A Hartlepool indie band has made history by becoming the first group to be named among the Tees Valley Artists of the Year.
Marketplace are one of five recipients of the 2026/27 awards, alongside Middlesbrough dance artist Anthony Lo Giudice, Redcar-raised writer Carmen Marcus, Hartlepool visual artist Stuart Langley and Hurworth singer-songwriter Jodie Nicholson.
The five were announced at The Auxiliary in Middlesbrough on Tuesday (November 3), with each receiving a support package worth almost £30,000 to help develop their work and take the next steps in their careers.
Now in its third year, the Tees Valley Artists of the Year programme was established by the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority to nurture creative talent and help artists build sustainable careers without having to leave the region.
Running until September 2027, it combines financial investment equivalent to a year’s UK Real Living Wage with professional development funding, tailored mentoring, business advice and access to industry networks.
Previous recipients include musicians Finn Forster and Amelia Coburn, writer Lisette Auton and visual artist Will Hughes.
Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “We’ve had some brilliant successes from our Artists of the Year programme and it’s great to see how deep our pool of talent runs.
“Having this backing means our talents from Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool have the tools to succeed and can take on the world.
“I wish them all the best of luck, and I look forward to hearing about their progress this year and in the years to come.”
So who are the five artists hoping to make the most of this year’s opportunity?
Marketplace
Hartlepool indie-pop five-piece Marketplace are the first band to be selected for the programme, following a busy year of live performances at home and abroad.
The group – Evie Rhodes, Joel O’Beirne, Jack Purcell, Matthew Short and Ross Dixon – have taken their infectious melodies and energetic live shows to festivals including SXSW in Texas, New Colossus in New York, The Great Escape and Y Not Festival.
Drawing inspiration from the likes of Pulp, Talking Heads and Alvvays, they’ve also attracted support from BBC Radio 1, Radio X and BBC Introducing.
An EP is due in early 2027, with plans for a debut album as the band approaches its 10th anniversary.
Anthony Lo Giudice
Contemporary dance artist and choreographer Anthony Lo Giudice grew up in Hemlington, Middlesbrough, and draws on his British and Sicilian heritage to explore identity, belonging and working-class experiences.
Combining dance, physical theatre and visual storytelling, his productions often weave together autobiography, family history and folklore, challenging expectations of how working-class lives are represented on stage.
Through Anthony Lo Giudice Dance Theatre, he has taken his work to audiences across the UK and Europe while continuing to create ambitious new productions from Middlesbrough.
Carmen Marcus
For Redcar-raised writer Carmen Marcus, stories of the North East coast are rarely far removed from myth, magic and the occasional wolf.
Growing up with a fisherman father and an Irish mother whose stories were populated by shipwrecks, sea gods and ghosts, she developed a fascination with folklore and the extraordinary lurking within everyday life.
Her debut novel, How Saints Die, won New Writing North’s Northern Promise Award, while her play And the Earth Opened Up Under Her, a working-class reimagining of the Persephone and Demeter myth, won the Faber & Faber New Play Award in 2023.
Currently researching oral storytelling at Teesside University, she plans to use the award to work with a collective creating spoken stories rooted in the region.
Stuart Langley
Hartlepool visual artist Stuart Langley has a talent for finding the extraordinary in unlikely places.
Working across sculpture, installation, graphic design and public art, he draws inspiration from 1980s cinema, Japanese visual culture, theme parks and the more eccentric corners of popular culture.
His colourful, often absurd creations combine humour with reflections on anxiety, identity and human experience.
One recent example is hold me and show me you love me, a giant heart made from donated mobile phones housed in a welded steel structure, which has been displayed outside Middlesbrough Railway Station.
Jodie Nicholson
Hurworth singer-songwriter and producer Jodie Nicholson has been building an impressive national profile with her atmospheric blend of chamber-pop and synth-laden alternative music.
Her self-produced and independently released tracks have attracted millions of Spotify streams, featured on ITV’s Love Island and received support from BBC Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6 Music.
She has shared stages with Emeli Sandé, The Futureheads and Nerina Pallot, and recently performed with Royal Northern Sinfonia as part of a BBC Proms concert.
You can listen to her debut Christmas song, Home for Christmas via youtube (below) or your favourite places to get music.