First Durham Book Festival events open for booking

Tickets have gone on sale for the first events in this year’s Durham Book Festival, offering an early glimpse of the programme ahead of its full launch on August 13.

Running from October 9-11, we now know the festival will welcome poet Hollie McNish, author Susanna Clarke and Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, while New Northern Voices will showcase Louise Powell, Sufiyaan Salam and Shaun Wilson.

The early release also includes an event with bestselling author Lucy Foley, whose novel The Hunting Party has been chosen for the North East Big Read, part of this year’s National Year of Reading celebrations.

Theatre Royal project gets West End folk chatting

Proof that the Theatre Royal’s creative footprint extends far beyond Grey Street comes with the celebratory launch of a new publication under the heading Stories of the West End.

Actually, it’s the first of four booklets – all packed with stories, memories, anecdotes and images.

The other three will come out in the autumn but number one, The Soil and the Seeds, is to arrive with some fanfare at a public event on Sunday (August 2) at The John Marley Centre, remembered by older local residents as a school but now a thriving creative hub.

There will be readings from the booklet by actors and some of the 150 or so West End people who shared their stories with Chatty Laura.

Those attending will also hear singer-songwriter Katie Doherty give the first public performance of a newly commissioned song inspired by contributions to the book. Read more

Michael Palin on the way with tales of the Philippines

Inveterate traveller Sir Michael Palin is hitting the road again – not bound for foreign climes but on a UK tour that will bring him to Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre & Opera House on October 29.

The ‘Monty Python’ legend is embarking on a 13-date autumn tour to talk about the Philippines.

He will share stories from his latest TV series, Michael Palin in the Philippines, which is due to air in September on Channel 5. Read more

Live Tales birthday bash to mark a decade

All are invited to a special party as Live Theatre’s story and playwriting programme, Live Tales, celebrates its 10^th birthday.

Summery Tales will take place in the Live Garden, behind the theatre on Broad Chare, Newcastle Quayside, from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, August 1.

It’s a free event with family activities including live music, face painting and a range of workshops (which must be booked in advance).

The creative workshop programme, supported by Space Architects, begins at 11am with art-K Watercolour Creatures, a watercolour workshop delivered by art-K Jesmond.

Inspired by the magic of stories, it will be repeated at 11.50am, 12.40pm and 1.30pm. Read more

Why you should get to The Fire Station early this August

Some of the North East’s most exciting emerging artists will find themselves playing to some of their biggest audiences yet this August, thanks to a partnership between BBC Introducing and Sunderland’s Summer Parties series at The Fire Station.

Carefully matched with headline artists whose audiences are likely to appreciate their sound, the BBC Introducing line up promises to give concertgoers the chance to discover new music before the main event.

Across the month, acts including Cortney Dixon, Esmeralda Road, Venus Grrrls, Hector Gannet, Swindled and Spacecadetbloom will perform ahead of headliners including Kula Shaker, Pale Waves, John Grant and Richard Hawley, The Lottery Winners and Maxïmo Park. Read more

Something in the Water to return to Newcastle Theatre Royal for 2027

Something in the Water, the North East fundraising concert celebrating the region’s creative talent, will return to Newcastle Theatre Royal next spring after two sell-out performances raised £30,000 for charity this year.

The variety show, presented by Joe McElderry alongside co-director and producer Michael Lavery and backed by funk and soul collective Groovetrain, will be staged on Sunday, May 16, 2027.

Since debuting in 2025, the show has established itself as a feelgood celebration of North East performers, bringing together established stars and emerging talent for an evening of music, entertainment and storytelling while raising money to support the next generation of artists. Read more

North East documentary longlisted for prestigious award

Judges for the Grierson Award will be immersing themselves in the story of a Wearside man.

Directed by Toby Robson Poised spotlights the story of Sunderland’s Steven France, who channelled his own trauma - and what helped him get through it - into empowering young people from the city struggling to find positive paths to follow.

After losing his step dad to suicide, Steven found an outlet for his trauma in his local martial arts centre.

A decade later, he opened his own gym with a mission to offer the same kind of solace and inspiration to local young people - a group he could see being left behind.

Produced by Toby’s production company, Two Yanks and a Brit, Poised got its first official showing at New Zealand’s Academy Award-qualifying festival, Doc Edge in 2024.

Widely regarded as the UK’s leading documentary awards, the Grierson Awards recognise exceptional British and international filmmaking, celebrating documentaries that combine quality, integrity and creativity.

Bursaries awarded ahead of Berwick Open Studios

The recipients of three studio bursaries at Berwick Barracks have been announced by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust.

The bursaries were made available to artists in north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and offered the use of a studio for one month, support towards the cost of materials and mentoring opportunities.

One of the bursaries, in partnership with Berwick Open Studios, was intended to enable an artist who may not otherwise have been able to participate in the event the opportunity to do so.

That bursary goes to Julia Sweryda whose practice entails exploring ocean botanicals.

She will use the studio to enable her to participate in Berwick Open Studios and develop new creative ideas. Read more

Tyne Theatre & Opera House seeks new trustees to support restoration plans

Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre & Opera House is looking to recruit new volunteer trustees to help steer the historic Newcastle venue through the next phase of its ambitious £7.2 million restoration programme.

The Grade I-listed theatre is seeking people with expertise in areas including project management, surveying, fundraising, sustainability and IT to join its board as it prepares a major National Lottery Heritage Fund bid.

Trustees will help shape the charity’s long-term strategy and governance, with applications closing on August 31. Successful candidates are expected to take up their roles in January 2027. Prospective applicants are advised to contact the Trust for an informal conversation ahead of submitting their CV and covering letter.

An early painting offering a rare window into artist Norman Cornish’s development before he left his full-time mining job has been donated to a university collection of his work.

The painting, Colliery Row, was created in 1947 while Norman Cornish was still working as a miner at Dean & Chapter Colliery in Ferryhill and beginning to sketch and paint through the Spennymoor Settlement Sketching Club, which he joined at the age of 16.

It is the earliest work now held in Northumbria University’s collection – one of the most important collections of Cornish’s work in the world – and the only one from this formative period before he became a full-time artist.

The work was gifted to the university by Bryn Morris, a former employee of the British Coal Corporation, who purchased the painting as part of the disposal of British Coal’s remaining art collection at the end of 1997.

Northumbria has a long-standing connection to Cornish and his work. The university’s gallery represented him and displayed his work from 1989 onwards.

Cornish and his wife Sarah gifted eight works to the university in 1991, with two further paintings added by his estate following his death in 2014.

The university holds the Norman Cornish Archive, comprising the artist’s correspondence, painting materials, interviews and other archival material.

The new acquisition comes as more than 50 of Cornish’s sketchbooks, drawn from the university’s collection, are on loan to The Bowes Museum for the exhibition Norman Cornish: A Life in Sketchbooks, which runs until January 3.

Speaking on behalf of the Norman Cornish Estate, Mike Thornton said: “This is a wonderful and rare addition to the permanent collection at Northumbria University.”

Colliery Row is believed to be one of five paintings acquired directly from Cornish by Dr R W Revans, then director of education for the National Coal Board, who saw the work at one of Cornish’s early exhibitions at the Spennymoor Settlement.

Colliery Row was in Trimdon, County Durham, near the home of Cornish’s future wife, Sarah Bartley.

The paintings became part of the National Coal Board’s art collection, displayed at the organisation’s headquarters in Hobart House in London.

Dr Revans went on to organise the landmark Art by the Miner exhibition, held at the Academy Cinema on London’s Oxford Street in October 1947 and opened by the then Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

Cornish was invited to contribute seven works, including Colliery Row. It was during this exhibition that Cornish gave his first live television interview, from the BBC’s studios at Alexandra Palace, now seen as pivotal in his emerging career as an artist.

Colliery Row remained in public ownership through the National Coal Board and its successor, British Coal, until the industry’s privatisation.

The original labels from the 1940s are still on the back of the painting.

Bryn Morris decided the painting should return to its original home in the North East. He said: “Given the North East connection and the fact that the University of Northumbria holds a collection of works by Norman Cornish, including the permanent loan of his papers from the Cornish family, I decided that Northumbria University would be a fitting home and reliable custodian of this important work of art and piece of North East social history.”

Academics and students at Northumbria will now carry out a technical study of the painting. Cornish is known to have often worked on inexpensive, readily available materials such as hardboard, which can present particular conservation challenges.

Dr Richard Mulholland, who teaches on Northumbria’s Conservation of Fine Art MA programme and manages the university art collection, said: “This painting is a remarkable addition to our collection.

“We hold one of the most significant Norman Cornish collections in the world, but until now we’ve had nothing from this very early period, while he was still working as a miner.”

Some of the North East’s most exciting emerging artists will find themselves playing to some of their biggest audiences yet this August, thanks to a partnership between BBC Introducing and Sunderland’s Summer Parties series at The Fire Station.

Carefully matched with headline artists whose audiences are likely to appreciate their sound, the BBC Introducing line up promises to give concertgoers the chance to discover new music before the main event.

Across the month, acts including Cortney Dixon, Esmeralda Road, Venus Grrrls, Hector Gannet, Swindled and Spacecadetbloom will perform ahead of headliners including Kula Shaker, Pale Waves, John Grant and Richard Hawley, The Lottery Winners and Maxïmo Park.

The programme builds on a collaboration established last year between BBC Introducing and North East music organisations including The Fire Station, The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Generator, Tees Music Alliance and Middlesbrough Town Hall, with the aim of creating more opportunities for emerging artists across the region.

Tamsin Austin, venue director at The Fire Station, said: “At The Fire Station, we’re passionate about creating opportunities for emerging artists, so we’re incredibly proud to be working with BBC Introducing at our Summer Parties series this August.

“The North East is producing some of the most exciting new artists in the country, and through this collaboration we’re able to place outstanding emerging artists from the region and across the UK on our stages alongside major national and international headliners.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity for audiences to discover new music, so our advice is simple: get down early and discover your new favourite band.”

BBC Introducing has a formidable track record of identifying future stars, with alumni including Sam Fender, RAYE, Florence + The Machine, Lewis Capaldi and Olivia Dean.

Tickets for the Summer Parties concerts at The Fire Station’s Parade Ground are available via the website.

One of the world’s rare surviving copies of William Tyndale’s New Testament – the book that changed the course of English history – is now on display in Bishop Auckland as part of a new exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of its publication.

Running at The Faith Museum until December 31, Light and Fire: 500 Years of Tyndale’s New Testament will tell the remarkable story of the scholar whose determination to make the Bible accessible to ordinary people ultimately cost him his life.

At the heart of the exhibition will be one of only a handful of known surviving copies of Tyndale’s 1536 New Testament, making The Faith Museum the only venue in the North East where visitors will be able to see an edition produced during Tyndale’s lifetime in this anniversary year.

Today, the idea of reading the Bible in English is taken for granted. Five centuries ago, however, it was considered an act of defiance.

Working from the original Hebrew and Greek texts rather than the Latin editions authorised by the Church, Tyndale produced the first English translation of the New Testament to be printed. Forced to work in secret while living abroad, his books were smuggled into England hidden in bales of cloth after Church authorities banned them.

Among those determined to suppress the translation was Cuthbert Tunstall, then Bishop of London and later Bishop of Durham, who publicly burned copies outside St Paul’s Cathedral in 1526. Tyndale himself was eventually executed for heresy, being strangled before his body was burned at the stake.

Despite attempts to destroy every copy, a small number survived, ensuring his work would outlive those who sought to silence it.

