Culture Digest 13.03.26
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
Major £104m funding package unveiled for North East creative sector
Two of the North East’s most ambitious cultural infrastructure projects are set to receive backing as part of a £104m investment package unveiled by North East Mayor Kim McGuinness.
The funding, which will go before the North East Combined Authority cabinet next week, includes major funding for the long-planned Crown Works film studios in Sunderland and the stalled Gateshead Quays arena development, alongside wider support for grassroots creative activity across the region.
Smoggie Queens snapshots unveiled ahead of second series of Teesside TV comedy
If you’ve been waiting for news of the return of Teesside-set sitcom, Smoggie Queens, then a suite of images, offering a glimpse of series two should keep you topped up.
Set to return later this spring, the award-winning show, written by BAFTA-nominated Middlesbrough native Phil Dunning, will be streamed on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three with even more “chaos, heart and mischief” being trailed.
Phil reprises his role as the volatile Dickie, alongside Mark Benton as drag queen Mam, Alexandra Mardell as ‘self-styled hun’ Lucinda, Patsy Lowe as the awkward Sal and Elijah Young as newly out Stewart.
Set and filmed in Middlesbrough, the series - which has received funding support from the North East Production Fund, delivered by North East Screen - continues to follow the group as they navigate relationships, friendship and plenty of drama around the town they call home.
The second series will also welcome several new faces to the cast, including BAFTA-winning actor Monica Dolan alongside Amalia Vitale and Freya Parker. Middlesbrough sporting personalities Jeff Stelling and Chris Kamara are set to make appearances too.
County Durham peppers shortlist for prestigious national honours
The restoration project of a 400-year-old first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays which was stolen from Durham University is among contenders in an international awards shortlist.
The Museums + Heritage Awards celebrate the best across museums, galleries, and cultural and heritage visitor attractions and the ceremony to reveal the winners will take place on May 13 in London.
Durham University has been shortlisted in the Restoration/Conservation category for its Durham Shakespeare First Folio project.
Beamish Museum and Bowes Museum are also shortlisted for Learning Programme of the Year and Community Engagement, respectively.
Life goes Jurassic for The Great Dinosaur Escape
Even ahead of the new Life Science Centre exhibition opening at the end of the month, it has been generating excitement.
Well, it’s hard to keep the wraps on more than 20 dinosaurs and almost impossible when ferrying them across a city.
“They came to the UK three months ago so they’ve been stored nearby,” says Andy Lloyd, Centre head of development and coordinator of this latest venture.
“Even the people at the storage company got quite excited. I think it’s the most fun they’ve had.”
When the tyrannosaurus rex arrived on a trailer, British Transport Police officers turned up “for a bit of a nosy”, adds Neil Rutherford, head of facilities.
It’s just as well they did. They were able to help staff push the three-tonne beast, or at least the giant parts of it, in through the new replacement doors.
And these are adults. What will happen when children get first sight of The Great Dinosaur Escape, as this new exhibition is called?
Actually one exhibit, a hatching dino-baby, is already positioned near the ticket desk, a reptilian teaser blazing a trail for its larger co-stars, all making their first appearance in the UK.
David Olusoga to deliver 2026 South Shields Lecture
Historian and broadcaster David Olusoga will deliver the 2026 South Shields Lecture.
The event, hosted by Harton Academy on July 10, will see Olusoga in conversation with former foreign secretary David Miliband as part of the long-running lecture series, first established in 2001.
David Miliband said: “David Olusoga is not just a world-renowned historian. He is someone committed to learning from history and explaining its relevance to the contemporary world.”
David Olusoga, Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester and known for television series including Black and British: A Forgotten History, grew up in Gateshead.
He said: “I’m thrilled to be giving this year’s South Shields Lecture and to be returning to my home region.”
Previous speakers have included Hillary Clinton, Patrick Stewart and Tony Blair.
‘Rebel Women’ celebrated in Sunderland
An exhibition celebrating the lives and legacies of Sunderland’s trailblazing women has opened at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens.
Rebel Women of Sunderland brings together the stories of extraordinary local women – past and present – highlighting activists, artists, campaigners and pioneers who have helped shape the city.
Opened to coincide with International Women’s Day on March 8, the free exhibition is on display in the museum’s main gallery until August 1.
At the centre of the exhibition are a series of striking portraits by Sunderland artist Kathryn Robertson, whose instantly recognisable illustration style captures the individuality and resilience of the women featured.
Those celebrated include journalist and broadcaster, Kate Adie, activitsts Ida and Louise Cook, Sunderland band, Kenickie (Lauren Laverne, Marie Nixon and Emma Jackson), England footballers Steph Houghton and Jill Scott, late singer songwriter, Faye Fantarrow and philanthropist Dorothy Williamson.
Kathryn said the project was one of her earliest major commissions after becoming a full-time freelance artist.
Huge British comics archive begins auction run
It was a sum which the Beano’s Lord Snooty would not have sniffed at as bidders at a Tyneside comics auction splashed out more than £100,000, including fees.
The two-day sale of 500 lots of comics material by Newcastle auctioneers Anderson & Garland was the first in a series based on the vast collection of Peter Hansen, who grew up in Byker in the city.
His collection is rated as the biggest assemblage of British comics and original artwork in the world, and the sale attracted international interest.
Among the standout results was the Beano Annual No. 1, which sold for £3,125, significantly above expectations of its £1,000–£1,800 estimate and in which Lord Snooty was a founder character in 1938.
Big Weekend line-up revealed for Sunderland
The full line-up has been revealed for the return of BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend to Herrington Country Park this May, with organisers promising one of the North East’s biggest live music events in years.
