“Welcome to The Monocle, where nothing is impossible!”. The greeting applied to Rendez-Vous Dance’s compelling production but also to the clandestine lesbian cabaret in 1930s Paris whose story it tells. Mathieu Geffré’s company is committed to LGBTQIA+ stories and this one captivated people on tour in 2022 and again this year. It was the result of a commission awarded by nine North East venues with funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. It was variously described as “virtuosic”, “provocative” and “empowering”. Most agreed the set was stunning and the performances captivating. A related community project promoted health and wellbeing through movement.

A moving concert in Durham Cathedral by Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) featuring NASUWT Riverside Band & Felling Male Voice Choir opened this year’s Durham BRASS Festival. PSB, inspired by archive film footage, performed the album Every Valley in its entirety for the first time live on stage. Chronicling the demise of coal, it proved an emotional commemoration of the miners’ strike. Paul Smith (Maximo Park) performed as soloist with Welsh singer Lisa Jên Brown. The brass band’s set included Ave Maria, Pomp and Circumstance and Gresford, the ‘miners’ hymn’ composed by Hebburn-born Robert Saint. The concert was introduced by Ross Forbes of Durham Miners’ Association.

Margery Williams’ classic tale, The Velveteen Rabbit, was brought to life by balletLORENT in a small-scale touring production that delighted audience members of all ages. There were two versions of the show, a conventional one lasting 45 minutes and a shorter one designed with babies and toddlers in mind. Knitted cushions for children to sit on contributed to a cosy atmosphere and after each performance youngsters were invited to feed the ‘rabbits’. The show, reaching families from diverse economic and cultural backgrounds, was performed at balletLORENT HQ in Newcastle’s west end and later in Alnwick, Berwick, Hexham, Darlington and Washington.

Beamish brings history to life, taking visitors back to the region as it was in the 1820s, early 1900s, 1940s and 1950s. As part of its Remaking Beamish project, it has recently added a cinema to its 1950s Town and a period place of refreshment, The Drovers’ Tavern, to complement early 19th Century Pockerley Old Hall. Costumed staff and volunteers animate the site, aided by items from a collection of 2.5 million objects and photos. Beamish has also opened new shops and a STEM learning space. The museum has welcomed 801,000 visitors over the past year, returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The new visitor attraction opened on July 16 and attracted more than 51,000 visitors in just two months, all in good time to celebrate the great day nearly 200 years ago - September 27, 1825 – when Locomotion No. 1 became the first steam locomotive to haul a passenger train on a public railway, the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Hopetown Darlington recalls that moment and all that followed while aiming to inspire future innovators. With £35m of funding, a seven and a half acre site has become a network of free attractions housed in buildings accommodating more than 30,000 historic objects.

This small upstairs venue has become a seaside springboard and testing ground for writers and performers. It was opened in 2021 by Jamie Eastlake and Steve Robertson to champion new work and grow an audience for fringe theatre. Gerry and Sewell, Jamie’s adaptation of Jonathan Tulloch's The Season Ticket, had a run at the Theatre Royal after selling out at Laurels and Live Theatre. The year also saw Sarah Bond announced as the winner of the £10,000 Richard Jenkinson Commission with a similar sum distributed to shortlisted entries. Sarah’s play, Seagulls and Sad, Sad Stories, opens in December.

Five of County Durham’s historic collections now reside together for the first time in the beautifully refurbished and extended former manor house at Mount Oswald. Equipped to meet modern standards, the listed building has become a place of stories. It accommodates more than 15,000 objects, including archaeological specimens and Durham Light Infantry mementoes. Many feature in the museum display, designed to appeal to all ages with digital and hands-on features. Miles of archive material can be accessed digitally and there’s a nice café too. And you can get married there as The Story is now also the county register office.

Sunderland-based artists Alexandra Carr and Colin Rennie collaborate as Torus Torus Studios, exploring their shared interest in the synergies between art and science. This year their kinetic sculpture Only Breath, a commission by The Science Museum in London, was installed as the centrepiece of Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery, looking at energy supply. The majestic artwork, incorporating reclaimed mirrors, recyclable stainless steel and timber from trees felled by storm Arwen, hangs above visitors and appears to breathe. Only Breath reminds visitors of the delicate balance we must maintain in our pursuit of a greener, more sustainable future.