The exhibition explores not only Tyndale’s extraordinary personal story but also the lasting impact of his translation on everyday English. Familiar phrases including the apple of his eye, eat, drink and be merry, the signs of the times, let there be light and give up the ghost all entered common usage through his pioneering work.

Alongside the rare New Testament, visitors will be able to see a collection of sixteenth-century Bibles tracing how Tyndale’s once-forbidden translation gradually became accepted as access to scripture in English spread across the country during the Reformation.

Dr Lydia Prosser, curator at The Auckland Project, said: “This is a unique opportunity for visitors to see a rare edition of a book that changed the course of history. We’re excited to showcase our copy of Tyndale’s New Testament in an exhibition that presents the turbulent context in which it was produced and explores its continued relevance 500 years later.”

Clare Baron, head of curatorial at The Auckland Project, added: “In Western Europe the Bible was only widely available in Latin, unintelligible to many.

“Translations were banned in England. But William Tyndale believed that Christians should have direct access the word of God in the Bible, writing that the Church restricted its translation in order ‘to keep the world still in darkness’. With the publication of this small book, Tyndale helped to pave the way for the Reformation in England.”

The Faith Museum opened in 2023 as part of The Auckland Project. Through more than 250 objects spanning 6,000 years, the museum explores the role faith has played in shaping Britain’s history, culture and communities.

Light and Fire: 500 Years of Tyndale’s New Testament runs until December 31 at The Faith Museum with a programme of accompanying events taking place throughout the exhibition.

Something in the Water, the North East fundraising concert celebrating the region’s creative talent, will return to Newcastle Theatre Royal next spring after two sell-out performances raised £30,000 for charity this year.

The variety show, presented by Joe McElderry alongside co-director and producer Michael Lavery and backed by funk and soul collective Groovetrain, will be staged on Sunday, May 16, 2027.

Since debuting in 2025, the show has established itself as a feelgood celebration of North East performers, bringing together established stars and emerging talent for an evening of music, entertainment and storytelling while raising money to support the next generation of artists.

This year’s show featured appearances from Danny Adams, Si King, Jason Cook, Michael Marouli, Adam Strong, Christina Bianco and Carly Burns, alongside a surprise appearance by Jimmy Nail who joined Joe for Old Man’s Boots before performing his chart hit Ain’t No Doubt with Groovetrain.

Proceeds from this summer’s event were shared between Newcastle Theatre Royal Trust and North East Music Opportunities CIC (NEMO), with £30,000 helping to fund community engagement work and opportunities for young performers across the region. The same charities will benefit from next year’s show.

Marianne Locatori, chief executive of Newcastle Theatre Royal, said: “When Michael and Joe created Something in the Water, we hoped it would become a celebration of everything that makes the North East so special.

“We have been delighted to partner with them, and the response has exceeded anything we could have imagined. Audiences have embraced it and artists have been incredibly generous with their time and talents, so we’re delighted to confirm that Something in the Water will return in 2027.”

Joe added: “There’s something really special about bringing so many North East artists together on one stage. Every performer gives their time because they believe in celebrating where we’ve come from and in creating opportunities for young people who dream of following a similar path.

“Michael and I are so excited that we’re doing it all again in 2027, and no doubt there’ll be plenty more surprises in store.”

Tickets go on general sale on Friday, August 7.

The recipients of three studio bursaries at Berwick Barracks have been announced by The Maltings (Berwick) Trust.

The bursaries were made available to artists in north Northumberland and the Scottish Borders and offered the use of a studio for one month, support towards the cost of materials and mentoring opportunities.

One of the bursaries, in partnership with Berwick Open Studios, was intended to enable an artist who may not otherwise have been able to participate in the event the opportunity to do so.

That bursary goes to Julia Sweryda whose practice entails exploring ocean botanicals.

She will use the studio to enable her to participate in Berwick Open Studios and develop new creative ideas.

Sophie Morrish, who recently moved to Berwick from Scotland, will use her bursary to support the development of a new series of large scale works on paper and canvas.

Meanwhile Sinéad Kempley, an interdisciplinary artist, educator and researcher, will use hers to support her practice through the transition from PhD research into producing a series of small scale works.

James Lowther, head of visual arts for The Maltings (Berwick) Trust said: “Time and space in a dedicated studio can be crucial to an artist’s development, and we are delighted to support these locally based artists at critical points in their artistic practice.”

Julia Sweryda will undertake her bursary in September when her studio will be open during Berwick Open Studios which takes place over the weekends of September 26-27 and October 3-4.

Sophie Morrish and Sinéad Kempley will undertake their bursaries in early 2027.

The inaugural Berwick Open Studios is a pilot event by Create Berwick, the creative zone funded by Northumberland County Council and the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority.

It will enable local people and visitors to the town the chance to visit studios, witness their creative processes and perhaps buy pieces direct from the artists and makers.

People will be able to follow a trail of studios and creative venues throughout Berwick, Tweedmouth and Spittal, and there will also be galleries and exhibitions, pop-up spaces, cultural hubs and creative community groups to explore.

Tyneside Cinema is to host a special celebration of Black cinema, storytelling and creative talent.

The eighth edition of S.O.U.L. Fest (the initials standing for Screening Our Unseen Lives) is coming to the venue – and indeed the region – for the first time on Saturday, September 5.

Cinema management say the event, delivered in partnership with the BAFTA-qualifying festival, marks a significant moment for audiences in the North East.

It brings one of the country’s leading platforms for Black filmmakers to Newcastle, creating new opportunities for connection, conversation and cultural exchange.

Funded by North East Screen and Newcastle City Council, and supported by Northern Roots, the event will feature the northern premiere of Black is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story.

The screening will be followed by an exclusive live Q&A featuring journalist and broadcaster Ellen E. Jones alongside members of the cast and creative team.

Kwame Brathwaite was an American photojournalist and activist, born in New York to immigrant parents from Barbados, who documented life and culture in the city’s Black district of Harlem and in Africa.

He is credited with popularising the phrase ‘Black is beautiful’ and backed it up with a portfolio of wonderful images, many of them capturing Black models such as Radiah Frye who appears on the film poster.

With his brother, he also organised the Naturally ’62 pageant, the first of a series featuring only Black fashion models.

He died in 2023, aged 85.

The post-screening discussion will explore the making of the film, the importance of authentic representation on screen and the power of Black storytelling to challenge perceptions, celebrate identity and inspire future generations of filmmakers.

Alongside the premiere, audiences can expect a programme celebrating Black filmmaking and creativity, with opportunities to discover award-winning short films, and engage in conversations with industry professionals from across the UK.

Steph Edusei, Chair of Tyneside Cinema, said: “We’re incredibly proud to welcome S.O.U.L. Fest to Newcastle for the first time.

“This partnership reflects our commitment to presenting outstanding cinema while creating opportunities for communities across the North East to engage with stories that are too often underrepresented.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to connect audiences with exceptional filmmakers and to celebrate the richness of Black British cinema.”

Iyare Igiehon, director of S.O.U.L Fest, said: “Bringing S.O.U.L. Fest to Tyneside Cinema is a pivotal moment for us.

“From our founding in 2019, we’ve been committed to championing Black British filmmakers and creating pathways for underrepresented voices.

“Tyneside Cinema’s support and expertise has been instrumental in making this a reality, and we’re thrilled to celebrate our films and community alongside new friends in Newcastle.

“This is about ensuring that the richness of Black British cinema reaches audiences across the country.”

Lisa Laws, development director at North East Screen, said: “Creating and bringing world class screen events and opportunities to venues in our region is incredibly important to us.

“We are thrilled to support the S.O.U.L Festival to come to Tyneside cinema for the first time.”

Check the Tyneside Cinema website for details

A ribbon cutting ceremony always means something special and that was the case at MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, which is enjoying a year of high profile exhibitions.

New Contemporaries runs until August 16 and then the Turner Prize exhibition opens on September 26, when all eyes will be on Middlesbrough which is hosting the prestigious competition for the first time in its 42-year history.

The young people gathered behind that ribbon on July 25 – all members of MIMA’s Saturday Club - can have been left in no doubt as to the significance of the Turner Prize.

Dr Laura Sillars, dean of culture and creativity at Teesside University and director of MIMA, told them: “When we announced the four artists who are going to be in it, we gained news stories across 14 countries and reached a potential readership of 1.24 billion.”

The Turner Prize shortlist comprises Kira Freije, Marguerite Humeau, Tanoa Sasraku and Simeon Barclay – and thousands of people will go to see their exhibition, some travelling from afar.

But the red ribbon wasn’t for them. It was for the nine Saturday Club members and the exhibition they have curated to highlight Middlesbrough’s collection of more than 2,350 artworks.

Called Moxie: Generation Alpha Curates the Middlesbrough Collection, it runs until next year, ensuring a Turner Prize audience for the creative endeavours of North East teenagers.

There was fulsome praise for them at the opening ceremony, which also marked the end of this current Saturday Club cohort’s year.

Sophie Ascough, MIMA’s learning curator and Saturday Club lead tutor, said: “Over the past year they have met inspiring artists, visited exhibitions, debated ideas about their own creative practices and curated the nine works you see here.

“Each young person selected an artwork from the Middlesbrough Collection and used it as inspiration for a new creative response, bringing fresh perspectives to the collection.”

All aged 13 to 16, they were Generation Alpha, she explained, because they had been born into a world shaped by digital technology, AI and constant connectivity.

“They have access to more information than any generation before them but also have to navigate new challenges and rapid change,” she said.

“Their voices matter and this exhibition offers a glimpse into how they see the world around them.

“It’s also an opportunity to celebrate their hard work, ideas and achievements.”

Recently the group visited London with the Saturday Club, seeing their work exhibited at Somerset House.

Who’s to say that one or more of them might not one day be a New Contemporaries exhibitor or even a Turner Prize contender?

And even if art isn’t to be their professional calling, it was clear to Sophie and colleagues that the participating youngsters have grown in confidence, gained new skills and sharpened their critical faculties.

Dr Sillars said she had asked her MIMA team four years ago to set up a Saturday Club.

“Saturday Club is a national programme and happens all over the place. The team had to think what a MIMA version would look like.

“What we’re seeing here is a powerful example of what can happen when talent is nurtured, opportunities are offered and young people are encouraged to believe in themselves”.

Demonstrating “creativity, insight and imagination”, they had attained a portfolio of creative activity that would benefit them whatever they ended up doing.

Dr Sillars said the achievements of the team and the young people had exceeded her expectations, with MIMA’s Saturday Club linked to the Arts Award scheme which she described as the artistic equivalent of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

Also present at the celebration was Alex Bird, relationship manager for the North at National Saturday Club, who praised the initiative of MIMA and the young exhibitors.

This year’s MIMA Saturday Club members were Bobby, Dayna, Emily, Harmony, Jeannie, Lois, Ned, Simon and Victoria. They’ve been meeting at the gallery, as you would expect, every Saturday.

Given free access to the Middlesbrough Collection, which is held at MIMA, each chose an artwork that you’ll now find displayed on the building’s second floor.

Inevitably it’s a mixed bag, a drawing by David Shrigley hanging near an oil painting by Guisborough-born Kenneth Cozens, who was fine art officer for Middlesbrough Art Gallery for 27 years, and Dance Macabre Suite, a series of ink drawings by Canadian artist Ed Pien.

It turned out only one chosen artwork was by a woman. Sophie, not wanting to deviate from the rule of free choice, let that stand as a reflection of how male-dominated the art world has been.

Roman Bridge, a 1975 screenprint by Julia Matcham, was chosen by 15-year-old Simon, who has travelled to the Saturday Club every weekend from his home in Newcastle.

“I like it because it’s very peaceful,” he said of his selection.

