UPDATE – Berwick Parade heralded as a ‘triumph’ for Berwick

Over three spectacular evenings from 28 February – 2 March 2025, Berwick Barracks opened its historic gates to welcome over 2,500 people to watch in wonder as the walls of the Parade Ground transformed into a joyful procession of giant figures moving and dancing – Berwick Parade.

Artist Matthew Rosier’s Berwick Parade, produced by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust, features 30 minutes of film footage of 850 people from across the community including Nancy’s Dancers, Riders of the Bounds (and their horses), local school children, the Salmon Queen and her court, some sheep and a Pilates class, accompanied by a live band of local musicians and the Melrose and District Pipes and Drums.

Honouring the town’s strong history of parades, Berwick Parade marks the first commission for Berwick Shines, The Living Barracks Cultural Engagement programme managed by the Maltings (Berwick) Trust.

Berwick Parade has been commissioned by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust on behalf of Create Berwick. It has also been supported through The Cultural Development Fund, a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) fund administered by Arts Council England - as part of the Living Barracks programme.

You can follow Berwick Shines on Instagram and Facebook. 

British artist Matthew Rosier was commissioned by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust on behalf of Create Berwick to bring a spectacular community-led installation, Berwick Parade, to the Barracks parade ground between Friday 28 February – Sunday 2 March 2025. To find out more contact: berwickshines@maltingsberwick.co.uk and follow us on Instagram and Facebook. 

In October we issued an Open Call for Residencies and Commissions to artists and creative practitioners across the UK and beyond, and we received over 100 applications! Watch this space for upcoming announcements about the March 2025 – March 2026 programme. 

The programme’s inspiration is the heritage of the town and Berwick Barracks, which is undergoing a major refurbishment to bring all the empty buildings and spaces on the site back into use; providing a striking new home for the town’s archives and collections, contemporary visual art and The King’s Own Scottish Borderers Regimental Museum on a single landmark site. 

The legacy of Berwick Shines programme will support a long-term engagement with the Barracks site, museum collections and archives. This is an exciting multi-partner project, and while the development of the Barracks site is taking place, artists will undertake residencies and commissions i inspired by the extensive heritage collections of the Berwick and the Barracks, which will be presented across the town.  

Berwick Shines is the Living Barracks Cultural Engagement programme delivered by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust and supported by the Cultural Development Fund, a Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) fund administered by Arts Council England.