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Sunderland’s impressive pool of non-professional performing talent is to be given another opportunity to shine.

After the success of the 2022 Open House event back in February, the call has gone out for Wearsiders of any age and with any performing talent to get in touch for Open House 2023, a showcase for the City’s amateur superstars at the The Fire Station in High Street West.

Next year’s Open House will be during February’s half-term holiday and will give a platform to community performers, from any background and with any type of performing talent.

There will be two performances, on Friday and Saturday, February 24 and 25, 2023. Each performance should be no longer than 15 minutes. Performers will also be able to rehearse on The Fire Station stage earlier in the day of their performance.

Open House at The Fire Station is for any non-professional performer(s) from Sunderland. Picture by Mark Savage.

Helen Green, head of performance at Sunderland Culture, is producing Open House.

She said: “This will be another celebration of community performing arts in the city and everyone is welcome: singers, dancers, musicians, theatre groups, magicians, circus acts, comedians - groups or individuals of any age.

“This year’s Open House was brilliant and both the performers and audience members did us proud.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming some performers back from last time but would love to give this opportunity to as many new groups as possible.

“Sunderland is a hotbed of artistic talent and we want the city to be proud of our community performers. You don’t have to be super-talented and we’re not looking for professionals. But we do want to be bombarded with applications.

“Our performances will be as diverse and as inclusive as possible and I just can’t wait for the applications to start flooding in. We’ll do our best to accommodate as many performers as we can, but there are a limited amount of slots available, so my advice would be to apply now.”

An application form as well as further information can be found on Sunderland Culture’s website www.sunderlandculture.org.uk/openhouse. The deadline for applications is Sunday, January 8, 2023.

New Year’s Eve musical party hosted at the Fire Station

Open House is for community performers and is not open to professional artists.

Friends and families will be able to buy tickets from The Fire Station’s ticket office, or online, closer to the performance dates.

Chance for amateur stars to shine at The Fire Station in 2023