A quick note before we get into it.
I (Sam) know I said the summer shenanigans were over and there’d be no more disruption to your regularly scheduled newsletters.
And while that’s technically true, I wanted to offer a heads up that with this week being bookended by both a Bank Holiday and Lindisfarne Festival (aka my end-of-summer staple) both Culture Digest and Cultured. On Sunday have been slimmed down a smidge.
They’ll also be coming to you direct from a deckchair overlooking Holy Island, via a laptop which will be doubling as a Prosecco holder. Please bear this in mind when judging any minor typos and/or unexplained changes in tone. Thank you.
Fontaines D.C. confirm St James’ Park date for 2027
After weeks of rumours, Fontaines D.C. have confirmed they will play a major summer show at St James’ Park next year.
The Irish rock band will make their first North East stadium appearance at Newcastle United’s home on Thursday, July 1, 2027, as part of a five-date run of outdoor headline shows.
The BRIT Award winners, who were shortlisted for the Mercury Prize when the ceremony came to Newcastle last year, will also play Cardiff, London, Manchester and Glasgow.
The announcement follows a sold-out UK arena tour for the band, whose rise has seen them headline increasingly large venues across Europe and North America.
Newcastle United chief operating officer Brad Miller said: “Fontaines D.C.’s first stadium performance in the North East promises to be an unforgettable night, uniting the city’s passion for live music with the famed atmosphere of St. James’ Park.”
Tickets go on general sale at 10am on September 10 here.
North East cultural freelancer champion steps onto national stage
North East cultural leader Leila D’Aronville has been appointed to a new Government role aimed at putting the voices of the UK’s creative freelancers at the heart of policy-making.
Leila, who founded North East Cultural Freelancers to support the region’s independent creative and cultural workforce, has been named one of two new Freelance Champions alongside cultural policy specialist Lizzie Crump.
The pair will represent the interests of an estimated 703,000 self-employed people working across the UK’s creative industries, including through seats on the Creative Industries Council, the joint forum bringing together industry and Government.
Leila has spent years advocating for freelancers in the North East through North East Cultural Freelancers, which has more than 6,000 members and supports individual creative practitioners and small organisations across the region.
She said: “As someone who grew up in a freelancing family, and who continues to work freelance while championing the North East’s independent creative and cultural workforce, I know first-hand the pressures and possibilities that shape freelance lives. It’s why I’ve spent years advocating for better conditions, and why I’m honoured to take on this role.” Read more
Lindisfarne Festival to see the summer out in style
As per the pre-newsletter note, thousands of festival-goers and good-time seekers are gathering on the Northumberland coast as Lindisfarne Festival gets into full swing.
The three-day party overlooking Holy Island, which was named Best Small Festival at the UK Festival Awards last year, kicked off yesterday with The Proclaimers taking the headline slot. Razorlight will top the bill tonight, before Faithless bring this year’s festival to a close tomorrow.
Also appearing across the weekend are Soul II Soul, Heather Small and Utah Saints, alongside plenty of North East talent.
Local acts on the bill include Bear Park and Swindled, while a host of the region’s comedians and DJs are also making the trip to the coast.
How lockdown gave Newcastle playwright the freedom to go wild
There probably weren’t many people who would describe the third Covid lockdown as creatively liberating, but for Newcastle playwright Alison Carr, the strange, constricted days of early 2021 produced a writing experience she remembers as unusually free.
There was no commission. No deadline. No theatre waiting for a script.
There was just an irresistible starting point: the almost unbelievable story of John and Anne Darwin and the canoe trip from Seaton Carew which ended with a supposedly dead man secretly living under the same roof as his wife.
By then, of course, Alison was already an established and award-winning playwright. Her credits include The Soaking of Vera Shrimp, Iris and North East Culture Award-winner A Street Like This, alongside work with the National Theatre, New Vic Theatre, Traverse Theatre and BBC Radio 4.
“I was writing a play for writing a play,” Alison remembers of the beginnings of All At Sea, the resulting play which opens at Live Theatre later this month.
She approached it differently too, writing individual scenes as they came to her rather than worrying too much about structure.
“I’d never written like that before and there’s a nice energy about that, and I think the script still has that energy in it.”
Culture House prepares to welcome audiences HOME
A large-scale immersive production featuring dozens of local participants will help officially open Sunderland’s new Culture House later this month.
HOME, devised by Sunderland-based dance company Southpaw, will be performed six times across September 26 and 27, combining live performance, digital visuals, projection and storytelling throughout the new multi-purpose cultural venue.
The production follows Lyra, a Sunderland-born woman who fulfils her dream of becoming an astronaut after being encouraged by her late father to “look up”. Her journey through space takes in the city’s past, present and future, encountering some famous Sunderland figures along the way.
Community participants will perform alongside Southpaw’s professional dancers, appearing around the building, in its windows and within immersive digital scenes.