To see his artistic response, as with all of them, you must scan the QR code next to the picture or visit the MIMA website.

This is the way these young Alpha Generation curators wanted it, which is interesting.

Simon gave his own watercolour painting, featuring pink and purple trees over a river, the title Kakaiba.

“I chose it because it means ‘whimsical’ in the Filippino language and I’m Filippino,” he explained.

Emily, also 15 and from Middlesbrough, picked John Keane’s The Accident, a 1988 monoprint depicting a dystopian scene with men in hazmat suits pushing a rusty barrel in a supermarket trolley.

“I assume that’s toxic waste but I really like the little details,” said Emily.

“I think it’s a picture with deep meaning and it shows how messy all these things are that we’re doing to the planet.”

Soft-spoken Simon, who later gave a speech, said travelling to Middlesbrough had been no hardship.

“I love coming here to do creative things. I did attend a Saturday Club in Newcastle but it took a break so I had to find another.”

Emily, more forthright, explained why she joined Saturday Club.

“I didn’t really have much going on and the thought of joining a group of arty people seemed right because I want to be an artist.

“I believe that to be human is to create. People talk about the purpose of life and I think it’s there to be experienced. What better way to capture that experience than to create art?”

Generation Alpha she may be but Emily is so against the use of generative AI that when she realised her school was using it to make slides look “quote unquote prettier” she couldn’t take it lying down.

“I was outraged. It hinders students who want to do art and uses up a lot of water which is bad for the environment.

“I sent passive-aggressive emails to my headteacher about it and he asked me to give a speech to staff about the use of generative AI, which I did.

“I got a lot of positive feedback but it wasn’t recorded like I was promised it would be.”

Emily, clearly, is no artistic pushover.

Also present at the celebration was 17-year-old Elissa, a past Saturday Club member who left when studying for GCSEs but then gladly took on the position of assistant to Sophie and the team.

She recalled out how she felt “really burnt out” when studying art for GCSE but the Saturday Club, being out of school, had revived her interest, enabling her to experiment with different art materials.

“It was amazing and I got to exhibit a lot of my artwork which I’d never done before.”

Elissa hopes to go to university this year to study English and aims to get into journalism.

“Once at Saturday Club we made a newspaper and I wrote an article for it. I really enjoyed it and decided this was what I wanted to do in the future.

“But I am passionate about art, acting, all sorts of creative work like that. I’m trying to build my portfolio.”

And if you’re wondering about ‘moxie’, Sophie Ascough explained that it was chosen for the Saturday Club exhibition because it’s an informal word meaning courage or determination.

Both qualities are represented in this small but significant exhibition which you can see until March 31 next year.

MIMA is open Tuesday to Sunday. Find details on the MIMA website.

The North East has two chances to celebrate at this year’s Mercury Prize after JADE and Newcastle jazz collective Knats were both named among the 12 Albums of the Year nominees ahead of October’s awards ceremony at Utilita Arena Newcastle.

They join an impressive shortlist featuring Dave, Dove Ellis, Florence + The Machine, Kojey Radical, Nia Archives, Olivia Dean, Paul McCartney, RAYE, Suede and War Child Records’ HELP(2), with the winner due to be announced on October 22.

The Mercury Prize celebrates the best British and Irish album released over the past year, recognising artistic achievement across every genre. Widely regarded as one of music’s most prestigious accolades, previous winners include PJ Harvey, Arctic Monkeys, Little Simz, Wolf Alice, Ezra Collective and, most recently, Sam Fender, who lifted the trophy on home soil last October after People Watching was crowned Album of the Year.

The ceremony returns to Utilita Arena Newcastle after last year’s landmark event became the first in the Prize’s history to be staged outside London.

While organisers have yet to confirm which artists will perform, Mercury Prize ceremonies traditionally feature live sets from many of the shortlisted acts, giving audiences the rare opportunity to see much of the year’s most celebrated British and Irish music on one stage.

Former Little Mix star JADE receives her first Mercury Prize nomination for her acclaimed debut solo album THAT’S SHOWBIZ BABY!, while Knats are recognised for A Great Day In Newcastle, an album that wears its Tyneside roots proudly in both title and spirit.

The nomination caps another landmark year for the Newcastle quartet, who last weekend performed at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in support of Nadine Shah during the BBC Proms’ North East concerts.

Radio 1 presenter Maia Beth will also return to Newcastle to host exclusive artist interviews for the Mercury Prize’s social channels and present the event’s red carpet coverage.

She said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to be back working with the Mercury Prize this year! Last year’s Mercury Prize was a celebration of music - from jazz to pop and everything in between. Having it in Newcastle brought attention to a place I’m so proud of, and I can’t wait to be back celebrating the best music in the best place.”

Alongside the awards show, Newcastle will once again host the Mercury Prize Fringe, with Fenwick returning as a key partner, transforming its Blackett Street windows to celebrate the shortlisted albums while hosting live music events and creative workshops.

Tickets are on sale for the Mercury Prize at Newcastle Utilita Arena on October 22. Bookings via the website.

All are invited to a special party as Live Theatre’s story and playwriting programme, Live Tales, celebrates its 10^th birthday.

Summery Tales will take place in the Live Garden, behind the theatre on Broad Chare, Newcastle Quayside, from 11am to 3pm on Saturday, August 1.

It’s a free event with family activities including live music, face painting and a range of workshops (which must be booked in advance).

The creative workshop programme, supported by Space Architects, begins at 11am with art-K Watercolour Creatures, a watercolour workshop delivered by art-K Jesmond.

Inspired by the magic of stories, it will be repeated at 11.50am, 12.40pm and 1.30pm.

Story Time With Arti is an interactive storytelling adventure led by author Danielle Slade and inspired by her book TWINKLE TWINKLE Arti, telling of Arti, the wishing star.

Using her magical storytelling suitcase, Danielle will bring her tale to life before inviting children to get creative with a star themed craft activity at 11.45am and again at 1.30pm.

Story Inventors, at 12.15pm, is billed as a playful story-making adventure where costumes, props and puppets are used to create a new story.

Live Illustrating, at 2pm, is an interactive workshop led by a team of Live Tales illustrators showing how characters and new worlds can be summoned into existence through drawing.

Live Tales facilitators have worked with thousands of children over the years, encouraging and channelling their natural creativity.

Becky Morris, Live Tales’ senior creative associate, said: “As we mark this exciting milestone, we’re not only continuing our much-loved schools programme but also expanding our focus to welcome more families into the world of Live Tales.

“Our family festival is the first step in bringing Live Tales to an even wider audience, kicking off what we hope will be another incredible decade of creativity and storytelling.”

Summery Tales is just one of a series of Live Tales Turns Ten events for families.

It will be followed by Spooky Tales on October 28, 29 and 30 October, promising a story-making adventure full of laughs, gasps and with a sprinkling of magic.

The celebrations will culminate in a revival of Where Do All The Kittiwakes Go At Christmas? from December 19 to 31.

Supported by Gillian Dickinson Trust, the alternative Christmas play with music is aimed at getting the whole family squawking with laughter.

To find out more about Summery Tales and to secure a workshop place, go to the Live Theatre website.

Proof that the Theatre Royal’s creative footprint extends far beyond Grey Street comes with the celebratory launch of a new publication under the heading Stories of the West End.

Actually, it’s the first of four booklets – all packed with stories, memories, anecdotes and images.

The other three will come out in the autumn but number one, The Soil and the Seeds, is to arrive with some fanfare at a public event on Sunday (August 2) at The John Marley Centre, remembered by older local residents as a school but now a thriving creative hub.

There will be readings from the booklet by actors and some of the 150 or so West End people who shared their stories with Chatty Laura.

Those attending will also hear singer-songwriter Katie Doherty give the first public performance of a newly commissioned song inspired by contributions to the book.

But you’ll be wondering about Chatty Laura.

This is Laura Lindow, writer and multi-talented theatre person (and also clown doctor of longstanding), who was appointed two years ago to be resident artist at the Theatre Royal and embarked almost immediately on this project.

“I can chat for Scotland,” smiles Laura, who is indeed Scottish but has lived for a long time on Tyneside.

“In schools I tend to introduce myself as Chatty Laura because it saves time.”

She was thrilled recently when she was recognised by a teenage girl on a bus in the West End who “did a really cool handshake with her pal, then turned and saw me and went, ‘Chatty Laura! You were at my school’.

“She remembered me from primary school which I took as an achievement because it means people know us and what we do.”

Just prior to taking up the Theatre Royal post Laura was writer-in-residence at the Newcastle Hospitals Charity.

“In some ways that informed my approach to this project.”

Neatly encapsulating her suitability for such roles, she says: “People are my passion. It’s sort of what I do.” Hence her clown doctoring, which for years saw her donning a red nose to cheer up children in hospital.

The Theatre Royal, under chief executive Marianne Locatori, has been exploring ways of engaging with all parts of the city, striving to build new audiences while serving regular theatre-goers.

Her aim, as stated in the first booklet, was “to invest in deepening our relationships, improving the quality of our dialogue and embedding Theatre Royal in a positive and constructive way in our communities, in our schools, in places where people had lost connection with the theatre that belongs to them”.

Strengthening the connection with people in the West End was seen as particularly important.

The way Laura puts it: “The theatre’s really dear to people but it’s important that it’s not just a landmark but part of life.”

To enforce that idea, she started work, chatting but also listening and encouraging. “Relationship building was key,” she says.

Laura took advantage of the theatre’s strong relationship with the West End Schools’ Trust, which is responsible for nine primary schools, but also made friendships elsewhere.

At Westerhope Primary School she worked with children and ran creative writing sessions for staff.

She smiles as she recalls one school project where children were asked to imagine a creature that might inhabit an interesting place.

“One created a creature that lives amidst the milk at Lidl and watches him and his nana when they go shopping. Another imagined a creature that lives in a school drawer and smells of ideas and pencils.”

Laura says she was always keen to ensure that what she was offering would be useful to people.

“We did a call out and an incredible woman who was one of the last remaining staff of the old Newcastle General Hospital got in touch and said there were so many stories there but nowhere to put them.

“She said they were there literally among the rubble. I went to meet them and led some writing sessions there.”

Laura heard about mothers and daughters who worked alongside each other at the hospital for many years, and about the man who regularly came to sit under the blossom trees. Staff would give him Christmas cards.

She heard about the ‘butterfly hats’ worn by the nurses who lived at Wingrove Nurses’ Home, later Angel Heights, and there was talk of a tunnel under Westgate Road.

Elsewhere she heard tales of ‘The Tute’, run since 1977 by Westerhope Community Association but built 100 years ago as The North Walbottle Miners’ Welfare Institute.

As well as chatting, there has been a lot of exploring.

“I accompanied people who took me on their favourite walks, I ate with people who wanted to tell me about recipes which had been handed down to them,” says Laura.

“I could wax lyrical about every single voice that’s captured here.”

Sometimes she would be accompanied by photographer Chris Bishop whose images will appear in all four books, along with illustrations by Lizzie Lovejoy and Emily Cairns.

The first booklet, as the title suggests, has a theme of nature and was inspired by places like Scotswood Community Garden and The Bike Garden, situated on the old bowling green at Nuns Moor Park.

It was there that Laura found a nice connection with the Theatre Royal through the artist Lizzie Rowe who lived near the park and was a frequent visitor before she died in 2023.

“There’s a beautiful mural there by Lizzie. It was her last work which she gifted to The Bike Garden.

“I’ve been in touch with Ben Rowe (Lizzie’s brother) who said how proud she would have been that her artwork is on the front of this publication. She’s still very much present, I’d say, in the place.”