There are many facets to North East artist Lady Kitt - self-professed disabled sculptor, activist, ‘drag king’ and specialist in “mess making as social glue”. Bringing people together on collaborative projects often involving large-scale, vibrant installations made of recycled materials is a Lady Kitt speciality. If you went to the Timber Festival this year, situated in woodland on the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, you probably saw ‘sustain’, Lady Kitt’s colourful installation described by the artist as “a folk art-inspired shrine”. If you were at Doncaster Pride, you might have seen Visible Rest, inspired by the ideas and stories of LGBTQ+ people in the town.

Lewis’s Hartlepool Headland project in 2021, when he created 10 murals on abandoned buildings, attracted wide positive attention. It led to Spennymoor Mural Festival, which took place for the second time this year when 27 people created 11 murals and 185 young people attended workshops. Through the community interest company he set up with Sarah Carlton, CYAN (Call Yourself An Artist), he is now working to create a distinctive County Durham arts scene. Also this year, he curated a museum exhibition about Durham Ice Rink, which closed in 1996, and got Torvill and Dean to unveil a plaque on the site.

In 2024 New Writing North teamed up with publisher Hachette UK to deliver Careers in Publishing Roadshows to 13 schools north of the Tyne. Hachette staff and an author visited each school to talk about the industry and participating schools also received a digital masterclass where Hachette editors, publicists and designers explained their roles. More than 1,200 students from year seven to year 12 attended a live session. Research having shown the North East is underrepresented in publishing, the aim was to present it as a viable career option. All participating schools agreed the events had been aspirational for students.

The Young Women’s Film Academy was founded by volunteers in 2018 to get young people involved in storytelling through film and digital media. It runs a Saturday and holiday clubs for 12 to 19-year-olds and a 16-plus group called Future Lasses in Film for those wanting to create their own projects. In July, as part of INTO Film’s Every Child a Filmmaker programme, the Academy and a Future Lasses in Film participant worked for a week with 12 children from Westgate Hill Primary School, Arthur’s Hill, to create a stop motion animation to be shown in Newcastle’s Everyman Cinema as part of the INTO Film festival.

The Latitude Project was devised by playwright and screenwriter Ishy Din, founder of Teesside-based Blast Furnace Projects, to give young people hands-on experience of TV and film production. It proved a great success at Freebrough Academy, at Brotton, near Saltburn-by-the-Sea, where students learned about lighting, sound, camera work, make-up and costume design while working together to develop a film script. The 10-week programme, culminating in a film premiere, was seen to have many benefits, firing students’ imagination while also instilling confidence, creativity and teamwork skills. It helped to make an exciting future career in TV or film seem attainable.

The National Theatre’s secondary school programme, Speak Up, connects young people with local artists and teachers so they can respond artistically to important issues and consider ways to bring about change. Sunderland Empire and Sunderland Culture have delivered Speak Up since 2021, working with over 150 young people in five schools: Barbara Priestman Academy, Beacon of Light, Hetton Academy, Oxclose Academy and Thornhill Academy. In July Speak Up took over the Empire and young people showcased their artwork while inviting others to take part in workshops. The project has empowered young people and placed them at the heart of the creative process.

Based in Newcastle, Cirko Norda Youth Circus offers the region’s only professional development for aspiring circus artists. Aged seven to 19, they attend training sessions twice a week and intensive holiday workshops led by professionals – and they also perform in public. This year they premiered a new show, Shy Bairns Get Nowt, which was made to inspire young people in the North East who feel lost or disconnected. The show was performed at seven major events and festivals. The young performers impressed with their circus skills but also showed what can be achieved creatively through relationships built on trust and collaboration.

