Most successful year to date for Berwick storyteller

Chris Adriaanse is a Berwick-based storyteller. He tells stories from memory, focusing on myths and legends from Northern England and beyond, and his audiences include school pupils, community groups, families and adults.

After working as a scientist and technical writer, Chris changed career path and has built up his storytelling business from scratch, performing at venues including festivals, schools, libraries and bars. In 2025, support from Create Berwick has helped him to reach his largest audience to date.

A landscape of stories

Chris moved to Berwick from Sussex four years ago and has made the town his home. He says the area and its culture, history and landscape is rich with the storytelling tradition which inspires him.

“I came up to Northumberland for the first time on a research trip. I thought Berwick was a beautiful place, and the landscape is so full of stories.

“It’s a nourishing place to live and work, with places to get away and be reflective as well as places for people to come together,” said Chris.

Support through funding and mentoring

Last summer, a grant from Create Berwick’s Creative Action Fund supported Chris to deliver a major storytelling residency at Berwick Library which was attended by 400 pupils from local schools – with every first school in Berwick taking part.

“Lots of the children who came to the residency had never seen a storyteller before, so it opened up a new way for them to explore their own imaginations and the world of stories,” explained Chris.

Create Berwick has not only supported Chris to deliver programmes with schools, but has provided him with access to professional mentoring, helping him to shape his business.

“I took part in Create Berwick’s group mentoring for creative professionals which was delivered by Ceri Hand and it was really insightful. I wasn’t so knowledgeable about the workings of the arts sector, so this helped me to understand the language, approaches, and how others in the sector work,” commented Chris.

A full-time creative career

The Berwick Library residency gave Chris the opportunity to develop and test new ideas and has already led to more work.

“Learning stories takes a lot of work. With the residency, I was able to develop some storytelling pieces that I can take off the shelf and now use elsewhere. It’s already led to more work, including a summer residency at The Word in South Shields.

“Create Berwick has helped me expand my track record of creative projects and has played a major part in me being able to transition into a full-time creative career.”

In 2025 Chris told more than 150 stories, reaching over 1,000 people.

His stories have ranged from five minutes to more than 45 minutes long and his audience has spanned people of all ages, from young children to parents and grandparents.

“I did three times as many gigs and doubled my audience reach compared to 2024 so it was a great year. And about a third of that was made possible through Create Berwick funding,” added Chris.

Chris’s latest work includes a creative health project with Tweedmouth Middle School which helps pupils to explore memory and learning through storytelling – this project is also supported by Create Berwick’s Creative Action Fund.

Find out more about Chris’s work at www.chrisadriaanse.co.uk.

Create Berwick’s Cultural Resource Hubs funding continues to allow empty spaces in the town to be transformed into new creative hubs for workshops, exhibitions, concerts, performance, events and creative and communal activities. Find out more.

Create Berwick is a culture-led regeneration programme that aims to make Berwick one of the most distinctive, must-see cultural destinations in the country by investing in the arts, creativity and culture. Create Berwick is a designated Culture and Creative Zone (CCZ) and funded by the North East Combined Authority and Northumberland County Council.