Southpaw artistic director Robby Graham said: “HOME will bring together movement, music, projection and digital technology to tell a story of who we are, where we’ve come from and what we might become.”
Tickets are available now, with numbers limited for each performance. Culture House Sunderland opens on September 12. Look out for our preview of what to expect in the coming days.
Smoggie Queens star Elijah Young joins BBC Comedy Collective
North East actor and writer Elijah Young has been selected for the 2026 BBC Comedy Collective, a scheme designed to help emerging comedy talent take the next step in their careers.
Originally from Teesside, Elijah is best known for playing Stewart in BAFTA-nominated and RTS award-winning BBC sitcom Smoggie Queens and its YouTube spin-off, The Dickie Show.
The announcement comes after he recently wrapped filming on Sarnies, a BBC comedy short he wrote which was shot in Newcastle earlier this year.
Elijah is one of eleven writer/performers selected for this year’s Comedy Collective alongside creatives from across the UK.
Forever Home cast gathers for Tyneside Cinema preview
Stars of Channel 5 drama Forever Home gathered at Tyneside Cinema this evening for a special preview screening ahead of its broadcast premiere later this month.
Denise Welch and Amy Nuttall were among the cast joining crew members for an early look at the adaptation of Graham Norton’s novel, which has relocated the story to the North East.
Produced by FilmNation and supported by the North East Production Fund and North East Screen, the drama was filmed entirely in the region and also stars Kevin Whately, Lewis Cope and Douglas Henshall.
Look out for our full report and more on the series in the coming days.
Keeping Barbara’s art close to home
The landscapes, communities and history of the North East inspired much of artist Barbara Kennard’s work. Her daughter Julia Bullas explains why she hopes her art will remain part of the region.
A year after losing my mum, artist and printmaker Barbara Kennard, one thing that brings me joy (apart from remembering her wicked laugh) is knowing her work is still being enjoyed.
Mum would have loved that.
She made work that connected people with places, stories and history, and nowhere captured her imagination quite like the North East.
Although she was originally from Basildon and my dad hailed from Kent, the North East became their home for more than 30 years. The friends they made, the experiences they had and places they explored in the region shaped their lives and in turn, shaped Mum’s art.
I was lucky enough to be part of her creative journey. I attended her Fine Art degree exhibition at the University of Sunderland, proudly helping put up her prints. On the surface, it appeared to be about geese. In reality, it was an exploration of female strength and resilience.
Over the years, her art evolved. Her focus increasingly turned towards North East culture and history, particularly the stories of working communities, the changing identity of the region and the landscapes that bear the memories of the people who have gone before us. Read more
Kielder celebrates a century
A weekend of events will celebrate the centenary of Northumberland’s vast Kielder Forest.
Over its 100 years, the forest’s 250 square miles, totalling 15 million trees, has evolved into a multi-purpose asset, producing timber and maturing into a wildlife sanctuary with its osprey breeding colony and half the population of England’s red squirrels.
It has also developed as a centre for leisure activities, with one of England’s largest mountain bike trail networks, and an array of forest artworks.
But there is one part of the forest which its visitors – over 400,000 a year – never see or set foot in.
From the first plantings in 1926, it was decided that a section of the forest would remain untouched by any human activity, with nature left to take its course.
But as part of the 100th anniversary programme on Saturday and Sunday (September 5-6), 50 lucky folk will be taken to the secret wild location in what are already sell-out visits.
North East comedy legends prepare for Hall of Fame honours
Some of the region’s best-known comedy names will be celebrated next week at the inaugural North East Comedy Hall of Fame.
Presented by North East comedy collective Felt Nowt, the event takes place at Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre and Opera House on September 10, with stand ups Sammy Dobson and Cal Halbert hosting.
The first group of inductees spans generations of North East comedy legends past and present and includes: Viz co-founders Simon and Chris Donald, Stan Laurel, Mark Sheridan, Lauren Pattison, Anvil Springsteen, Lost Voice Guy, Brendan Healy and the team behind Sunday for Sammy.
Organisers are promising an evening of special performances, surprise guests and live music as they celebrate both household names and alternative trailblazers who have contributed to the region’s comedy heritage.
Felt Nowt, which plans to make the Hall of Fame an annual event, describes the occasion as: “Like the Oscars but if it was a laugh and nobody got punched.”
Tickets available here.
Clock ticking for Sketch for Sammy hopefuls
And talking of Sunday for Sammy (above), budding North East comedy writers have just days left to enter this year’s Sketch for Sammy competition.
Entries close on September 12, with six finalists chosen to have their sketches professionally performed in front of a live audience at a Sketch for Sammy night.
An overall winner will receive the Clement and La Frenais Comedy Award, named after legendary writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, whose credits include Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Porridge and The Likely Lads.
There could be an even bigger audience ahead, with the possibility of a sketch making it into the next Sunday for Sammy arena show. More details here.