The Caper's back on as a popular entertainment night prepares to move into a new home at Baltic art gallery where it will be taking over the riverside building with music, dance, comedy, food and drink this June.
The Great Market Caper had already announced a change of venue from the city centre and now it is just days away from re-launching, under a new name, at Baltic just across the river. Now known as Let’s Caper@Baltic, the event - the first of several planned there - will get under way on June 16.
Organiser Sean Bullick says the Caper will take over five floors of the gallery, save for Six restaurant at the top, and will operate in a similar way as it did at its former home in the Grainger Market where 'caperers' would wander at their leisure, discovering the likes of pop-up bars, live music and comedy performances around every corner.
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And there are plans, he says, to add to the programme, with short films on show at the gallery whose own exhibitions will boost the attractions still further. "It's a fantastic venue," said Sean.
"In terms of the programme, the sky's the limit really." And he's open to suggestions too.
The Caper first launched at the city centre market in September, establishing a series of events which changed each month and took on special themes at Halloween and Christmas. Explaining the change of venue, Sean said: "They were just becoming too difficult.
"The market doesn't have the infrastructure to put on events." They would have install this each time and among the issues, given the age of the Victorian building, was electricity which wasn't always reliable, he said.
But he added that "it proved the concept": he know the concept of the Caper worked and that it could be transferred. He also has been encouraged to think of its potential in other cities, saying that with inquiries coming in from further afield it is possible that the Caper will “go on tour”.
Baltic feels like the right venue for it, he thinks, and conversations with the Gateshead gallery proved so positive that there are already Caper dates in the diary through to next March. Because Baltic tends to be busy at weekends, the Caper will be swapping its traditional Saturday night slot for Fridays when the hope is also to take advantage of city workers on the look-out for an end-of-week celebration.
Awaiting visitors at June's event will be a spread of live music, comedy, vintage stalls, DJ BeauJack sets and some 'left-field' films plus salsa lessons with Brazilian dancer Andre Viana and food pop-ups. There will be five or six bars throughout the building, serving drinks ranging from local beers to cocktails, as well as a jazz-infused chill-out zone.
A top chef - whose identity is yet to be revealed - is also set to take part, following in the wake of Newcastle favourite Terry Laybourne and TV's Si King, one half of The Hairy Bikers who took part in a Great Market Caper and is also apparently keen to make a future return visit. The night's line-up will include music performances by Sisi, Cortney Dixon and Moon Wax in the Baltic's Front Room bar overlooking the river and comedy hosted by Catherine Young and Mike Milligan, with Sascha Lo and Howka Charvaz, in the Baltic Kitchen.
Sean has aways referred to the Caper as a "sweet shop for grow-ups," with its pick-and-mix of treats under one roof, and he thinks Baltic's lay-out is ideally suited to this. The gallery seems to agree.
Kate Gray, its director of enterprise and public, said “Let’s Caper@Baltic is an interesting departure for us and we are really excited about staying up late after hours. Welcoming so many people for an evening celebrating music, comedy and cooking alongside Baltic’s exhibitions in our iconic building - collectively so much that’s brilliant about the region - is an opportunity we felt was too good to miss.”
Tickets Let’s Caper@Baltic, costing £15 in advance, are on sale online here.
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