Culture Digest 06.03.26
Our round up of some of the arts and culture stories from across the North East, which caught our attention over the past week or so
North East film makers’ horror feature premieres at FrightFest
A North East actor and producer will celebrate his directorial debut this weekend as his new horror film premieres at one of the UK’s leading genre festivals.
Craig Conway will present his first feature as director, Red Riding, at horror film festival FrightFest Glasgow on Saturday (March 7).
The film was shot in the North East and Scotland and blends gothic horror with dark folklore. It follows troubled teenager Redele Riding, who is sent from her council estate to live with her estranged aristocratic grandmother in the Scottish Highlands after her mother’s overdose.
***This is a trailer for a horror film. You have been warned***
At first captivated by the grand estate, Red soon uncovers disturbing secrets including vanished children, rumours of a monstrous wolf in the surrounding woods and a sinister influence exerted by her grandmother and the estate’s gamekeeper.
The film reunites Craig with celebrated film maker, Neil Marshall who directed him in cult horror films Dog Soldiers, The Descent and Doomsday and serves as executive producer on Red Riding.
See this weekend’s Cultured. On Sunday for a full interview with Craig Conway.
Earth and Moon star at Blyth's Festival of Energy
Blyth is the latest to throw its hat into the ring to be UK Town of Culture and the planets – if not the stars – would seem to have aligned in its favour.
To be considered for the honour (and the money that comes with it), the town council must submit a formal Expression of Interest by March 31.
As qualifying credentials go, though, it would be hard to beat a Festival of Energy whose attractions include Earth and the Moon under one roof.
For the first time ever, and for this weekend only, artist Luke Jerram’s planetary twins – their titles as artworks being Gaia and Museum of the Moon – are being exhibited together.
And - those lucky enough to have attended Thursday morning’s special preview will have been thinking - what a location!
In the vast testing facility at Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult, the meticulous scale models of our home planet and its near neighbour appear, perhaps for the first time, really to be floating in space.
It makes for an impressive spectacle, as Britain’s first astronaut, Helen Sharman, suggested ahead of her talk beneath the planets to 350 local schoolchildren.
“I’ve seen both of them individually,” she said of the Jerram sculptures, each of which mimics its respective planetary surface, “but never in the same place. It’s just fabulous to see them like this.”
North East musicians bound for SXSW as Northern Sound showcase launches
A group of North East musicians will take their music to one of the world’s most influential industry events later this month as part of a new initiative designed to strengthen international opportunities for artists across the North of England.
Hector Gannett, Jenna Cole, Tom A Smith, Andrew Cushin, Loren Heat and Marketplace are among 10 acts selected to perform at SXSW in Austin, Texas this March as part of the Northern Sound showcase.
Taking place at UK House during the globally recognised conference and festival, the event forms part of a wider push to raise the international profile of music being made across the North. The showcase is the first major outing for the newly established Northern Music Export Office, a pan-regional initiative created to help artists from across the North of England access global opportunities.
Sunderland Music City Radio is officially live and available for your ears. Member of the Young Musician’s Project, Caleb Adams's track Out Of Control was the first track played on the new station.
Writer born in Ukraine wins 2026 Gordon Burn Prize
A longlist became a shortlist and finally a single, sparkling work of fiction… Maria Reva’s Endling, which on Thursday night was announced as the winner of the Gordon Burn Prize 2026.
The £10,000 prize, founded in 2012 by New Writing North, Faber and the Gordon Burn Trust, recognises exceptional writing with an unconventional perspective, style or subject matter.
It is open to writers of any nationality for work written in English and published in the UK the previous year.
Maria Reva was born in Ukraine and lived in the city of Kherson until the age of seven when her family emigrated to Canada, settling in Vancouver.
Her first published work was a collection of linked short stories called Good Citizens Need Not Fear, set in a Ukrainian apartment block in the 1980s.
The story told in Endling, her first novel (published in this country by Virago), begins in Ukraine in 2022, the year of the Russian invasion.
Its main character is Yeva, a maverick scientist who travels around in a campervan, searching forests and valleys for endangered snails while her family urges her to settle down.
Berwick's annual showcase of screen-based art turns 21
Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival returns this month for its 21st edition with three days of screenings (March 20 to 22) at two venues – the Maltings Cinema at Berwick Barracks and the Town Hall Council Chamber.
Regulars will know that in the past it’s been all over the place. And they will also know that this distinctive Berwick celebration of the moving image is the absolute antidote to Hollywood.
With its focus generally far from the mainstream, director Peter Taylor has in the past called it “a perpetual work in progress, rejecting labels that might restrict how we see, understand and experience cinema”.
Following what organisers call last year’s “bumper” 20th anniversary edition, this year’s comes with the promise of no clashing events – which is to say that it’s smaller.
But look on the bright side. The organisers suggest those attending can “collectively encounter films, conversations and performances, and savour the time between events to walk the town walls, eat together and reflect on the work”.
Peter says it gives the festival “all of the time and space it needs”.
Rock and (cinnamon) roll
It seems the newly-opened Midsommar Bakery in Newcastle’s Grainger Market has quickly gained a reputation among the region’s music star community.
How else to explain The Futureheads’ Ross Millard, Field Music’s David Brewis and Maximo Park’s Paul Smith gathering to enjoy the Swedish micro-bakery’s fika menu.
Quay to success
Today, Newcastle Quayside is a vibrant and much photographed part of the city.
