for Boro, and we love being a part of it.

Join us on September 9th from 2pm to 4pm as we celebrate reopening. We'll have music, tea and coffee, and guided tours led by Directors Liam Slevin and Edel O'Reilly from 2pm to 3pm.

📅 Wednesday, 9th September
⏰ 2pm - 4pm
📍 31 Station Street, Middlesbrough, TS1 1SR

🔗 Find out more: https://www.theauxiliary.co.uk/news/the-auxiliary-opening

📸 Rachel Deakin

We are Middlesbrough Tees Valley Combined Authority Arts Council England

27/07/2026

👀 Looking for studio space in Middlesbrough!? We have a few spaces available.

📅 Join us on Saturday August 8th from 11:00am to 2:00pm for Open Studios.

🤝 Enjoy a tour of The Auxiliary and sign up for your space.

🪐 Studios are available on a first-come, first-served basis with a rolling contract.

🔒 To secure your studio, you’ll need ID, a reference contact and £100 deposit. Card payments are preferred.

💌 Any questions? Drop us a line.

24/07/2026

The Auxiliary Project Space will officially open its new £1.6m creative complex in Middlesbrough this September, providing studios, galleries and…

22/07/2026

✨ Moments in Sound at Sonic Arts Week 2026 ✨

An exhibition that brought together three artists who reimagined traditional instruments as tools for sonic exploration, transformation, and discovery. Each piece invited audiences to listen differently, uncovering hidden resonances, unseen forces, and new relationships between sound, material, technology, and environment.

Vivienne Griffin reimagined the harp as a sculptural instrument, augmented with custom mechanisms, voice, and modular synthesis. Shown both as a live opening-night performance and as an installation running through the festival.

Nell Catchpole's Gongs of Teesside brought steel gongs, forged by local blacksmiths, to sites across Teesside and East Cleveland, tracing the metal's journey from the earth, through industry, back toward the sea.

Floris Vanhoof's Antenna turned a baby grand piano into a receiver for electromagnetic waves, making the invisible signals of our environment audible. A nod to Alvin Lucier's Sferics.

🔗 We're always looking to grow and improve. If you joined us for SAW26, we'd love to hear your thoughts here: https://www.illuminate-data.org.uk/survey/dgdtpx

📸 Rachel Deakin

14/07/2026

✨ UK City of Culture 2029! ✨

Boro’s City of Culture 2029 bid will soon be submitted. It’s been amazing to witness ideas develop and grow among many passionate and talented people. Middlesbrough is full of grit and charm and is so deserving of City of Culture. ❤️

🎶 You know you’re old if you remember this iconic tune. Thank you to mercuryvapour.co.uk for keeping this snippet alive.

We are Middlesbrough

02/07/2026

There are only three gigs left of this year’s Sonic Arts Week!

this evening we welcome Zurkas Tepla and Moa Pillar to The Auxiliary. Zurkas' unsettling sounds are adorned with spurtive synths that shift from subtle to cinematic, presented in rich, rusty, roomy ambience. Moa Pillar brings deconstructed trance, techno, IDM and experimental sound design, a body of work both diverse and deeply intertwined in nature.

Friday sees the legendary Mick Harris, former Na**lm Death drummer and creator of the term "grindcore", performing as Blare Weight Unit.

On Saturday Mozzenjammer close the week with ‘Themeless’, an evening celebrating genrelessness in an industry intent on putting artists in boxes.

🔊 Thurs 2 July: Industrial Coast Presents Zurkas Tepla, Moa Pillar & Monocrete

The Auxiliary Project Space | 7pm - 11pm
💥 Fri 3 July: Industrial Coast Presents Blare Weight Unit
The Auxiliary Project Space | 7pm - 11pm

🎶 Sat 4 July: Mozzenjammer Presents Yoshizawa, Divorce Finance, Motherman & Offscreen Dog
The Auxiliary Project Space | 7:00pm - 11pm

🎟️ Get your tickets here: https://www.sonicartsweek.com/tickets

30/06/2026

🌱 Foraging For Stories Workshop for 11 to 16 year olds 🌱

Led by Carmen Marcus and Grace Stubbings, this workshop offers young people a chance to explore the natural world through language, sound, and the senses. Following a sensory trail, participants respond to creative prompts, experiment with different forms of writing, and engage in deep listening exercises with microphones. Their individual responses are woven together into a collective "word journey," a single shared piece built from everyone's voice.

This workshop offers a space to slow down, notice, imagine, and create in response to the environment around us.