Lizzie was also a presence at the Theatre Royal where, for years, her paintings hung over the stairs and decorated the ceiling inside the entrance.

Newcastle, says Laura in the book, is built on stories just like these.

The theatre likewise.

With its “high ceilings, gilded edges and plush velvet seats it shows the value the people of this city have placed on coming together to enjoy the telling of a good tale through drama, dance and song,” she writes.

“But this is a place where stories run through, with no need of velvet curtains to frame them. This collection hopes to capture a flavour of the stories of which we are all made.”

One participant in the project, a community pharmacist, told Laura: “The West End is an amazing place with its own rhythms and pace.

“It has its challenges but projects like this are about changing that narrative.

“Everyone has a story and it’s important not to assume you know what it is before you take the time to listen.”

All are welcome to listen at the Stories of the West End community celebration at The John Marley Centre, Muscott Grove, Newcastle, on Sunday (August 2, 2-4pm).

Free copies of the first booklet will be available to those who attend.

Inveterate traveller Sir Michael Palin is hitting the road again – not bound for foreign climes but on a UK tour that will bring him to Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre & Opera House on October 29.

The ‘Monty Python’ legend is embarking on a 13-date autumn tour to talk about the Philippines.

He will share stories from his latest TV series, Michael Palin in the Philippines, which is due to air in September on Channel 5.

Previous series broadcast on Channel 5 have followed his adventures in Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and North Korea.

Of this latest series, again produced by ITN Productions and to be shown in three episodes, each an hour long, the 83-year-old said: “I find these journeys for 5 irresistible and revealing.

“Rarely does anyone have the chance to get as close to the great issues of a country as we did in the Philippines.

“I was a little nervous of taking on yet another journey, especially one so testing on the energy levels, but what we heard and saw was extraordinary and very different from any of the journeys we’ve done so far.

“A cracker, though I say it myself.”

The book accompanying the series, bearing the same title, is being published by Hutchinson Heinemann and copies will be on sale at each theatre on the tour.

Sir Michael said he was delighted to be taking his Philippines adventure on the road since it would give him a chance to open up on stuff that isn’t going to appear on screen.

“Every journey leaves me with stories that never quite make it into the television programmes and I always enjoy the chance to share those moments with a live audience,” he said.

“Alongside the films and photographs from my travels, I’ll be talking about the remarkable people I met, the extraordinary places I visited and some of the unexpected adventures along the way.

“I hope audiences will feel as though they’ve travelled with me and perhaps leave seeing the Philippines in a completely new light.”

Using photos and film footage taken on the expedition, he will reflect on his travels across the Philippine archipelago, which comprises 7,641 islands.

Arriving in the capital, Manila, he found a country on the edge.

The current president, Bongbong, is the son of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos whose 21-year rule ended in 1986 with an alleged $10 billion theft from the nation’s coffers.

Meanwhile previous president Rodrigo Duterte is under arrest accused of crimes against humanity.

The programme makers say that while many see the Philippines as a lovely holiday destination, it’s a nation where beauty exists alongside profound social and political challenges.

On his travels Michael witnessed the escalating tensions between Philippine and Chinese coastal vessels, gaining a unique perspective on a politically charged and historically complex country.

Neil Ferguson, series producer and director for ITN, said: “This was the most ambitious shoot we’ve ever done with Michael and the Philippines exceeded all our expectations.

“It’s a country of stunning contrasts and we often experienced paradise one day, followed by something much darker the next.

“And whether it was political protest marches, military flights to remote islands, sleeping on the deck of overnight ferries or swimming with thousands of sardines, Michael took it all in his ridiculously nimble stride.”

Michael Palin made his name as a founder member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus which re-wrote the rules of TV comedy in the early 1970s.

Once a ‘Python’ always a ‘Python’, but Palin the Python has been making travel documentaries for much longer than he was appearing in madcap TV sketches.

His first was back in 1980 when he appeared in an episode of Great Railway Journeys of the World, reminiscing about his youthful trainspotting days while travelling north from London by train on a route which took him through Newcastle.

His latest UK theatre tour begins on October 7 in Newbury.

Tickets for his Newcastle appearance on October 29 (7.30pm) can be bought now via the Tyne Theatre website.

The sky might have been drab but the streets certainly weren’t after the Newcastle Pride parade smothered them with rainbow hues.

Photographer David Whinham was there on Friday and Saturday (July 24 and 25) to capture an occasion which celebrates both difference and unity.

On the face of it, that might seem paradoxical but it’s not really.

We’re all a bit different, absolutely all of us, but that shouldn’t – and doesn’t – prevent us coming together for a good time. And certainly it should be no ground for hostility or persecution.

David followed the Saturday parade from the Civic Centre to Grey’s Monument, recording the fact that many participants had not dressed what you might call formally for the occasion.

If you happened to have a multi-coloured waistcoat in your wardrobe, a flamboyant hat or something with sequins and feathers, this was the time to give it an airing.

The theme was City of Hope, Streets of Joy and that was borne out over the Pride weekend with an estimated 8,000 turning out on Saturday.

Reports filtered back to Cultured North East of hundreds at the Theatre Royal, home once again of the Family & Youth Zone (activities galore), and of moments of peaceful reflection at Newcastle Cathedral.

A contemplative prayer trail was co-created with Newcastle Diocese’s LGBTQI+ Chaplaincy as part of a commitment to fostering a culture of inclusion, welcome and belonging.

Dame Kelly Holmes, double Olympic gold medal winner, was in Newcastle to start the Pride Run in Leazes Park on Friday and stuck around for the parade, where she took the microphone to speak up for those who might feel marginalised.

Looking at the “glow” and the “sparkle” around her, she urged: “Don’t let anyone ever dampen that fire.”

There seemed no danger of that in Times Square where a succession of musical and drag acts on the main stage included Nadine Coyle, Urban Cookie Collective and drag acts Danny Beard and Bimini.

This year’s Newcastle Pride was run under the auspices of Curious Arts with the blessing of Northern Pride which firmly established the event before being wound up last year.

Phil Douglas, chief executive of Curious Arts, said £10,000 had been raised to ensure the event went ahead in the face of rising costs and reduced sponsorship.

But he deemed it a success, telling the BBC the Newcastle event had brought “a huge surge” from the community.

“People have really turned up to support,” he added.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness gave the word ‘pride’ its broadest definition, declaring: “What a demonstration of our pride as a city, our pride as a region!”

It did seem to run smoothly, following earlier Pride celebrations in Durham, Sunderland and Hartlepool, all of which suggests there’s little danger of Dame Kelly’s fire being dampened any time soon.

However, events elsewhere underlined the dangers that exist for those prepared to parade for Pride.

Izzy McDonald-Booth, volunteer chaplain with Newcastle Diocese’s LGBTQI+ Chaplaincy, led prayers for the victims of the attack on the Berlin Pride parade where one person was killed and others injured.

And Newcastle City Council put out the following message in the wake of the weekend event.

As Geordies, we are so proud of our reputation across the world. Friendly, decent people. Neighbours who regard every stranger as a friend.

When we travel anywhere, it fills us with pride when someone comments on our accent, our football club, our night life. It makes us happy when they say the Toon has such a good soul.

Do you know what we’re not known for? Hatred and division. But that’s what we have seen more and more across comments on our social media pages.

We have just celebrated Pride in Newcastle with thousands bringing colour, love and celebration to the streets of our city centre – and not least a big economic boost for businesses.

Our Cabinet, led by Deputy Leader Cllr Mark Mitchell, were front and centre at the celebrations and early in their administration made the decision to fly the Rainbow flag with pride at the Civic Centre.

The majority were really positive on social media following Pride weekend, but amid the engagement we saw discrimination, bigotry and hate from a small minority. Often those accounts had no connection to our city, our country and many we suspect to be fake accounts.

We see similar comments when we post about support for other minority communities, or when we post anything around housing or waste services.

The usual typical misinformation or discriminatory tropes published by a conspiracy theorist on some other digital platform. Sometimes this misinformation spreads and is perpetuated by larger citizen “journalists”.

The council has no role in housing asylum seekers, we aren’t responsible for hotels, we don’t give our freebies to “boat people”, LGBTQ+ residents are not all weirdos or paedophiles and we’re not going to tear down your England flags.

We won’t shut down legitimate concerns but there is a line. A post about refugee school children helping in the community for example, will never be the place for racist comments or misinformation.

This isn’t censorship. It is about respect, decency and being inclusive.

Every resident deserves to be able to engage with our content and celebrate the warm and friendly place this city is known for, without fearing that the comment section will be full of bigotry and discrimination.

We have long challenged such comments, we delete those that cross the line, and we correct misinformation. Fake accounts will be removed, repeat offenders will be blocked.

Our social media policy is in the comments below but our position is clear. Newcastle is the best city in the world. Geordies are the friendliest people in the land.

We are a city of black and white. Nobody will be made to feel unwelcome.

David Whinham’s photographs capture the good side, the attitude of ‘live and let live’, but every coin has two sides, as that statement suggests.

And in response to a Facebook suggestion that there be a “straight festival”, the council gave the following response.

We see this comment an awful lot but nobody has planned one, funded it or contacted the council to arrange it.

We didn’t plan Pride, it was organised independently and has grown in size for years.

We’re unsure what injustice a straight pride would be looking to address but we’re sure any organisers could articulate that.

Time will tell if any come forward.

In the meantime, Newcastle Pride – at the very least – did nobody any harm. A lot of people had a good time and will have made new friends, and that’s a strong argument for its continued success.

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Curated Culture.

Whether you’re filling the diary or simply looking for an excuse to get out and about, we’ve assembled another selection of North East cultural highlights for the weeks ahead.

You’ll also find our usual reminder of events we’ve recommended previously which are still available to enjoy, along with a handful of things it’s worth getting in the diary sooner rather than later. Festival Watch continues too.

You’ll find details of this week’s subscriber prize draw - a pair of tickets to see The Anastacia File at Newcastle Theatre Royal on September 18 - at the end of the newsletter.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Sam (Wonfor) and Dave (Whetstone)
Professionally pre-occupied with North East culture

EVENT: NOVUM Festival
Where: Newcastle city centre
When: August 7-9
Bookings and info: novumnewcastle.com

Newcastle's NOVUM Festival returns this August with another invitation to look at the city a little differently.

Across three days, streets, squares and public spaces will host free performances, installations, music and family activities, alongside some striking large-scale artworks.

This year’s programme includes Motionhouse’s gravity-defying BLOCK, the percussion-led energy of Possê, North East collaboration The Fabric of Us and the much-anticipated Dominoes Newcastle finale, which will see thousands of breeze blocks topple through the city in an extraordinary chain reaction.

You'll also find Bird Rave, silent disco walking tours, interactive art, roaming brass bands, family play zones and creative workshops, making it easy to dip in for an hour or spend a whole day exploring.

In short, it’s not to be missed.

Read David Whetstone’s interview with Station House Opera’s Julian Maynard Smith

FESTIVAL: GlastonAbbey 2026
Where: Hexham Abbey cloister lawn
When: Friday, July 31; Saturday, August 1
Booking & Info: hexhamabbey.org.uk

There’s no Glastonbury Festival this summer so into the breach steps… Hexham Abbey!

Actually this will be the third GlastonAbbey, an outdoor showcase for tribute bands and other local acts in a beautiful setting.

Fleeting Rumours are the Friday evening headliners but local favourite Jason Arnup will be first on stage with his country rock sound to stoke the atmosphere, as he did last year.

Also on the bill is Geordie Cinnamon who will perform a setlist of hits by Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Cinnamon.

Oasis 96 closed the festival last year and will be back on August 1 along with Jack Bowater and his Ed Sheeran Songbook along with Arctic Flunkies.

