maw25: thank you

That's a wrap on MAW25, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who made this edition possible — artists, collaborators, volunteers, audiences, and partners alike. What an extraordinary week it has been.

This year’s festival, under the theme In All Possible Worlds, sparked vital debate, curiosity, and much-needed possibilities for our layered and intricate world. It invited the town to imagine futures shaped by resilience, connection, and collective imagination, activating empty shops, streets, and unexpected corners across Middlesbrough with work by local, national, and international artists.

With an eclectic programme of exhibitions, performances, screenings, workshops, public interventions, and critical conversations, the festival came alive through diverse voices, inspiring fresh ideas and new ways of thinking. Highlights included:

The North East Open Call and New Graduate Award exhibitions, which showcased emerging talent from across the region.

Exhibitions across town, including Weapon & Wound, And Where Now?, Svitlo (Light), Slow Doom Scroll, Apartheid Apartments, 22 Carat Gold, Residual Echo and more — each exploring threads of memory, identity, politics, and place.

Live performances and walkabouts, from uncanny street presences by Jeremy Hutchison, Linda Cassels, Filippos Tsitsopoulos and Kirsten Luckins, to intimate encounters in shopfronts with Liberty Hodes, and late-night gigs from Industrial Coast.

Screenings, talks, and public programmes that questioned power, truth, technology, and the ways we see one another.

The Ukrainian Takeover and Closing Party at The Auxiliary, curated by Timothy Maxymenko — a celebratory evening that marked a fitting send-off and a hopeful introduction to our new gallery space.

Relive the festival highlights with our online gallery.

We’re already thinking about next year’s edition. We can’t wait!

Middlesbrough Art Week was born in 2017 as an artist-led festival powered by The Auxiliary Project Space. MAW supports artist ecologies in the North East, connecting artistic practice and ideas with like-minded peers nationally and internationally, and is committed to practising and not just preaching principles of fair work and social justice.

Without continued support from our funders and from you, we wouldn’t be able to keep doing what we’re doing. Your donations help fund our children's programme and enable us to commission and present ambitious new work by artists in the North East. Head to our donations page here.

Thank you! 💙