Against a backdrop of famous bridges, it mixes bars and restaurants with theatre, commercial use, historic and landmark buildings such as the Crown Court.
It has always been central to the city’s identity, with a past of industrial use and a flow of shipping carrying goods to and from the port.
But as the city – and country – deindustrialised in the 1960s and 1970s, the Quayside fell into decline, decay and widespread dereliction.
Then came regeneration and this year the Quayside celebrates the 40th anniversary of its rebirth, which is marked by an exhibition at the Sir Terry Farrell Centre at Newcastle University, running until December 18.
The project involved many partners, but at its core was the strategic oversight of the Tyne and Wear Development Corporation, the place-making expertise of developers Amec – now known as Muse – and the urban vision of the late architect and Newcastle University graduate Sir Terry Farrell, who oversaw the masterplan.
NOVUM Festival to transform Newcastle into city centre playground once more
A summer festival that turns Newcastle city centre into a stage for large-scale outdoor performance and creative spectacle will return this August after a year-long pause.
NOVUM Summer Festival will take place from August 7-9, bringing three days of free events to streets, squares and public spaces across the city. Organisers say the programme will feature live music, walkabout performances, installations and interactive experiences designed to surprise audiences and encourage people to see the city in new ways.
Among the elements planned for 2026 are a large participatory artwork spanning the city centre, outdoor performances from national and international artists, and a Creative Family Zone offering hands-on activities for children, young people and families. The programme will also include pop-up moments and events staged in unusual spaces throughout the city.
The Full Monty books a strip of dates in Sunderland
A new national tour of The Full Monty will visit Sunderland Empire in 2027 as part of celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the hit film.
The stage adaptation of Simon Beaufoy’s story about a group of unemployed men who decide to step into the (easily removable) shoes of male strippers to earn some cash will run at the venue from May 17–22.
Announcing the show’s revival, Simon said: “A lot has changed in Britain since The Full Monty appeared thirty years ago. What hasn’t changed is our need for laughter, compassion and dignity.”
Tickets for the Wearside run go on sale at 10am on Thursday March 12 from the Sunderland Empire website.
Major grant to preserve Hadrian’s Wall archives
Years of experience and knowledge of Hadrian’s Wall will be unlocked by a funding windfall.
The aims of the project are preserving knowledge of the frontier for when the Wall itself may no longer survive and exploring cultural connections to the Roman frontier.
The Vindolanda Trust, leading a partnership with Durham University and North East Museums, has been awarded £149,996 through the Archives Revealed Consortium Grant to deliver Materialitas, an ambitious new archive project.
This major award, running until 2028, represents the largest dedicated archival cataloguing grant currently available in the UK.
The funding will support the cataloguing and public access of five nationally significant archives relating to Hadrian’s Wall, its archaeologists, sites, and material culture.
Call out for under 18s bands and musicians for First Gigs initiative at The Grove
A Newcastle venue is opening its stage to the region’s youngest musicians with a new monthly showcase designed specifically for under-18 performers - and their fellow gig goers.
The Grove in Byker has announced First Gigs, an afternoon live music event aimed at giving young bands the chance to perform in a professional venue environment, and young people the chance to get to gigs.
Each event will feature three under-18 bands of any genre, with the first showcase scheduled for 12pm to 3pm on Easter Sunday (April 5).
Founder of The Grove, Charlie said the project was created after recognising a lack of opportunities for younger musicians to develop their skills in professional settings.
Applications are now open to artists and bands aged 12 to 18 from across the North East, with organisers welcoming performers from any genre. Email thegrovefirstgigs@gmail.com
Tickets for the events will operate on a pay-as-you-feel basis, helping to keep the gigs accessible while supporting the venue and its emerging performers.
End of an era for landmark comics collection
It was a Boys’ Own passion which turned into a collection of national importance.
As a small boy living in Byker in Newcastle, Peter Hansen spent his sixpence-a-week pocket money on comics and from the age of six he began collecting them.
Over the years it has grown into what is rated as the biggest British comics-related collection in the world.
It adds up to an estimated 40,000 comics, 20,000 artworks for the publications by top comic artists, nearly 900 bound publisher volumes, rare first issues, publisher records and pay books revealing who created what, toys, and even the letters, badges and membership cards which young readers acquired when they joined clubs devoted to their favourite comics, which were run by the titles and various newspapers.
Peter moved to Northumberland where he could store his collection, mostly in a barn.
He had continued collecting as he built up his own environmental engineering company after moving to Canada and sold it to an American firm before coming back to the UK.
Now in retirement he is leaving Northumberland to return to Canada and his vast collection will be sold, starting with a two-day event staged by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson & Garland on March 11–12.
GemArts and The Glasshouse mark milestone anniversary
A season of performances celebrating more than two decades of creative collaboration between GemArts and The Glasshouse gets underway later this month.
The programme opens on March 13 with a Riverside Ragas concert at The Glasshouse featuring sitar maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez and Carnatic flautist Shashank Subramanyam, in a rare meeting of Hindustani and Carnatic classical traditions.
The following day, GemArts’ Holi Festival of Colours will take over BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, with workshops, live performances, street food and a mass colour throw marking the arrival of spring.
GemArts director Vikas Kumar said: “For more than 20 years, GemArts and The Glasshouse have shown what long-term partnership can achieve, not only in presenting world-class music and artistic vision, but in building representation, nurturing talent, and working hand-in-hand with our communities.”
The programme (which you can find in full, here) also leads into the 10th anniversary year of the region’s Masala Festival from July 13-19.