The site will have bars and food vans and both indoor and outdoor toilets. Children under 12 will not be admitted.

As a weekend bonus there’s to be a screening of The Glastonbury Movie at the Forum Cinema at 7.30pm on Sunday, August 2. It was shot in 1993 and purports to show “the real festival, not the headline acts”.

FOOD: Seaham Food Festival
Where: Seaham seafront (next to the Tommy Statue)
When: August 1-2
Bookings and info: seahamfoodfestival.co.uk

Celebrity chefs, artisan producers and street food traders return to the County Durham coast as Seaham Food Festival serves up another packed weekend by the sea. TV chef Matt Tebbutt headlines the cookery demonstrations, joined by Cherish Finden, Shelina Permalloo, Cyrus Todiwala, Francesco Mattana, Oli The Choc and presenter Chris Bavin.

Away from the kitchens, nearly 140 traders, live music, family theatre, workshops and outdoor performances promise plenty to keep visitors entertained. Admission is free, making it an ideal excuse to spend a summer weekend exploring one of the North East’s most popular food festivals.

EVENT: Yeavering Festival of Archaeology: A Palace in its Landscape
Where: Ad Gefrin
When: July 31- August 1
Bookings and info: gefrintrust.org

A festival will celebrate one of the most historic sites in Northumberland which was the location of a Royal summer palace for four kings of Northumbria for a century from 575AD.

Yeavering Festival of Archaeology: A Palace in its Landscape, will take place on the site near Wooler on Friday July 31 and Saturday August 1 and on Sunday at the town’s Ad Gefrin whisky distillery.

It is being organised by the distillery, which includes a museum devoted to the royal site, the Gefrin Trust and Durham University which has been carrying out excavations.

On Friday there will be a light show by Walk the Plank from 9pm-10.30pm (ticket £5) on the Palace field, which brings the ancient palace and its story to life. Also book day tickets.

The festival includes living history encampment and demonstrations, expert tours and talks, hands on skills activities, and family craft sessions.

THEATRE: Toto the Ninja Cat and the Great Snake Escape
Where: Gala Durham
When: August 11, 12, 13 (daytime)
Bookings and info: galadurham.co.uk

Billed as a brand new family musical for everyone over five, this action-packed (the clue’s in the title) musical show is based on the 2017 children’s book by Dermot O’Leary.

You might know him as a co-presenter of This Morning or remember him fronting The X Factor.

This show comes from London-based Little Angel Theatre which has been producing family shows with live action and puppets since 1961.

Toto, the feline star of this new production, is no ordinary feline. She’s almost blind but has incredible ninja skills, a big heart and a nose for adventure.

By day, she naps, but by night she’s out on daring missions with her cheeky brother, Silver.

In their first adventure, a deadly snake has escaped and it’s up to Toto to use her courage and cunning to save the day.

There are to be five performances in Durham, all in the morning or afternoon, and the show lasts about 55 minutes,

ROCK: When Rivers Meet
Where: The Witham, Barnard Castle; Cluny 2, Newcastle
When: Friday, August 7, 7.30pm; Saturday, August 8 (doors: 7pm)
Bookings and info: whenriversmeet.co.uk

When Rivers Meet is husband-and-wife duo Grace and Aaron Bond who started performing under that name in 2016 and have just released their sixth studio album, Rhythm Rust & Static.

Grace (vocals, mandolin and violin) and Aaron (vocals, guitar) declare themselves proud to be an independent blues-rock band, having built a career with neither record label nor management.

Their fourth album, Aces Are High, made history in 2023 as the first independent rock/blues release to break into the UK Official Albums Chart Top 10. Follow-up Addicted To You (2025) did even better, getting to number four.

They began their touring career in a converted VW camper van and build up their audience during the Covid pandemic by livestreaming.

They first met in a pub in Downham Market, Norfolk, where Aaron was born. Grace is from Ely, Cambridgeshire. Together since 2004, they are now based in Essex.

On their current tour they will play all 10 tracks from the new album along with some from the back catalogue.

FESTIVAL: Stockton International Riverside Festival
Where: Waterfront Park and High Street, Stockton
When: July 31-August 2
Bookings and info:

Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) returns for its 39th year with another packed weekend of free outdoor performance, transforming the town centre into a stage for street theatre, circus, dance and music.

More than 100 performances will unfold across the High Street and the new Waterfront park, featuring artists from the Tees Valley alongside companies from across the UK, Europe, Australia and South Korea.

Audiences can do more than watch too, with community casts and plenty of opportunities to get involved. The ever-popular Community Carnival rounds off the festival on Sunday with a colourful celebration of creativity. Lovely stuff.

Read more about 2026 SIRF commission, The Market Inspector, here.

FESTIVAL: Durham Fringe Festival
Where: Various venues across Durham city centre
When: July 29-August 2
Bookings and info: durhamfringe.co.uk

Durham Fringe Festival returns with its biggest programme yet, bringing five days of theatre, comedy, music, circus, dance, cabaret and spoken word to venues across the city. More than 130 shows and almost 300 performances will take place between July 29 and August 2, featuring artists from the North East, across the UK and overseas.

Among the many highlights is comedian Harriet Kemsley, previewing new stand-up at Gala Theatre, alongside work from Taiwan-based physical theatre company Sun Son Theatre and a ‘cartoon draw along’ with Viz legend, Alex Collier.

With performances taking place everywhere from theatres and bars to a stretch tent on Palace Green, there's plenty to discover. Check out the website and dive into the full programme.

LECTURE: The 1826 Northumberland Election
Where: Lit & Phil, Newcastle
When: Monday, August 10, 1pm
Booking & Info: litandphil.org.uk

Elections – or the lack of them – have been in the news so it’s interesting to see a window opened on an election which became notorious nationally for the nature of the campaigning.

Lecturer Keith Jewitt will take us back to the Regency era when contested elections were relatively rare.

He will reflect on the boozy dinners and undertow of bad temper and rowdiness, and – arguably worst of all – the staggering level of expense involved.

In Northumberland in 1826, four candidates contested two seats.

There was no shortage of key political issues around which debate might have swirled.

They included the abolition of slavery, Catholic emancipation, electoral reform and the choice between free trade and protectionism. Furthermore, the election took place after a massive economic crisis.

But none of these talking points really lit the blue touchpaper in Alnwick.

Two hundred years after the event, Keith will explain that the strong feelings generated by the election were the product of personal differences and the candidates’ tactical decisions.

FAMILY: Wallace & Gromit – All Systems Go AR Trail
Where: Hopetown Darlington
When: August 1 to 31, 10am to 4pm
Booking & Info: hopetowndarlington.co.uk

Hopetown Darlington is steeped in history, named after the foundry works associated with the railways and previously – and for the best part of 20 years – known as Head of Steam: Darlington Railway Museum.

After a £35 million transformation, the 7.5-acre site was reopened as a brand new visitor attraction with a new name and dedicated to the innovations of past and present.

Visitors throughout August will be able to experience this Wallace & Gromit “reality trail experience” by downloading a free app – available on iOS and Android – and entering location code 1825 ahead of arrival.

A resulting “brilliantly bonkers day out” is promised, characterised by “invention, imagination and adventure” in the company of Wallace & Gromit as they embark on their latest mission.

It involves finding and following trail markers to help the Plasticene pair prepare their rocket for blast off.

Each marker – apparently - will unlock an interactive augmented reality scene, challenging you to complete various tasks and tick off Wallace’s check list.

Best check the website for the technical niceties for what sounds like a fun 21^st Century experience.

THEATRE: The HandleBards’ As You Like It
Where: The Straw Yard, Berwick Barracks (and elsewhere)
When: Wednesday, August 5, 3pm and 7pm (see below)
Bookings and info: maltingsberwick.co.uk

The HandleBards began, as they say, as four friends with a sense of adventure, a love of Shakespeare and a nifty little pun.

The latter’s in the company name, for these intrepid thespians cycle the length of the country every summer to perform Shakespeare in beautiful locations.

The founders were drama students who found a novel way of making their own luck. Others have since followed in their tyre tracks.

Since the company first hit the road in 2013, they have garnered many great reviews – and each’s summer’s pedalling cast must also develop equally impressive leg muscles.

They’re touring two shows this year, As You Like It and Macbeth.

You can also catch As You Like It at: Northumberlandia, near Cramlington (August 8, 6pm); Hexham Abbey (August 9, 5pm); All Saints’ Church, Gosforth (August 12, 6pm); Wharton Park, Durham (August 13, 6.30pm); Raby Castle (August 14, 6.30pm); and Kiplin Hall, near Richmond (August 15, 6.30pm).

Macbeth you can see at: Berwick Parish Church (August 18, 3pm and 7pm); Alnwick Castle (August 19, 6.30pm); or Bolton Castle, near Leyburn (August 20, 6.30pm).

Find full tour details at handlebards.com

EXHIBITION: Things That Go!
Where: Discovery Museum, Newcastle
When: August 1 until February 28, 2027
Bookings and info: northeastmuseums.org.uk

Discovery Museum's newly transformed Special Exhibitions Gallery opens with Things That Go!, a family-friendly celebration of transport in all its forms.

Inspired by the classic children's books, the exhibition brings together rarely seen objects from the museum's collection, from boats, bicycles and tractors to trains, prams and a surfboard belonging to champion surfer Gabe Davies.

Interactive displays include a life-sized Lumo play train, hands-on activities and a storytelling corner, while models and historic vehicles trace the North East's rich transport heritage.

As museum director Keith Merrin says: "Things That Go! is a fun way to bring out items from the collection that relate to the theme of transport and, whilst it has been created with younger families in mind, there are some fascinating and evocative objects on display for all generations to explore.

🎉 FESTIVAL WATCH 🎉

Stockton International Riverside Festival, July 31-August 2
Durham Fringe Festival, various venues, July 29-August 2
Kendal Calling, Lowther Deer Park, July 30-August 2
GCT Beer Festival, Gosforth Civic Theatre, July 31-August 2
NOVUM, Newcastle city centre, August 7-9
Saltburn Folk Festival, various venues, August 7-9
Cosmic Frequencies Festival, Forum Cinema, Hexham, August 8-9
New Horizons, The Grove, Newcastle, August 14-16
Berwick Food and Beer Festival, August 14-16
Derwent Fest, near Consett, August 14-15
Coast Fest, North Shields, Aug 28-30
Noughty 90s Festival, Leazes Park, Newcastle, August 29
Newcastle Mela, August 29-31, Grey’s Monument and Exhibition Park
Northern and Modern Soul All Dayer, The Glasshouse, August 30
Lindisfarne Festival, Beal Farm, Northumberland, September 3-5
Staithes Festival of Arts and Heritage, Tees Valley, various locations, September 11-13
Hexham Abbey Festival of Music and Arts, Hexham, Northumberland, September 23-26
Beyond the Moor, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Oct 10

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Can’t see your festival here? Send us the details

