Bench Encounters Sunderland and South Tyneside

The next phase of our project, Bench Encounters, is taking place in Sunderland and South Tyneside this Autumn 2025.

Working with both older and younger men, Associate Director, Alex Elliot, will fasilitate everyday conversations taking place between the men, on benches. Alex will highlight moments, which, although appear insignificant at first, when looked back on, we may realise hold great amounts of meaning. Alex will co-create a series of short films or performance pieces to be shared as part of Cultural Spring’s Nibbles program in Sunderland and South Tyneside, highlighting the importance of this kind of intergenerational exchange.

This Bench Encounters project was inspired by the Friendship Bench initiative, set up by psychiatrist Dixon Chibanda, in response to a lack of mental health services available in Zimbabwe. He trained grandmas to deliver basic CBT therapy to younger people on benches outside.

https://www.theculturalspring.org/bitesize