The benefits of Live Youth Theatre extend beyond the stage. It fosters friendships among the young people who attend its free sessions at Live Theatre in Newcastle and Monkwearmouth Academy in Sunderland. It also boosts confidence and inspires creativity among participants who currently number around 180. Then there are shows like Fed Up which tackle important issues. This powerful and memorable show was created and performed by 16 young people using real-life testimonies and research into food poverty. It was performed at Live Theatre, Newcastle United Foundation, Newcastle Cathedral, the RVI and at a festival in Gelsenkirchen (Newcastle’s German twin city).

Sunderland aspires to be recognised worldwide as a Music City and its credentials are bolstered by the Young Musicians Project run by We Make Culture. It was founded by Laura Brewis to help young people develop the skills needed to perform, record and release music. Three groups meet weekly at Field Music Studio in Sunderland and there are regular get-togethers at Pop Recs. The young people get access to an instrument library and recording studios. The growing number of Young Musicians Project beneficiaries attracting wider attention – including Isabel Maria, shortlisted for Newcomer of the Year – suggests the word about Sunderland Music City will spread fast.

Hannah is a comedy performer and theatre maker who performs regularly with theatre company The Six Twenty. Often finding material in her own life experiences, she had a hit with Gamble, co-created with Rosa Postlethwaite, at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Informed by her experiences of gambling, from village hall bingo to discovering her partner was a compulsive gambler, it was billed, tongue in cheek, as “a glittering, glamorous peek into the spectacular world of online gambling”. Audiences responded to the glitzy delivery and the serious issues raised, such as the stigma of addiction and the betting industry’s slick marketing.

Natalie dances with Newcastle-based balletLORENT whose fabulous productions have delighted audiences for nearly 30 years. She’s a mainstay of the company, a dancer whose artistry and dedication invariably inspire fellow performers and impress those watching. A graduate of London Contemporary Dance School, she joined balletLORENT in 2013 after a spell with Scottish Dance Theatre. In 2023 she returned from maternity leave to dance the lead in Rapunzel on a UK tour and more recently performed in The Velveteen Rabbit and The Becoming, a physically demanding show for adults. Through education work, Natalie also strives to inspire the next generation.

Rachel, from Middlesbrough, is both a writer and performer and her twin talents blossomed spectacularly in Fat Chance, her retort to an industry that didn’t prove as inclusive as it might imagine itself to be. Wanting to succeed on the stage after studying at Northumbria University and then gaining an MA in professional acting in London, she was told she should lose weight and her accent. In Fat Chance, she proved you can have a hit without doing either. With Arts Council funding and in association with Northern Stage, Fat Chance toured nationally and earned a five-star review at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The six-year regeneration programme in Sunderland city centre, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and managed by the city council, has improved the area around Sunderland Minster and High Street West and raised awareness of its heritage. With £3m invested through the Townscape Heritage Scheme, improvements were made to properties and restoration work carried out. Under-used Town Park was re-landscaped and renamed Minster Park. A sensory garden was created on the footprint of the lost streets of South Gate and Little Gate. Surviving historic street signs were incorporated into the scheme and hundreds engaged in a related activity programme.

The Black Creatives and Arts Network, or BCAN, was established in 2022 by the upcoming generation of Taste of Africa North East (founded 21 years ago by immigrants and children of immigrants). It’s an important venture by young creatives dedicated to building confidence and gaining recognition for their talents. More than 60 people are part of BCAN and collectively they highlight the work of black creatives in Tees Valley through events, provide business support and create opportunities for networking and collaboration. They organise Taste of Africa events including the Black History Youth Awards and Miss Black History North East.

The famous Durham Miners Gala is an inspiring celebration of community, international solidarity and working class life and has been hosted since 1871 by Durham Miners Association. The Gala, or ‘Big Meeting’, attracts thousands to Durham’s streets. This year’s 138th edition marked 40 years since the 1984-5 miners’ strike, within a decade of which every County Durham coal mine had been closed. Signifying the resilience of pit communities, 64 banners were paraded at the Gala along with at least one from every other UK coalfield. More than 50 brass bands accompanied them. New banners, representing Deaf Hill and Wheatley Hill, received the traditional blessing in Durham Cathedral.