STILL SHOWING

Theatre: Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me but Banjos Saved My Life, Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, Jul 29
Theatre/Comedy: Edinburgh Fringe Previews, Live Theatre, Newcastle, Jul 28-Aug 1
Festival: Gosforth Beer Festival, Gosforth Civic Theatre, Jul 31-Aug 2
Classical: Sasha and Khyrystyna Mykhailichenko, Alnwick Playhouse, Aug 8 (1.30pm)
Exhibition: MOXIE: Generation Alpha Curates the Middlesbrough Collection, MIMA, Middlesbrough, until Mar 28, 2027
Music: The Pale Waves, Parade Ground, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Aug 1
Screen: Screen on the Green, Old Eldon Square, Newcastle, until Aug 31
Event: Happy Rooms, Middlesbrough Town Hall, until Aug 30
Theatre: The Bodyguard, Newcastle Theatre Royal, until Aug 1
Exhibition: Discovering Dark Skies, Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham, until Sept 19
Screen: Ashington AFC: Saving Our Club, available to stream on BBC iPlayer
Event: Beyond Van Gogh, Utilita Arena, Newcastle, until Aug 9. Read our preview
Event: Kynren – An Epic Tale of England, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, until Sept 12
Exhibition: Norman Cornish – A Life in Sketchbooks, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Jan 3. Read our full report
Exhibition: Mourning Tea Tyne & Lost Frequencies, Globe Gallery, North Shields, ongoing
Exhibition: Joan Eardley, Granary Gallery, Berwick-upon-Tweed, until Oct 11
Screen: The Fortune, Channel 5, from Jun 2, 9pm
Screen: Smoggie Queens, BBC Three and BBC iPlayer, available now
Screen: This Is Not A Murder Mystery, UTV and streaming on Channel Four, available now.
Exhibition: Foundation Press – Starting Lines, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until Aug 30.
Exhibition: The Graduates, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, until Jul 31.
Radio: Si King on Desert Island Discs, BBC Sounds/iPlayer
Exhibition: Vivienne Westwood: Rebel – Storyteller – Visionary, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, until Sept 6
Exhibition: Following the Eagle, Segedunum Roman Fort, Wallsend, until Oct 3
Exhibition: Picture This: Someone Like Me, Great North Museum: Hancock, until Jan 2027
Exhibition: Portrait Award 2025, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, until Sept 5
Exhibition: Enigmas, RePUBlic Gallery, Blyth, ongoing
Exhibition: Rebel Women of Sunderland, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, until Aug 1
Screen: Torvill and Dean - The Last Dance, streaming on ITVX
Screen: Jools Holland’s New Orleans Jukebox, BBC iPlayer
Radio: Tom and Lauren Are Going OOT!, BBC Sounds
Exhibition: Out of the Darkness, Mining Art Gallery, Bishop Auckland, until December

NOW BOOKING

Comedy: Things We Didn’t Know Podcast Live (with Jason Cook and Carl Hutchinson), The Customs House, South Shields, Aug 14.
Music: Northern Soul All Dayer, The Glasshouse concourse, Aug 30
Festival: Lindisfarne Festival, Beal Farm, Northumberland, Sept 3-5
Event: Jon Ronson - Enter the Castle, Gala Durham, Sept 17
Event: Caitlin Moran - How To Be Hopeful, Northern Stage, Newcastle, Sept 27
Music: Crash Test Dummies plus Special Guests, Wylam Brewery, Oct 1
Chartity music fundraiser: Liz Corney & Field Music play Elton John and the Rocketmen, Tyneside Irish Centre, Newcastle, Oct 10
Comedy: Your Aunt Fanny - Crease, ARC Stockton, Oct 10
Music: Soul II Soul, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Oct 23
Music: Megson, The Witham, Barnard Castle, Oct 29
Music: The Script, Utilita Arena Newcastle, Nov 5
Comedy: Harry Enfield and No Chums, Darlington Hippodrome (Nov 11); Stockton Globe (Nov 21); Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Newcastle (Mar 20, 2027)
Event: Miriam’s Full English Live, Darlington Hippodrome, Nov 18

2027

Music: Stornoway, The Fire Station, Sunderland, Feb 18
Theatre: Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Feb 23-27
Comedy: Mike Wozniak - The Bench, Gala Durham, Mar 19
Music: Gabrielle, Newcastle o2 City Hall, Apr 3
Theatre: The Most Famous Tree In The World, Live Theatre, May 6-29
Classical: Thomas Zehetmair conducts Mozart, Sage One, The Glasshouse, Jun 4
Theatre: Starlight Express, Sunderland Empire, Jul 14-31

COMPETITION TIME

Welcome to our latest newsletter prize draw - offering our subscribers an exclusive opportunity to win tickets to see or do something great.

This week, we’ve got a pair of tickets to see The Anastacia File at Newcastle Theatre Royal (Sept 15-19) on September 18.

Jenny Seagrove returns to one of her most acclaimed stage roles in The Anastasia File, a drama inspired by one of the twentieth century's greatest historical mysteries.

Two years after the execution of the Russian royal family, an unidentified woman rescued from a Berlin canal begins to reveal details suggesting she could be Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Was she really the last surviving Romanov, or an extraordinary imposter? Directed by Roy Marsden and featuring Simon Shepherd, Ashley D. Gayle and Rosie Thomson, Royce Ryton's gripping play promises to explore the blurred lines between truth, memory and myth, leaving audiences to reach their own conclusions.

HOW TO ENTER:

To be in with a chance of winning, simply email MePlease@culturednortheast.co.uk using the subject line: ‘File me under WINNER’ by 5pm on Sunday (August 2)

The winner, who will be selected at random, will be notified within 48 hours of the entry deadline.

Terms and conditions: Only subscribers to the Cultured. North East newsletter are eligible to enter the Newsletter Prize Draw competition. Prizes are as stated - subject to availability - and non-transferable. No cash alternatives will be offered. You must be over 18 years of age to enter. The Editor’s decision is final.

The music goes on at all three participating venues – of course it does - and the BBC Proms doesn’t actually end until the famous Last Night on September 12. But in the North East, that’s it for another year.

The presenters, the technicians and the BBC vans have moved on, the banners and logos been put away.

What has the BBC ever done for me? (Or us?)

That’s the question being asked (rather relentlessly, it has to be said) as it campaigns for continued public funding ahead of charter renewal at the end of next year.

Well, one thing it does is the BBC Proms and by embracing the regions this musical national institution effects a sense of togetherness.

An excellent concert in Sage Two at The Glasshouse is, more often than not, an experience shared by the people who were there.

With a BBC Proms concert in Sage Two, you hear the presenter speak to a much wider (invisible) audience.

To hear the same concert later on the radio or BBC Sounds brings home the sense that the whole nation (and beyond, potentially) was focused on that moment in Gateshead.

And you (we) were there!

As with all broadcasting, authenticity has a veneer of artificiality, the mood somewhat manufactured even if the excitement is genuine.

You’re asked for applause (but not too much, as the presenter gently admonished his exuberant Gateshead audience in a practice ahead of the performance of Morton Feldman’s laid back, minimalist composition, Crippled Symmetry).

You’re asked to ensure you’re sitting comfortably (Crippled Symmetry is 90 minutes, no interval) and to double, triple check phones are off. You are allowed to breathe – which is a relief.

The presenter’s amiable alertness, addressing us while attuned to a producer’s voice we can’t hear, transmits urgency and a sense of occasion.

Even the BBC’s recently appointed director general, Matt Brittin, was in the building on Friday, as was his predecessor at The Fire Station last year, Tim Davie sounding a little embattled.

All the photos you see here were taken by Thomas Jackson of TyneSight Media who saw most things and can be forgiven for failing to be in two places at once on opening night.

That was Thursday (July 23) when Thomas and his gear were at Middlesbrough Town Hall – a welcome newcomer to the BBC Proms strand in the North East – where The Unthanks and friends were on stage with the busy musicians of Royal Northern Sinfonia (RNS).

We heard fabulous reports of this gig although Conor O’Brien, the Villagers front man and one of the billed ‘special guests’, had to withdraw because of family illness.

It was a blend of old and new, compositions by Johnny Handle and Michael Tippett in the mix with indie band English Teacher, fronted by Lily Fontaine, and North East singer-songwriter Jodie Nicholson performing her wonderfully hypnotic Move.

Rachel and Becky Unthank pounded rhythms with their clogs on while Phil Selway, of Radiohead fame, took up sticks to do likewise at his signature drum kit.

And integral to all of it was the RNS with conductor Ellie Slorach brilliantly bridging any perceived gap between classical and contemporary.

Thomas was there so couldn’t be at The Glasshouse where BBC Introducing was Live at the Proms with presenter Shakk and a line-up comprising AFTK, Maddie Ashman and corto.alto.

Their time will come.

And so, perhaps, will other beneficiaries of BBC Proms in the North East, the young musicians (aged 12 to 18) who had signed up to attend a composers’ workshop held in Middlesbrough earlier in the day.

Friday saw two very different concerts at The Glasshouse and Thomas was there with his camera to catch the drama and every visual nuance.

RNS music director Dinis Sousa (on piano and celeste) and orchestra members Helena Gourd (flute and bass flute) and Jude Carlton (glockenspiel and vibraphone) gave a centenary performance of the Morton Feldman piece.

You could call it self-indulgent but it was a proper musical event, something rarely performed and requiring supreme concentration from the performers and a zen-like state from an audience in for the long haul.

You needed to buy in to it, to be prepared to savour each stitched note and repetition of a piece supposedly inspired by the patterns in the Turkish rugs the composer collected.

It’s to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at 8.15pm on August 11 and I’d recommend you relax in the dark to listen, emptying your mind as far as possible. A glass of wine might help.

The applause in Sage Two was thunderous and unprompted by BBC staff with headphones.

After a short pause there was a very different musical experience to be had on the concourse, standing in for Sage One which is closed for updating and refurbishment.

The band Knats performed an exuberant opening set, testing the acoustic with drums, guitar, keyboards and brass – and with red-bearded wordsmith Cooper Robson up front.

After a pause came North East indie-rock heroine Nadine Shah to entertain a sizeable crowd of her devoted fans.

An angular figure in black, she worked through numbers such as Aching Bones, Topless Mother and Stealing Cars arranged for orchestral accompaniment.

I’ll be honest, from up above the view was great but most of the words were lost in this rather unorthodox setting.

The most astute fans had gathered in front of the stage (backs to the glass and its view over the Tyne). But they will have missed the sight of the RNS players letting their hair down a tad and conductor Ellie Slorach seeming to have the best time of anyone.

The concourse was pressed into service again on Saturday afternoon where the massed choirs gathered – the BBC Singers, the Chorus of RNS and, also based in this building, Voices of the River’s Edge (VOTRE).

Sofi Jeannin, Swedish-born singer and conductor of the BBC Singers, led the choir in a wide-ranging programme embracing the 11^th Century Hildegard of Bingen and the popular baritone Roderick Williams whose BBC commission Never weather-beaten sail received its world premiere performance.

The finale was a performance of Alfred Schnittke’s 1984 Concerto for Choir.

Also performing was Jess Gillam whose solo sax accompaniment added to the concert’s distinctive air.

Mozart and Mendelssohn, those giants of the classical music repertoire, paraded their genius in the concluding North East Proms concert at The Fire Station in Sunderland with the help of Norwegian pianist Christian Ihle Hadland and the RNS directed by Maria Włoszczowska.

It was described as a programme of musical innovations and provocations with Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz’s Divertimento for String Orchestra (a short but complex piece from 1965) paving the way for Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings in D minor.

The second half was devoted to Mozart’s much loved Symphony No. 39 in E flat major, one of the three symphonies he composed in quick succession towards the end of his life.

And that was it… except if you switched on the TV on Sunday night you will have seen Gateshead-born John Wilson and his acclaimed Sinfonia of London performing a fantastic concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

It was a recording of concert which took place on Friday evening while Nadine and friends were ripping it up in The Glasshouse.

You can still see that on iPlayer and catch the North East concerts either on BBC Radio 3 or BBC Sounds. Check the BBC Proms website for details.

Gala premiere for Eddie Cochran doc at Tyneside

Music legend Eddie Cochran will be strutting his stuff at Tyneside Cinema when the first fully authorised documentary of the pioneering rock ‘n’ roller gets a northern gala premiere.