It’s free to attend; sign up here: https://ForagingforStories.eventbrite.co.uk

📍 The Auxiliary Project Space, Middlesbrough
🗓️ Wed 1 July
⏰ 5pm - 7pm

29/06/2026

Join us for a day of creativity, conversation and shared experience as we gather around art, food and community at The Auxiliary. Rooted in the spirit of the Common Ground project; a community food-growing and art making programme. This special Community Day invites people of all ages to come together across a programme of activity, performance and reflection.

Lunch is provided by Farjana from MOSUM, a Bangladeshi women's group promoting Bengali culture and language in Middlesbrough.

Please let us know you’re coming here: https://tally.so/r/jaEjrR

Community Meal - 12pm
Performance with Alia Gargum - 1:30pm
Exhibition Walk-Through - 2pm
Garden Activity - 2:00pm

27/06/2026

😍 Sonic Arts Week is here! 🎼

Nine things not to miss at Sonic Arts Week ⬇

The annual event, running now through to July 4, takes over Middlesbrough and brings together workshops, performances, exhibitions, gigs and immersive installations.

It's brought to you by The Auxiliary, an artist-led project space with 27 artist studios, a gallery, and a music venue and social space.

1⃣ Summat For The Bairns Workshop at Orange Pip Market
A fun, creative and playful drop-in workshop for the whole family on Saturday June 27, from 12pm - 3pm

2⃣ Foraging For Stories
A free workshop invites 11 to 16 year olds to connect with nature through words, sound, and sensory experience.
Wednesday July 1, from 5pm - 7pm at The Auxiliary, 31 Station Street, Middlesbrough. Free to attend, but sign-up is required.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/foraging-for-stories-tickets-1990393233742?aff=oddtdtcreator

3⃣ Common Ground Sound
Featuring two sound pieces, one is the story of Common Ground, a community food growing initiative developed at The Auxiliary Project Space, and the other, food stories developed by the women of Creative Minds with Teesside storyteller Rumana Yasmine. The exhibition includes portraits taken during the Creative Minds sessions by photographer Rachel Deakin.
Through to Saturday July 4, closed on Monday, from 10am to 3pm at The Auxiliary.

4⃣ Music, Memories & Stories at The Station
A day of local tales, theatre, epic poetry and extra-fun folk music. Featuring Bob Beagrie, Stewart Forth, Aisha Lama, 3-Minute-Arts, Everwitch and Music at the Heart of Teesdale.
Saturday June 27, 11.30am - 3.30pm, Middlesbrough Train Station.

5⃣ Community Day For All
A special Community Day at The Auxiliary celebrating food, creativity, storytelling, a free shared community meal and shared experiences from 12pm to 2.30pm on Wednesday July 1
Sign ups are required for lunch: https://tally.so/r/jaEjrR

6⃣ The Wheelie Bin Sound System
This mobile street performance transforms everyday objects into a roaming sound system, rolling through Captain Cook Square in the town and filling the streets with bass and beats.
Saturday June 27, from 12.45pm to 1.30pm and 3.30pm to 4pm.
Saturday July 4, 11am to 12pm, 1pm to 1.30pm and 3.30pm to 4pm.

7⃣ We Make Sound Workshop
If you’re inspired by all the Sonic Arts Week artists and performers, you can make your own sounds at this drop-in workshop. No previous experience required, it will introduce a variety of easy-to-use sound and music making machines and technology.
Suitable for ages 8 and above, Saturday June 27 and Saturday July 4 from 11am to 4pm in Captain Cook Square, next to Waterstones.

8⃣ Rimski & Handkerchief’s Piano Bicycle and Double Bassicle
Singing timeless songs of momentous, melancholic and magical magnitude, while performing an extraordinary dance on wheels on Saturday June 27, 12pm to 12.45pm and 2pm to 2.45pm, Captain Cook Square.

9⃣ Jasmine Padgett and Jorge Boehringer
Two musicians and artists bringing an antique living room to the streets of Middlesbrough, complete with weird and wonderful instruments, a treasure trove of sonic delights for your ears on Saturday June 27, 11am to 12pm and 2pm to 3pm, Outside former House of Fraser on Linthorpe Road.

Alongside the free daytime events there are ticketed evening gigs not to be missed, from former Na**lm Death drummer Mick Harris performing as Blare Weight Unit to internationally acclaimed duo Saint Abdullah & Eomac, and more. Tickets are available at sonicartsweek.com/tickets

Picture by Rachel Deakin