Ben, 22 and from Durham, made an impression at the Durham Fringe Festival (DFF) this year with his show Bed, visually referencing Tracey Emin’s famous My Bed installation and featuring an unnamed character who pursues his dreams of travelling, finding love and becoming a comedian, all within the confines of his bedroom. Ben was a DFF volunteer before making his performance debut in 2023 with EVERJOY which he also wrote. His love for the arts fired by a childhood trip to see Wicked, the musical, he attended the Gala Youth Theatre and now studies at Urdang, the London performance academy.

Daniel is a widely published Newcastle poet. His debut collection, New Famous Phrases, is to be published in March by Broken Sleep Books. But as part of New Creatives, a talent development scheme co-funded by Arts Council England and BBC Arts, he was commissioned by Tyneside Cinema, which led on the scheme in the North, to produce an audio version of his poetic sequence The Stone Men of Newcastle. The work, exploring the role of statues in a modern city and produced by Manchester-based Naked Productions, was broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music and made available on BBC Sounds.

Sunderland-born singer-songwriter Isabel Maria has experience well beyond her 18 years. Steered towards music by a keyboard given to her by her grandfather, she has been writing songs since she was 11. She really rose to prominence with the release of her admired debut EP, The Melodramatic Milers Club. She also won a Young Northern Writers’ Award for her songwriting. This year she followed up by winning the Alan Hull Award, named in memory of the Lindisfarne frontman, and embarking on a busy performance schedule, gigging solo and with her band across the North East and further afield.

Lumiere, commissioned by Durham County Council and produced by Artichoke, comprises not one but many highlights of the cultural calendar, with artists illuminating Durham’s streets and public spaces. Lumiere 2023 was the biggest yet with more than 40 installations. Again EMG Solicitors stepped up to sponsor the BRILLIANT strand of the festival which challenges people to suggest a Lumiere artwork. North East artists Angela Sandwith and Gareth Hudson were among those whose flashes of brilliance added to the festival’s success. The award-winning law firm’s work with Lumiere saw a stated commitment to community manifested in an inspiring and exciting way.

In 2023 North East housing association Karbon Homes launched Fair Foundations, a new approach to working with communities. In Stanley it responded to concerns about high street decline by purchasing prominent but run-down Stanley Board School. An approach to The Forge, a locally-based arts organisation specialising in participatory grassroots projects, resulted in primary school pupils developing photography and poetry skills. An exhibition of their work, A Child’s Eye View of Home, was displayed on the front of the building, boosting community pride and business for nearby shops. Both organisations are now collaborating on a cultural programme for Stanley town centre.

Discovery Museum, which tells the story of Tyneside aided by important science and industry collections, devised Steam to Green: A North East Energy Revolution (on until September 2026) to showcase moves to ensure a sustainable future. Alongside pioneering research by Newcastle University, it features inspiring stories from its collections and those of businesses connected to green energy, thereby speaking of hope in the face of the climate crisis. One aim is to inspire young people to pursue careers in the green energy sector. Nineteen businesses contributed stories and objects, including a cutaway electric car and subsea cables, and five gave financial support.

Alison had a hit with her play Life of Reilly, about living with autism, and followed up with You Need To Say Sorry, a bitter-sweet drama dealing with issues seldom discussed in relation to older people. It tells of a couple in their 60s who meet online and then in person. They get on well but then things start to go wrong. Alison consulted Northumbria Police and Harbour, the domestic abuse charity, to make her play authentic and it has since been used for training. It premiered at Laurels, Whitley Bay, and was revived at Alphabetti for this year’s Newcastle Fringe Festival.

Christina, widely known as an actor, emerged as an accomplished writer with A Class Feeling, a play born of music - or, to be precise, Makina, a techno sub-genre popular in the more energetic corners of the North East dance scene. This is Makina! was a project launched in 2023 at the Customs House, South Shields, in which Christina and others worked with young Makina fans to shape a piece of ‘gig theatre’. Its popularity ensured a follow-up and Christina’s hard-hitting yet deftly crafted play premiered this year, telling of wannabe MC Justin who is riddled with insecurities and grieving for his mother.