The European premiere of Eddie Cochran: Don’t Forget Me closed the recent Raindance Film Festival in London where its director, Kirsty Bell, from Newcastle, won the best director accolade.

It will be screened in at the Tyneside on Thursday, September 3 at a gala event celebrating the 10^th anniversary of the Sir Graham Wylie Foundation, funder of the cinema’s Tyneside Talent Unit.

The screening, made possible with support from the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, will be followed by a Q&A session with Kirsty Bell and guests.

The film was produced by Goldfinch, the highly regarded entertainment company founded by Bell in 2016.

New future for Neville Hall

The historic Tyneside home of an internationally significant mining engineering archive is being saved for the region.

Newcastle City Council’s Cabinet has agreed to take ownership of the Grade II* listed Neville Hall in Newcastle, formerly the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers.

The building on Westgate Road, which opened in 1872, houses a vast collection of mining and engineering records, dating from when the North East was a world leader in the fields.

But an uncertain future lay ahead after the charity which runs the building, The Common Room of the Great North, experienced financial challenges caused in part by the Covid lockdown.

The council will now take ownership of the building and North East Museums will run it as part of its estate of 12 cultural venues, which includes the Great North Museum: Hancock, Discovery Museum and the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle. Read more

North East comedy talent showcased at BBC-backed scratch night

Twelve North East writers and performers unveiled six original comedy creations at Alphabetti Theatre this week as part of New Writing North’s development project designed to nurture the region’s next generation of comedy screenwriters.

Backed by BBC Comedy, the group took part in three writing sessions in July with industry figures including The League of Gentlemen co-creator Jeremy Dyson, Saturday Night Live UK writer Chris Cantrill, Horrible Histories writer Rebecca Bain and Ludwig director Chris Foggin before presenting the character-led sketches to an invited audience.

The showcase introduced an eclectic cast of comic creations, from an over-familiar emergency call handler and a funeral celebrant with stand-up ambitions to a care home worker staging raves for residents and the owner of an animal modelling agency.

The project brought together writers Hal Branson, Anna Costello, Sammy Dobson, Laura Fulgenzi, Rebecca Glendenning-Laycock, Emily Low, Elaine Robertson, Jack Robertson, Kema Sikazwe, Chess Tomlinson, Lois-Amber Toole and Scott Turnbull.

Supported by BBC Comedy and the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, the evening concluded with feedback from industry guests including Blue House Productions’ Shaunna O’Brien, Merman’s Maddy Beautyman, Schnoobert Productions founder Jason Cook and BBC Comedy commissioner Ethan Andrews.

Glimpse inside proposed new Glassworks: Sunderland

Images have been released to show how Glassworks: Sunderland might look, just days ahead of the proposed closure of the National Glass Centre.

The latter, at St Peter’s Riverside on the north bank of the Wear, is due to cease operations at the end of the month despite a concerted campaign by supporters to save it.

The architect-designed images of the proposed new facility have been submitted with a planning application to Sunderland City Council to develop the former Peter Smith Antiques building, in Sunniside, into a hub for glassmaking, ceramics and creative production. Read more

Byker Estate appoints first artist in residence

A former hobby room on Newcastle’s Byker Estate has been given a new lease of life as an artist’s studio, with local maker and community artist Lucy Minta Reeves announced as its first artist in residence.

The studio, on St Michael’s Mount, has stood empty since 1988 but has been transformed with funding from Historic England as part of wider investment in community spaces across the estate.

Following a public call for applications and a selection process involving community partners and local residents, Reeves was chosen to lead the new residency.

A costume and prop maker with almost two decades’ experience across theatre, dance, live events and community arts, she plans to use the studio as an open creative space where residents can learn practical skills, collaborate on projects and explore their own creativity.

Among the ideas she hopes to develop is a large-scale recycled proggy (or clippy) mat banner celebrating Byker’s stories, character and community spirit.

Mining fashion comes to light

A foray into underground fashion by a group of textile artists will go on show in a two-day exhibition at a historic lead and zinc mines complex.

The Inspired 2026 event on August 8-9 will be held from 10am-4pm at the Barracks Building at the extensive Nenthead Mines site near Alston, when 20 North Pennines artists will be exhibiting.

The exhibition will feature a project by the 16 women who make up the Lololasses textile group.

They decided to see what would happen if they left organic calico cloth for six weeks underground in Carr’s Mine at the Nenthead site.

Pieces of the cloth were folded to create patterns and pegged onto a line and left for mould and atmospheric chemicals to make their mark. Read more

Sunderland dance company to tell a different Romeo and Juliet story

A Sunderland-based dance and performance company is developing a new outdoor production inspired by Romeo and Juliet after securing support from a national arts funding programme.

Southpaw Company, based at Sheepfolds Stables, has been named as one of Without Walls’ Blueprint artists for 2026, receiving research and development funding to create Tommy & Teresa – a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy, co-created with Gypsy and Traveller communities.

The production, being developed in partnership with West Yorkshire’s Spin Arts and Gypsy rapper Big Deli, will tell the story of two young people growing up in neighbouring but very different communities – a council estate and a Traveller site. Using the familiar framework of Romeo and Juliet, it will explore social division, family conflict and cultural expectations through dance, music and spoken word.

Southpaw has built a national reputation for large-scale outdoor performances that combine choreography with striking visual storytelling. Its previous collaborations with Without Walls include Faust, which toured nationally for five years following its 2010 premiere, as well as Carousel in 2015 and Icarus in 2018.

Artistic director Robby Graham said the funding would allow the company to develop a production rooted in genuine collaboration. Read more

A brush with extinction

Nigel is a name very much in the news, with hardly a day passing without Mr Farage featuring.

County Durham artist Stephen Livingstone has used Nigel as the inspiration for his latest exhibition.

But in Stephen’s case it is a specimen of the long-extinct Irish Elk, also called the Giant Deer, which for years has been known by its pet name of Nigel by Durham University academics and students.

One of the largest deer that ever lived, with antlers which can span over 4.2 metres (13.8 ft) across, the most recent remains found of the species have been radiocarbon dated to about 7,700 years ago.

Nigel is part of the collection of Durham University’s biosciences department’s array of animal skeletons and skulls, which Stephen has been sifting through.

The collection dates from the 1830s and was used as a teaching aid, but is now kept in storage. Read more

Sunderland's National Mackem Day unveils 2026 line-up

National Mackem Day will return to Sheepfolds Stables on August 12 with a free celebration of Sunderland’s music, creativity and community, headlined by Sunderland-born singer Ruth-Ann Boyle.

Best known as the lead singer of 90s chart-toppers Olive, Boyle will perform the UK number one hit You’re Not Alone alongside a selection of other favourites as part of a programme celebrating local talent.

The line-up also features all-female punk trio Claudia, Sunderland Ceilidh Band, Unfolding Theatre’s Dear Sunderland, the Abbie Finn Trio and young pop group Northern Daughters, with broadcaster Jeff Brown hosting the event.

Alongside the live performances, visitors can browse a marketplace showcasing local artists, makers and independent businesses, including Under The Ivy, Roker Records, A Love Supreme and GrassiArt, as well as food traders and Sunderland Music City merchandise. Admission is free, although advance booking is recommended as places are expected to fill quickly.

Northumberland folk art menagerie raises £28,000 at auction

An extraordinary collection of handmade animal sculptures which became an unlikely Northumberland visitor attraction has found new homes after selling for £28,000 at auction.

The Branxton Cement Menagerie, created over decades by retired joiner John Fairnington, featured almost 100 life-sized animals alongside figures including Winston Churchill. Originally made to entertain his disabled son, the collection grew into a much-loved garden attraction at Fountain House in Branxton.

Auctioneer Jim Railton said bidders from across the UK and France competed for the sculptures, with a giraffe and a lion each selling for £1,800 against estimates of little more than £100. Other highlights included a figure of a man in a tin hat (£1,500), two seals (£950), a wild boar (£980) and a pig (£900). The sale formed part of a wider auction of contents from Ayton Castle, which was recently bought by comedian Alan Carr.

A Sunderland-based dance and performance company is developing a new outdoor production inspired by Romeo and Juliet after securing support from a national arts funding programme.

Southpaw Company, based at Sheepfolds Stables, has been named as one of Without Walls’ Blueprint artists for 2026, receiving research and development funding to create Tommy & Teresa – a contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy, co-created with Gypsy and Traveller communities.

The production, being developed in partnership with West Yorkshire’s Spin Arts and Gypsy rapper Big Deli, will tell the story of two young people growing up in neighbouring but very different communities – a council estate and a Traveller site. Using the familiar framework of Romeo and Juliet, it will explore social division, family conflict and cultural expectations through dance, music and spoken word.

Southpaw has built a national reputation for large-scale outdoor performances that combine choreography with striking visual storytelling. Its previous collaborations with Without Walls include Faust, which toured nationally for five years following its 2010 premiere, as well as Carousel in 2015 and Icarus in 2018.

Artistic director Robby Graham said the funding would allow the company to develop a production rooted in genuine collaboration.

“We’re extremely grateful to Without Walls who give innovative companies like ours the research and development time to create productions which push boundaries and challenge perceptions.

“We’ll be co-creating the work with Gypsy and Traveller communities and building on long-standing relationships to ensure the work is rooted in lived experience and cultural integrity. We’re incredibly excited to see how Tommy & Teresa develops.”

Without Walls supports artists creating ambitious work for public spaces, with its Blueprint programme designed to give companies time to experiment and test new ideas before production.

Chief executive Ralph Kennedy said: “Artistic innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum, so Without Walls is committed to giving artists the time and space to take creative risks and test new ideas.

“Blueprint 2026 includes projects by established artists with a track record in making work for public space and rising talent stepping into the outdoor for the first time. We are proud to offer this support where diverse creators can dare to dream bigger and push the boundaries of their craft.”

Spin Arts has spent many years working alongside Gypsy and Traveller communities and will bring that experience to the project.

Director and creative producer Sarah Shead said: “Tommy & Teresa builds on those relationships, creating a contemporary retelling of a timeless story rooted in lived experience rather than assumption. We’re excited to be collaborating with Southpaw and Big Deli to create a bold new outdoor work that celebrates culture, challenges prejudice and invites audiences to see beyond stereotypes.”

Big Deli added: “Tommy & Teresa is a story of love, power and change. I hope to create a piece of work that is entertaining, emotionally engaging and encourages audiences to think differently about the communities and people featured in the story.”

The production is expected to tour outdoor venues across the UK during 2027 and 2028.

A new exhibition pairing painting and pottery, and showing the connections between them, is to open at Newcastle’s Hatton Gallery in September.

Called The Potter’s Canvas: Ceramics and Painting in the 20th Century, it will look at how British ceramicists used drawing, painting and mark-making to transform the surface of clay.

While usually regarded as a sculptural medium, clay was seen as a ‘canvas’ by many artists.

Ceramic items from the extensive collection of Gateshead’s Shipley Art Gallery will be displayed with paintings and prints from the Hatton.

More than 70 works will be on display, organised thematically across the Hatton’s four exhibition spaces.

The aim is to show how the worlds of pottery and painting shaped each other, with early minimal brushwork giving way to more meaningful decoration as the century progressed.

Visitors will see ceramic works by Bernard Leach, Michael Cardew, Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, James Tower, Gordon Baldwin, Carol McNicoll, Alison Britton, Stephen Dixon and Philip Eglin.

From the Hatton’s collection will be works by Patrick Heron, William Scott, Adrian Heath and Victor Pasmore. 

