Theresa Easton

Theresa Easton is an artist and activist whose Community Art practice involves print and zine making. Her creative practice focuses on social and political history, often using her work to create a platform for socially conscious investigations into heritage and history. She is currently working as a member of the Fine Art academic staff at Newcastle University. Her recent community endeavours include African Lives In Northern England, which leads guided walks around Newcastle delivering informative content about abolitionists and campaigners that lived and worked in the city.

1985-1988 
Theresa got her first taste in activism during her time at Newcastle Art College, in which she participated in protests to get the college’s student union into the National Union of Students- including a march from Newcastle Art College into Northumberland Street. She also attended the National Union of Students March in London.

1988-1991
Theresa moved to London to complete a foundation course, followed by a degree in fine art at University East London. During her time in London she worked in the newspaper factory  ‘Eastend Offset’ between 1989 and 1991 which published alternative and radical presses such as Private Eye and Morning Star. During her time in London, Theresa attended many protests and marches including those against the Poll Tax in Hackney, during a march in central London against the poll tax she witnessed the police panicking and attacking peaceful demonstrators. She also took part in Anti-Nazi League counter demonstrations against racists and the National Front/BNP (British National Party) in Whitechapel and Angle.

2000
Theresa returned to the North East and began freelancing full time in 2008 and then the 2008 economic crash happened. During this time, she worked with the Coalition Against the Cuts which later morphed into the Peoples Assembly. This brought together the different campaign groups fighting the cuts including disability groups, health, housing, and libraries. The groups met regularly to organise, support each other, and plan campaigns. Here Theresa used her creative skills to help make placards and banners. She made her first zines based on the stories of the people who were affected by the cuts, and their friends and families.

2013
Theresa began working with a group of artists to help set up a trade union for visual artists, that would advocate for better working conditions for artists in England. They worked alongside the Scottish Artists Union to develop this trade union.

2014
The Artists Union England was launched publicly and worked towards getting certification to be recognised as a trade union, which was achieved in 2016.

2018
After filling various roles in the Artists Union England, including that of General Secretary, Theresa took up the role of Northern Organiser. This allowed her to focus on building union membership in the North and representing North based artists in case work. She received training from the Trades Union Congress to solidify her role in the region. This led to the development of a piece work by the group members titled The Good Practice Charter. This set a series of basic principles for the arts and cultural organisations to sign up to with the goal of working towards better employment rights and working conditions for artists.• 2020 – onwards Following the boom of the Black Lives Matter uprising in the COVID-19 pandemic, Theresa began working with the group Stand Up to Racism North East and met up with activists who were interesting in getting involved with educational settings to help young people have a better understanding of racism and how it can be combatted and challenged. This led to Theresa working with some of these activists on African Lives in Northern England. They began conducting in-depth research around abolitionists and campaigners to develop guided walks around Newcastle. This is an ongoing project which Theresa has integrated into her academic practice at Newcastle University where she took on a teaching role in 2022 after stepping down from her role at Artist Union England.