Named “most promising newcomer” of 2019 by an online theatre website after his play Isolation was staged at the Customs House, Elijah delivered on that promise with The Cold Buffet. The play, a multi-generational family saga full of comedy and scripted awkwardness, was premiered at Live Theatre, where he had been appointed associate artist, as part of its 50th anniversary season. Earlier he had attended its play writing course. Elijah was inspired to write The Cold Buffet by the many family gatherings he attended when growing up in Middlesbrough and audiences loved it. The play script was published by Bloomsbury.

Rachel Stockdale, who wrote and performs Fat Chance, introduces herself on the website as “a fat, benefit class actor & theatre-maker from Middlesbrough.” She’s no less sparing of herself on stage where she has a parmo (a calorie-laden Teesside delicacy) flung at her, squeezes into a too-tight wedding dress and relates with gusto the challenges she has faced. Three things that’ll be held against an aspiring actor, she notes, is that that person be northern, fat and female. Rachel’s play has been a salutary hit. Her willingness to be vulnerable in front of strangers, and clever and funny with it, deserves a standing ovation.

Thousands of young people have benefited from the work of this creative learning company based in Ashington, Northumberland. Through drama, film and animation, it strives to enhance wellbeing, life skills and employability. Recently added to Arts Council England’s National Portfolio, it has used the regular funding effectively. This year its Ensemble Young Company, comprising 12 teenagers, worked with professionals to tour a new show. Inevitable? focused on moments of transition and the reality of growing up in today’s challenging world. Like all Mortal Fools projects, it had a positive impact on those who saw it or took part.

Formerly East Durham Creates, in September last year, the organisation – beginning its 10th year as one of Arts Council England’s national Creative People & Places projects – renamed itself No More Nowt. The HQ is in Peterlee but the announcement came at a bash in Newton Aycliffe, declaring the area no longer a place where “nowt happens”. In an area of traditionally low cultural provision and participation, more than 1,400 hours of cultural activity have been delivered in one year, 219 artists have been engaged and 42 pieces of cultural programming commissioned – all resulting in incalculable moments of joy across County Durham.

Over the weekend of July 26-28, thousands attended BBC Proms at The Glasshouse, many experiencing a live Proms concert for the first time. The festival showcased local, national and international talent, and £8 ‘promenader’ tickets and a variety of free events made it widely accessible. Royal Northern Sinfonia gave memorable performances and among several firsts was the debut of BBC Radio 3’s Night Tracks in a live setting. BBC Radio 3 Breakfast was broadcast live from Lindisfarne and Durham Cathedral in the festival run-up, celebrating the region’s cultural and historical significance. The Proms weekend garnered glowing national reviews and coverage.

After a successful debut in 2023, Redcar’s free festival for children and young people returned with funding from Arts Council England, commissioning organisation Without Walls and others. Programmed by the events team at Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, it promised and delivered an exciting spectacle of theatre, puppetry, circus, dance, storytelling and live music. Visitors could join 2Faced Dance’s Fish Boy on his quest to save his river and step inside Talking Bird’s giant silver whale. Founded on the idea that creative activity helps to build stronger communities, the festival involved local children and young people as consultants, participants and audience members.

Twenty one works by LS Lowry featured in the exhibition which ran from May until October at the Granary Gallery run by The Maltings. It focused on the artist’s relationship with the sea and with Berwick which he visited from the 1930s until his death in 1976. By turn joyful and melancholy, it touched visitors – more than 12,000 of them – who visited from across the UK. It showed a side of Lowry, famous for his ‘matchstick’ figures and industrial cityscapes, that many hadn’t seen before. The exhibition, reviewed enthusiastically both locally and nationally, was complemented by Lowry-related events in the town.

September’s seventh Middlesbrough Art Week, given the title In The Now And the Far, animated the town’s galleries and public spaces with an ambitious programme of exhibitions, performances and events. The North East Open Call, mounted in a former B&M store in the Dundas Arcade, featured the work of eight exceptional artists in a range of media including sculpture, ceramics and photography. The New Graduate Award showcased artists poised on the threshold of promising careers. There were contributions from international artists such as Francis Alÿs, Kyriaki Goni and Karrabing Film Collective and new commissions by Natasha Thembiso Ruwona and Alia Gargum.