Stoke-on-Trent: celebrating a ceramics biennial in a centenary year
As Stoke-on-Trent prepares to welcome back Britain’s biggest ceramics event during the city’s very special centenary year, Ian Weightman takes stock of an incredible city wide celebration – with still more to come.
British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) recently launched a six-week programme of events and exhibitions for its ninth edition of a festival which, this year, takes place from 6 September to 19 October – with free exhibitions, screenings, talks and events dispersed across the former Spode factory site in the heart of Stoke-on-Trent.
It not only follows hot on the heels of Stoke-on-Trent being named a World Craft City, but also brings yet another high voltage surge of arts and culture energy into a city which is currently enjoying the sort of year which could only ever happen once in a hundred years.
During the year, the story of how King George V surprised everyone by granting Stoke its city status on 5 June 1925 – on a day when he had travelled up to Stoke with the sole intention of laying a foundation stone for the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary – has become the stuff of legend.
And it’s that brief but important chapter in the history of The Potteries which, in turn, has inspired a present-day postscript – of people being galvanised, inspired and even taken aback by the sheer quality and consistency of 365 days of celebration.
It’s fair to say that while Bradford holds the UK City of Culture title for 2025, Stoke-on-Trent is enjoying its own, equivalent, endurance test. A test which it is passing with flying colours.
No-one could ever have anticipated that the Stoke-on-Trent centenary could come close to Bradford’s reign UK City of Culture.
At the end of last year – at around the same time the Government announced an additional £5m in funding for the City of Culture to take the total spend to £15m – “StokeonTrent100” was busy generating a fraction of that sum through funding from successful bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and Arts Council England; and by forming partnerships with other organisations across the city.
It barely raised an eyebrow, or a column inch of coverage, outside of the city. But during the past six months – as the celebrations gradually brought everyone and everything together, more and more events, exhibitions and activities were tied to the centenary’s mast as the year-long programme of events started to grow – and glow.
It’s a year which has seen the City of Stoke-on-Trent’s profile reach a level that has not reached in decades. Or possibly, even, over this past century.
Channel Four’s most recent season of the hugely popular Great Pottery Throw Down helped to give the year a flying start in January. People have been asking for work by the potters on the show go on show in its spiritual home for years. This year, six ceramic birdbaths made during a special episode dedicated to the centenary were mounted as a one-room exhibition at The Gladstone Pottery Museum – and the rest, as they say, is history.
But what a history…
Just over halfway there, and it seems like there’s another major announcement or unveiling coming out of the Stoke100 office every week.
Highlights so far have included the 1882 Ltd. inspired exhibition at The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery of Robbie Williams’ work, alongside 60 eye-catching plates – each one of them decorated by a high profile artist or designer – which will be auctioned in September, following an identical display at Fortnum & Mason in London, with all proceeds going towards local charities and ceramics apprenticeships.
The appearance of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the Victoria Hall in Hanley which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 took place during the same Centenary Weekend that included a People’s Parade – celebrated on arguably the worst day of weather this entire summer – but with such pride and passion that it’s likely to be talked about in another 100 years time.
The National Gallery in London selected Stoke-on-Trent to be the inaugural staging post for its Art On Your Doorstepinnovative travelling exhibition of artwork touring the country.
World records have been set, centenary cocktails have been created, a centenary ale has been brewed, a music festival has been staged, and numerous pottery firms did what they have done best for more than a century – designing, making and selling magnificent eye-catching commemorative ware that captures a moment in history on clay.
The world premiere of The Grand Babylon Hotel by local author Arnold Bennett – one of the most famous celebrities in Britain at the very time Stoke was being granted its city status – will reach the stage of The New Vic Theatre in September. That’s the same month the ‘100 Years, 100 Faces’ mural (with associated book) will take its place amongst other artworks, street art and statues around the city; and when the 2025 BCB will bring it’s own touch of international glamour to the Old Spode Works.
Watch out too for the launch of the Centenary Curry (with associated trail); the 40th Stoke Beer Festival; the full opening of Goods Yard, the multi-million pound projects that will help to change the city’s landscape; and various legacy projects which will keep the party spirit running into 2026, and beyond.
And join the people of Stoke-on-Trent, as they hold their collective breath to discover if they are named one of the world’s UNESCO Creative Cities in 2026.
But the key reason for belting out the Stokie version of See You In September is British Ceramics Biennial – yet another international quality act to reach the main stage in Stoke-on-Trent during its centenary year.
If it had happened either side of 2025, it would have been a big miss, but – as it is – one of the biggest ceramics events in the world will soon be helping to spin the spotlight onto Stoke-on-Trent with its line-up of internationally acclaimed contemporary ceramic artists and some exciting, fresh new talent: a heady mix of commissions and partnerships, drawing on Stoke-on-Trent’s industrial heritage and creative spirit.
What was it King George said, way back when, on 5 June 1925…?
“It has often been a pleasure for me to visit this place that has such a great artistic and industrial mix of talent and fortitude. The development and importance of your town and industry enable me gladly to consent to the request that the title and status of city shall be conferred upon your county borough”.
A place, no less, that still possess all of that “artistic and industrial mix of talent and fortitude” to show the world just what it takes to celebrate a 100th birthday.
For more on Stoke-on-Trent’s Centenary events, check out https://sot100.org.uk