The exhibition will also include key works from the Laing Art Gallery such as a vase by Elizabeth Fritsch and a still life by Winifred Nicholson.

A central attraction will be striking black and white ceramic creations by James Tower (1919-88), their surfaces animated by energetic lines.

Tower’s late work, a vertical form titled Boursa (1984), was acquired by the Shipley in the year it was made and will be displayed with important early pieces on show for the first time since their acquisition in 2019.

The exhibition will show how a new generation of ceramicists, such as Alison Britton (born in 1948) and Carol McNicoll (1943-2025), graduates of the Royal College of Art in the early 1970s, brought colour, pattern and a painterly approach to the ceramic surface.

Britton has written about the connections between pottery and painting and often paints her flat slabs of clay before and after they are assembled into forms.

Flat ceramics, such as tiles or large dishes, clearly offer an ideal surface on which to draw and paint, and the idea of flatness will also be explored in examples of 20^th Century still life painting.

Mark Gertler’s Still Life with Bowl, Spoon and Apples (1913), from the Hatton’s collection, is just one example of the depiction of ceramics in paint, showing the influence of painters such as Paul Cézanne.

The exhibition will show how the everyday nature of ceramics made them ideal for experimentation, whether depicted on canvas or made from clay.

The exhibition will open at the Hatton Gallery, managed by North East Museums for Newcastle University, on September 19 and run until January 16, 2027.

The gallery is open from 10am to 5pm (closed on Sundays). Entry is free. Check the Hatton Gallery website for details.

Stockton’s flagship cultural event is nearly upon us, with the 39^th Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) another golden opportunity for the region’s UK Town of Culture contender to show what it’s about.

It’s taking place over the weekend of July 31 to August 2 when the new Waterfront Park and adjacent High Street will be given over to street theatre, circus, music and dance.

More than 100 individual performances – local, national and international – are part of the lively programme, including a new SIRF commission from disabled-led production company Little Cog and the Full Circle learning disabled theatre ensemble.

They have collaborated to create an outdoor comedy called The Market Inspector, text-free but inspired by clowning and physical comedy.

It tells of a pompous perfectionist whose grand plans for a pristine artisan quarter in Stockton’s famous market unravel when a group of playful troublemakers arrives to claim the space.

It’s a second SIRF commission for Full Circle and a satellite event of the Our Stomping Grounds Festival which it runs with Little Cog to showcase the best of learning disability culture.

You can catch performances at 2pm or 5.30pm on Saturday, August 1, beginning at Shambles on Stockton High Street and progressing by means of a lively promenade to the performance space.

At the centre of the action will be the market inspector himself, accompanied by his long-suffering assistant carrying everything needed for the grand opening on tricycle and trailer.

Designed by Amy Jones, the show will feature larger-than-life costumes as befits a world where pretension is joyfully turned upside down.

The show, celebrating the power of physical theatre to connect with audiences, has been devised and will be performed by the learning disabled actors of Full Circle and directed by Vici Wreford-Sinnott.

Vici, who is also artistic director of Little Cog, says: “We have had so much fun creating this special performance for SIRF and can’t wait to perform it on our very own High Street!

“The Market Inspector has many laugh-out-loud moments, perfected by the crafting and hard work of our incredible actors.

“We invite our regular audiences to come and enjoy this celebration of learning disability culture and look forward to welcoming new audiences to the show.”

Meanwhile the actors of Full Circle hope people enjoy a show they hope will prove warm, funny and even heartbreaking.

“The costumes are a brilliant burst of colour and the set appears like magic as our cast of rebels arrive. We hope you love watching it as much as we have loved making it for you.”

Councillor Nigel Cooke, Stockton Borough Council’s cabinet member for health, leisure and culture, says the show encapsulates what SIRF is all about, “bringing communities together and delivering magical and memorable experiences for everyone involved”.

“Be sure not to miss it and celebrate these wonderful actors shining a spotlight on learning disability culture,” he adds.

You can see the full three-day programme on the SIRF website.

A giant domino run through Newcastle city centre is planned as the grand finale of this year’s NOVUM Summer Festival, taking place from August 7 to 9.

What a beautifully simple idea!

Then again, it also sounds like something Buster Keaton or one of the other masters of silent slapstick would have revelled in.

Knock one down and they’ll all follow. What could possibly go wrong?

Julian Maynard Smith, the man behind Dominoes, is quick to quash the suggestion that the artwork resulted from an accident, happy or otherwise.

No, he says. Station House Opera (SHO), the performance art and theatre company he set up in 1980, had been using breezeblocks long before the first Dominoes performance in London in 2009.

“We’d been using them in performances since 1985, I believe… throwing them around, catching them and building with them.

“We were aware of their domino capability but we used them first in single locations, building structures.”

Then came the big moment – a competition for an event to link the five London boroughs that would host the 2012 Olympic Games.

“It was part of the Cultural Olympiad process,” recalls Julian.

“Knowing that these breezeblocks did behave like dominoes we thought it’d be nice to do a piece linking the boroughs in that way.

“It was an ambitious undertaking because we were talking about a run that was potentially 18 kilometres long.

“Of course, that was way out of our budget but we got the ball rolling, as it were, and ended up doing something in each of the boroughs and making a bit of film to link them up.

“We filmed a boat taking one of the blocks to Greenwich.”

Following that success, Dominoes became a SHO favourite around the world, being enacted annually in one, two or even three different cities.

In 2024 there were Dominoes runs in Toronto and the Polish city of Poznań. The last UK performance listed on the company website was in Newbury in 2022 and next after Newcastle will be Tilburg in Holland.

This, though, will be the first time in the North East… where, of course, dominoes was once a staple game in many a pub.

The breezeblocks have been ordered, says Julian, about 8,000 of them to be set roughly 40 centimetres apart, and a small army of 300 volunteers is being recruited by Newcastle City Council.

“Creating a celebration across the whole city, Dominoes transforms its rhythm for one special day,” is how the SHO website explains the work’s particular appeal.

“The project has the power to bring communities together through participation and engagement.”

Julian has seen this spirit stirred many times by Dominoes but he says it surprised him initially.

“When we first did it I had no expectation of how people would respond but the people building it really enjoying doing it and the audience just went wow!

“And it’s such a simple thing. Every time we’ve done it people have enjoyed the process and the spectacle.”

Julian’s unique career path began with him studying architecture at university but then switching to fine art. That led to the tricky participatory projects in which SHO specialises.

He explains: “As an architecturally minded person I’m interested in space and the physical environment, and how you can make things that haven’t existed before by using materials in a different way.

“I do enjoy attempting something difficult. I’m drawn to difficult things.”

You can say that again.

Last time Julian was in Newcastle was 20 years ago when he was commissioned to create Play On Earth, a drama in real time linking the city (from a base in the Guildhall) with others in Brazil and Singapore.

In each place there were actors and technicians dedicated to performing a seamless drama as if they were all on stage in one location.

If Dominoes sounds simple on the face of it, Play On Earth was always going to be fiendishly tricky.

Julain confesses to having “vivid memories” of it.

“It was bloody difficult. In those days the internet was not as reliable as it is now. It was technically a tricky set-up and there was a World Cup on which meant our Brazil end would sort of collapse.”

More recently, in 2018, he tested the idea again. Technology may have moved on but linking London and Gaza in one live-streamed drama – At Home in Gaza and London - proved challenging for political and logistical reasons.

But back to Dominoes, a phenomenon owing more to simple physics than digital gizmos.

For the 2.5 kilometre Newcastle run, Julian and his team have mapped a route that will begin on the old concrete pedestrian walkway near the City Library and run through the city centre (via Tyneside Cinema, Theatre Royal, Assembly Rooms and elsewhere) to the Helix building, part of Newcastle Science Central (near St James’ Park).

“The idea is that it connects the 1960s futurist view of Newcastle to a futurist view of Newcastle in 2026,” says Julian.

“I thought it’d be great to use the walkways because they’re archetypal… for me, anyway.

“I’m a southerner. I don’t really know anything about Newcastle but I’ve seen it in the movies so this seems to me quintessentially part of the city.

“However out of date they appear now, the walkways are a vivid reminder of how the city was planned back then. It was modern at the time.”

The breezeblocks will follow a route, laid out using rope, in and out of the library and then onto the street.

“It’ll go into a number of places,” says Julian. “We try to make it interesting.”

The breezeblocks will be laid out by the volunteers just before the run, with approximately 40 centimetre gaps between them.

Sometimes they might go upstairs (it can be done) and occasionally, as in the library, a breezeblock will drop from a height onto one below, enabling the run to continue on a different level.

To see some dramatic breezeblock constructions bite the dust, Grey’s Monument is going to be the place to be.

Everything that can be done to prevent mishaps or mischief will be done, promises Julian.

Excited kids who might be tempted to initiate a pre-emptive topple can usually be won over to the project, he says.

“Sometimes they guard the line for us and explain to people what’s going to happen. They just want to be involved and they’ve always been great in the end.”

Two potential bugbears, from bitter experience, are cobble stones (breezeblocks rest uneasily on those) and drunks (for obvious reasons).

“But by the time the thing starts going,” says Julian, “it’s out of my hands.

“We have a production manager who’ll run along behind with a walkie talkie. He’s there to fix any mistakes, which occasionally happen.

“That’s the nature of the game. You do everything you can to make it perfect but, as in football, the best laid plans don’t always work.”

After the first Dominoes run, a construction magazine reported that enough ‘aircrete’ lightweight breezeblocks to build five houses had been used.

“We try and recycle them as ecologically as we can,” says Julian.

“You can’t re-sell them afterwards as new but you can sell them as second hand. We try and get other uses for them so they go to community projects of various kinds.

“If all else fails they go back to the manufacturers who have a system of reusing the basic material.”

In Newcastle that task will be undertaken by New Tyne West Development Company (NTWDC) whose sponsorship of the event includes paying for the breezeblocks and then repurposing them for community use.

While completely dependent on the simple idea of one block toppling its neighbour, an incredible amount of planning goes into each Dominoes run.

“It’s a bit like getting an army ready for an assault,” suggests Julian.

On the big day – Sunday, August 9 – people can walk the route from 2.30pm and watch the volunteers putting the dominoes up (downloadable maps are available from The NOVUM Summer Festival website).

The first block is due to topple at 4.30pm and it’s estimated 30 minutes will elapse before the last follows suit. If all goes to plan, a ripple of excited shouts and cheers will follow its progress.

To find out about being a Dominoes Newcastle volunteer, go to the festival website… which is also where you’ll find the full programme.

After two pilot years, the festival, delivered by Newcastle City Council’s cultural events team, is back with a bang (or a succession of thuds), made possible by various partners, community groups, artists and organisations across the city.

Here’s what some interested parties are saying about Dominoes Newcastle:

Councillor Rob Austin (cabinet member for culture, communities and youth services, Newcastle City Council): “As the spectacular finale to NOVUM Summer Festival, this is a chance for thousands of people to experience Newcastle in a completely new way while celebrating everything that makes our city special.”

Siobhan Lightfoot (director of operations, Theatre Royal): “As we continue on our mission to be open to more people more of the time, it’s exciting to see our iconic building become part of such as ambitious event, giving us the opportunity to welcome visitors through our doors and create moments of magic off stage.”

Prof James Annesley (lead for creative places, Newcastle University): “It’s a great opportunity to celebrate the people and ambition that make our region special. Newcastle Helix is a key part of the future of Newcastle and we’re delighted to see it playing a role in an occasion that connects people and showcases the city.”

Lee McGray (director, NTWDC): “We’re incredibly proud to support Dominoes Newcastle and to help bring such as ambitious and memorable event to the heart of the city.”