Black Cats Stories

Music in the Minster

Curiosity Creative facilitated digital storytelling workshops with Sunderland AFC who want to share their stories about supporting the Black Cats: the highs, the lows, and all the adventures along the way.

The Black Cats Stories project has been part of the Opera for Sunderland programme. The Opera for Sunderland will be written by award-winning children’s author David Almond and Spanish composer Marcos Fernandez. The project has been a partnership between Music in the Minster, The Foundation of Light and Sunderland City Council and funded through the Cultural Spring and The Joicey Trust.

Through a series of workshops held at the Stadium of the Light a group of Sunderland Football fans shared stories with each other and about their passion for the club. The project culminated in a special screening event of the stories with family and friends at the Stadium of Light.

The finished stories will also be screened at libraries throughout Sunderland and will also become a part of our own digital story archive, which collects stories of people here in the North East.

Main Image thanks to David Tierman.

Music in the Minster is a Sunderland based charity creating opportunities for people in Sunderland to get involved in opera and related music theatre. Our activities range from workshops, choirs and vocal coaching, to fully staged productions, offering opportunities for people to get involved in singing, acting, creating costumes and stagecraft.

We approached Alex at Curiosity Creative while we were developing our 2015 project An Opera for Sunderland - creating an opera for the City of Sunderland with football at the heart of the story. We were keen to explore ways we could engage Sunderland AFC fans during the creation of the opera, to create a snapshot of what football means to the people of Wearside. Having seen the work of Curiosity Creative on the Memory Box project, digital storytelling seemed the perfect way to do this.

Alex has provided advice and guidance throughout the project, supporting us to shape and structure the project in the best way possible for our participants and partner organisations - the Foundation of Light and Sunderland City Council Library Services – and always being flexible and responsive to participant and project needs.

Alex and Chris provided an enriching experience for our project participants, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere that encouraged everyone to share their stories, and supporting their skills and confidence using digital equipment and software. We’re thrilled with the stories created during the project, and most importantly our project participants are thrilled with their stories; we can’t wait to share them!
Louise Taylor, Project Manager, Music in the Minster