The festival takes place from May 22–24 and will bring around 100 acts across multiple stages to Wearside. It marks the first time the event has returned to Sunderland since 2005, when artists including Gwen Stefani, Foo Fighters and The Black Eyed Peas performed.
Friday’s opening night will host the festival’s 18+ Dance Party, headlined by Fatboy Slim, with fellow electronic acts Sonny Fodera, FISHER, MK and Clementine Douglas also on the bill.
Saturday’s line-up is led by Swedish pop star Zara Larsson and Louis Tomlinson. They will be joined by artists including Ellie Goulding, Lola Young and Nothing But Thieves.
Sunday’s programme features performers including recent triple Brit Winner (and Sam Fender’s chart-topping collaborator) Olivia Dean, Niall Horan, Kehlani and Dermot Kennedy, with more acts still to be announced.
Organised by the BBC in partnership with Sunderland City Council, the festival is expected to attract tens of thousands of music fans to the city over the three-day weekend.
Ninety percent of tickets are ring-fenced for North East postcodes. Unsurprisingly given Olivia Dean’s white-hot-to-trot status, Sunday tickets have already sold out, but there’s still some available for Friday and Saturday.
South Tyneside plaques celebrate people and industry
Late actor and comedian, Terence Dominic “Terry” Joyce is to be honoured with a blue plaque on South Tyneside..
Known for roles in TV series such as Hebburn, Super Gran, Badger, Byker Grove, The Machine Gunners, Dramarama, and Steel River Blues. Terry- who was from Hebburn -was also a popular stand up comic.
Alongside his stage and screen career, he was a committed supporter of local causes, regularly giving his time and talent to fundraising events and community initiatives across South Tyneside.
Terry’s blue plaque is one of three selected for 2026.
Advocate for race equality and young people in South Tyneside, Pam Vedhara, who died in 2018, aged 61 will also be honoured.
Meanwhile the third plaque will commemorate the Cookson chimney, located beside The Customs House in South Shields, which is the last surviving structure of the town’s historic glass industry.
Volunteers power Tanfield to national railway award
A North East heritage railway has been named the best of its kind in the country at a prestigious awards ceremony.
The Tanfield Railway in County Durham, which celebrated its 300th anniversary in 2025, was presented with the Railway of the Year accolade at the Heritage Railway Association annual awards.
The event saw more than 300 people from heritage rail organisations in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland come together to find out the winners in more than a dozen categories.
But it was Tanfield which won the most coveted prize. Judges were impressed by the big increase in passenger numbers, and national media attention for the celebrations of the railway’s 300th anniversary.
David Watchman, Tanfield Railway general manager, said: “To be named Railway of the Year is an absolute credit to each and every one of our volunteers. There was high praise from leading figures across the sector for what we’ve been achieving.
“This is the award every one of the UK’s 180 plus heritage railways wants to win. So to be bringing the award back to the North East is amazing. I hope it can be a real catalyst to go on and achieve even more.”
Auction shines light on man who made it his mission to rescue Jarrow
Wealthy southern businessman and economist Sir John Jarvis was appalled by the plight of a Tyneside town crippled by the unemployment of the Great Depression of the 1930s.
High Sheriff of Surrey and Conservative MP for Guildford, he set up a fund which raised £40,000 for Jarrow and invested £1m of his own money on schemes to generate jobs to lift the town out of deprivation.
There is a plaque to Jarvis in Jarrow and now two of his personal keepsakes have emerged which will be auctioned on March 14.
The pair of George III silver beakers, made in York in 1790, will be sold by Tennants Auctioneers, with an estimate of £2,000-£3,000.
Flags are out at The Bowes ahead of Vivienne Westwood exhibition
A new outdoor installation by Northumberland fashion and textile artist Meg Fletcher is now on display at The Bowes Museum, linking contemporary fashion design with the legacy of Vivienne Westwood and the museum’s founder Joséphine Bowes.
The installation, Character Studies – 3 Acts, features three large-scale flags displayed on the museum’s terrace. The work has been commissioned to coincide with the museum’s forthcoming exhibition Vivienne Westwood: Rebel – Storyteller – Visionary, which opens on March 28.
The flags reinterpret Joséphine Bowes (1825-1874) as a contemporary figure, blending elements from her well-known pink-dress portrait with motifs and silhouettes drawn from Vivienne Westwood’s (1941-2022) influential fashion collections and objects from the museum’s own holdings.
Each flag reflects a different theme connected to Westwood’s career.
Two city champions awarded Freedom of Sunderland
Businessman and cultural advocate Paul Callaghan CBE DL FRSA and community figure Sister Mary Scholastica have been awarded the Freedom of the City of Sunderland.
The honours were conferred by Sunderland City Council at a ceremony in Sunderland City Hall on Wednesday (March 11), recognising their significant contributions to the city and their roles as ambassadors and role models.
Deputy council leader Councillor Kelly Chequer said: “Paul’s contribution to the cultural and civic life of our city is extraordinary.”
Sister Mary Scholastica, who has supported local communities and seafarers at the Port of Sunderland for more than six decades, was also honoured.
Council leader Councillor Michael Mordey said: “Sister Mary embodies the very best of Sunderland - quiet strength, deep compassion, tireless service, and a commitment to community that spans more than six decades.”
Training scheme nurtures new cultural producers
A programme supporting the next generation of cultural producers in the North East is nearing the end of its first cohort, with participants now preparing to pitch ideas for one of Newcastle’s major summer festivals.
The Creative Producer Training (CPP) scheme, delivered by Curated Place in partnership with Newcastle City Council, has been supporting 15 emerging producers from across Newcastle and the wider region.
The free, 10-week programme forms part of the city’s 10-year Cultural Events Programme and is designed to build real-world skills in cultural production and placemaking, helping participants develop and deliver creative projects while strengthening the local creative economy.