LADS LADS LADS
We start by paying attention to what’s really going on - Lads Lads Lads came from conversations with young men about identity, pressure and expectation. From there, it developed into a project built on trust, honesty and shared experience.
WHAT IS LADS LADS LADS?
LADS LADS LADS seeks to reframe what masculinity looks like in Hartlepool today, bringing together local lads to take part in a creative training programme with local artists, giving them hands on experience in producing, community arts and the creative industry.
Over the last few years, we’ve heard loads from lads about the misconceptions people have about them, especially round here. We want to create a space to talk about that, challenge some of those perceptions and show a different side of what it means to be a young man in Hartlepool.
PHASE TWO:
LADS LADS LADS phase two is set to commence in late 2026, running throughout early to mid 2027. The second phase will see local lads introduced to the creative industry through creative workshops, facilitated discussions and support from local creatives. The project will result in a public campaign & a newspaper-style artwork distributed across Hartlepool, giving lads the chance to share their experiences and help change the narrative around young men in Hartlepool.
WHAT DOES PHASE TWO LOOK LIKE?
Lads in Hartlepool will be taught and guided by local artists through workshops and focused discussion designed to support them in creating their own piece of creative work. The lads will also have the opportunity to meet and talk to other lads in a variety of informal settings across Hartlepool. This will repeat for a total of three times with the same lads - producing a different creative project each time.
After this, we will bring it all together to create a newspaper-style artwork which will be shared across Hartlepool with a public campaign.
WANT TO HELP SHAPE THE FUTURE OF MASCULINITY IN HARTLEPOOL?
Think you got what it takes to help bring the second phase of LADS LADS LADS to life?
Apply to join the project’s creative team below!
PHASE ONE:
The first phase of LADS LADS LADS took place in late 2025, building to a commissioned exhibition at Wintertide Festival 2025 (Nov 21-23) in the Hartlepool Headlands!
Here’s a look at what we got up to in phase one!
Lads Lads Lads is a Hartlepool-based project that works with young men to explore what it means to be a “lad” today, reframing perceptions of masculinity through lived experience, conversation and creative practice.
Developed through interviews, workshops and public outcomes, the project aims to create space for reflection, build confidence and connection, and support more positive, open and healthy expressions of identity through creativity whilst providing our lads with positive, supportive role models.
The project has been built from the ground up, starting with conversations, working in spaces where young men already feel comfortable, from gyms and barbers to youth settings and informal social spaces. These conversations are developed into creative prompts, responses and material that form the basis of the project’s artistic outputs.
Artists are embedded within these spaces to build trust over time, using a mix of interview techniques, workshops and collaborative making to explore personal experiences and shared perspectives. This process allows participants to shape the direction of the work, ensuring that what is created feels honest, relevant and rooted in lived experience.
‘05 - 25’ is a spoken word piece by TYYGRR which was commissioned by SIDEQUEST as part of Lads, Lads, Lads Phase 1. The piece was later recorded around Hartlepool. The piece discusses growing up as a lad and being masculine alongside the working-class experience.
The piece was showcased at Wintertide Festival 2025 as an auditory experience amongst the exhibition of the six banners.
‘05 - 25’ draws inspiration from lived experience and speaking with a range of lads living in Hartlepool.
Funders and partners
The project works across multiple artforms, including sound, text and visual work.
This has included developing an interview-led sound approach, graffiti workshops and large-scale banner making, where participants contribute words, phrases and imagery that reflect their experiences and viewpoints. Alongside this, we have developed a short film with local performer TYYGRR and Reel Good Films, drawing on the voices, language and experiences gathered through the project to create a powerful, artist-led piece that brings these perspectives into a new public space. The film acts as both a creative outcome and a point of connection, amplifying local voices while challenging and reshaping dominant narratives around masculinity.
Lads Lads Lads has been tested through live contexts, including development and presentation as part of Wintertide, where early iterations of the work were shared publicly. These moments allow the project to be experienced, questioned and refined, ensuring that it continues to evolve in response to the people involved and the places it exists within.
The long-term ambition for the project is to develop a large-scale public-facing body of work, including a co-created publication designed as an artwork in its own right, alongside a wider campaign that shares the voices and perspectives of young men across the town.
At its core, Lads Lads Lads is about creating space for young men to be heard, to reflect and to imagine different versions of themselves and their futures, using creativity as a way to open up conversations that don’t always have a place elsewhere.