Durham County Council is one of the largest unitary authorities in the country, covering 2,000 sq km of city, countryside and coast, and serving a population of more than half a million people.

The council supports vibrant festivals and events as part of its work to promote County Durham as a great destination to live, study, work, visit and invest in. This includes the UK’s leading light festival Lumiere, Bishop Auckland and Seaham food festivals, Durham Book Festival, Brass and Durham City Run Festival.

It also runs cultural venues across the county, including Gala Durham, Empire Consett, Bishop Auckland Town Hall, Durham Town Hall, Binchester Roman Fort and Killhope Lead Mining Museum, as well as supporting other attractions in its communities.

A key partner in County Durham’s shortlisted bid to be UK City of Culture 2025, the council is continuing to work with its partners to deliver a spectacular cultural programme with international appeal, along with innovative projects to support local people to achieve their own creative potential It is also pressing ahead with major capital projects, including The Story at Mount Oswald, a dedicated history centre bringing together six miles of archives, heritage and registration services, and with a café and exhibition space. Plans are also being developed to bring the former Durham Light Infantry Museum and Art Gallery back into use as a state-of-the-art exhibition centre, gallery and café.

These incredible collaborations from the City of Culture bidding process will live on, with the bonds forged between cultural organisations, businesses and community groups during the journey, stronger than ever before.

Inspiring the Extraordinary

A globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, a unique and historic setting – Durham is a university like no other.

We believe that inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham enables Durham people to do outstanding things in the world.

Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art connects art, people and ideas, is an international art gallery and museum and home to the MIMA School of Art and Design. It commissions, collects and re-thinks modern and contemporary art. As part of Teesside University, MIMA is powered by a vision to positively contribute to society and to create and work with civic space. MIMA works with local and global partners to put art into action, and are delighted to be part of the growing excitement and connectivity that characterises the North East’s culture scene and will keep working hard to inspire and support our many Communities.

At New College Durham, we believe The North East Culture Awards play a vital role in promoting the vibrant arts and culture scene that lights up our region. Each year dozens of talented students graduate from our post sixteen and degree level performing arts and music courses. By showcasing the diverse range of talent we have on offer across the north east, the awards help the scene flourish and grow ensuring that our graduates have access to a wide variety of arts and cultural opportunities.

Newcastle University exists to advance education and research and to help society tackle the many challenges it faces.

Culture and Creative arts

Our work in creative practice is world-renowned, with colleagues leading the field in poetry, folk and traditional music, fine art and heritage.

Arts and culture represent important areas of expertise for the University. We work with a wide range of cultural partners, collaborating on projects from creative programming to climate change, diversity and inclusion to data management, and from social justice to ageing well.

Our cultural venues, the Great North Museum: Hancock and the Hatton Gallery, are managed by Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums, showcasing our interdisciplinary research and enhancing our students’ experience, and engaging with diverse communities. Newcastle University’s Philip Robinson Library is home to our special collections and archives. We’re also working towards opening the Farrell Centre, a new museum and exhibition space celebrating architecture and planning.

From Newcastle, For the World

As a world-class university with a strong international community, we work with partners around the world to deliver research and education which has global impact.

We’re delighted to be sponsoring the Best International Collaboration award at the Journal Culture Awards 2022 to highlight the brilliant work of cultural organisations in the region and beyond.

The Culture Partnership was set up over ten years ago by the Association of North East Councils. It brings together the twelve local authorities, together with twelve representatives from the arts and heritage sector. It provides a voice for culture and a strategy to make the most of local talent, diverse communities and the great assets we have across North East England, including an international outlook.

North East Screen (formerly Northern Film + Media) is the regional screen agency for the North East.

We develop and champion North East England as one of the UK’s leading film and TV production hubs where exceptional screen industry talent can live, create, and work.

We support all incoming productions with crew, locations and facilities shooting anywhere in North East England through our free and invaluable Production Service. We work with production companies based in the North East proving them with business and commission development support.

We offer talent and professional development support for home grown freelancers (writers, producer, directors, and artist filmmakers). We connect experienced crew to job opportunities and, for those just staring out and wanting to work in film and TV, we run the North East Screen Crew Academy.

Our Comedy Hot House champions regional comedy talent on and off screen and our programme is funded by North East Screen Industries Partnership.

Northumberland County Council believes investing in arts, heritage and culture is a commitment to a healthier, more fulfilled and prosperous County and and North East region. We are an advocate of the Culture Awards. Creativity and culture have a strong impact on the development of talent and skills progression for our children and young people, it improves the wellbeing of local people and enormously contributes to placemaking in regeneration and tourism. Culture is essential and is regarded as such across the whole of the North East of England.

The Northern School of Art is a leading provider of specialist creative art and design degrees in the north and one of the best in the UK. It offers creative courses for students from 16 upwards at its campuses in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool. Supported by industry specialists, it provides the highest quality of art and design teaching - ensuring students are equipped for employment and enterprise in the creative industries.

Since 1901, there has been an arts school in Sunderland. Our current provision through the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries builds on the University’s impressive reputation in Glass and Ceramics, Photography, Fine Art, Media, Design and Performing Arts. The University owns the National Glass Centre and Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art and is a partner in Sunderland Culture. It was also the first University in the UK to lead a Creative People and Places project – The Cultural Spring.