Preview: Bring It On The Musical at Sunderland Empire

Bring It On The Musical

Starring Amber Davies and Louis Smith

 Announces Full Casting

Bring It On The Musical

Sunderland Empire

Tuesday 9 - Saturday 13 June 2020

Tickets available online at https://prf.hn/l/6Woxvad* #Ad

Selladoor Worldwide is delighted to announce Bring It On The Musical will play at the Sunderland Empire from Tuesday 9^th June 2020.

Vanessa Fisher will be playing the role of ‘Danielle’, joining the previously announced Amber Davies as ‘Campell’ and Louis Smith as ‘Cameron’. The cast is completed by Alicia Belgarde as ‘Eva’,  Georgia Bradshaw as ‘Nautica’, Ayden Morgan as ‘La Cienega’, Samuel Wilson-Freeman as ‘Steven’, Chloe Pole as ‘Skylar’, Frances Dee as ‘Kylar’,  Marvyn Charles as ‘Twig’, and Roshani Abbey, Jack Dargan, Matthew Dawkins, Jordan Isaac, Katie Lee, Gareth Moran, Biancha Szynal, and Zinzile Tshuma.

Inspired by the 2000 film of the same name, Bring It On The Musical features an original score by the multi award winning creator of “Hamilton”, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Pulitzer Prize winning Tom Kitt, composer of “Next To Normal”. The book is written by the Tony Award winning writer of “Avenue Q”, Jeff Whitty and the lyrics are by both Lin-Manuel Miranda and writer of the stage adaptation of “High Fidelity”, Amanda Green.

Amber Davies and Louis Smith

Bring It On The Musical is directed by Guy Unsworth and choreographed by Fabian Aloise, with set design by Libby Watson, costume design by Susan Kulkarni, lighting design by Matt Daw, sound design by Ross Portway, music supervision by Mark Crossland and musical direction from Sarah Burrell. They will be joined by Danny MacDonald as acrobatic director and Aundrea Fudge as dialect coach.

Bring It On The Musical takes audiences on a high-flying, energy-fuelled journey which tackles friendship, jealousy, betrayal and forgiveness – wrapped up in explosive choreography and tricks.

Cheer-royalty and newly crowned Squad Captain, Campbell, should be embarking on her most cheertastic senior year at Truman High School. When she’s forced to move to the neighbouring hard-knock Jackson High, Campbell fears her life is over.  But an unlikely friendship catapults Campbell back into contention with a powerhouse squad and the fire to achieve the impossible.

Bring It On The Musical is produced by Selladoor Worldwide, has a libretto by Jeff Whitty, a score by Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda lyrics by Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Bring It On The Musical is inspired by the motion picture Bring It On written by Jessica Bendinger. Performed by arrangement with Music Theatre International (Europe) Limited.

On The Web: 

www.bringitonthemusicaluk.com

Twitter                 @bringitonuktour

Instagram            @bringitonuktour

Tickets:

Bring It On The Musical comes to the Sunderland Empire from Tuesday 9 - Saturday 13 June 2020.  

Tickets available online at https://prf.hn/l/6Woxvad* #Ad

* Booking fees may apply to telephone and online bookings.

Preview: Hairspray at Sunderland Empire

Ad: Tickets are now available from our affiliate ATG Tickets. This means we receive a small share of the sale. Clicking on these links helps us to cover the costs of producing the North East Theatre Guide free of charge to both our readers and theatres.

Hairspray The Musical Tour

Announces Full Dates

The smash hit musical comedy Hairspray to return to Sunderland Empire

Hairspray

Sunderland Empire

New dates: Monday 14 - Saturday 19 June 2021

Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/HairspraySunderland #Ad

Existing bookings have been transferred and customers will be emailed about their dates.

Following two extremely successful tours in 2015/16 and 2017/18, producers Mark Goucher and Matthew Gale will tour their smash hit production of Hairspray in 2020-21. It can now be confirmed that the tour will open at Leicester Curve on 20 August and will visit the following venues in 2020: Manchester Palace, Alhambra Theatre Bradford, Blackpool Winter Gardens, Aylesbury Waterside, Birmingham Hippodrome, Glasgow Kings Theatre, Northampton Royal and Derngate, Woking New Victoria, Liverpool Empire and Brighton Theatre Royal.

The tour will then extend into 2021 starting at Southampton Mayflower on 11 January 2021 and continuing on to Bristol Hippodrome, Edinburgh Playhouse, Inverness Eden Court, Ipswich Regent, Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Milton Keynes Theatre, Sunderland Empire, Sheffield Lyceum, Nottingham Theatre Royal, High Wycombe Swan, Plymouth, Theatre Royal, Belfast Grand Opera House, Wolverhampton Grand, Wales Millennium Centre, Norwich Theatre Royal, Leeds Grand, Southend Cliffs Pavilion and finishing at Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham in May.

Featuring the iconic music and lyrics by Academy Award, Tony and Emmy winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, this much-loved musical comedy is choreographed by Olivier Award-winning Drew McOnie with direction from Paul Kerryson.

It’s Baltimore 1962, where Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, is on a mission to follow her dreams and dance her way onto national TV. Tracy’s audition makes her a local star and soon she is using her new-found fame to fight for equality, bagging local heartthrob Link Larkin along the way.

Hairspray is a musical based on the 1988 film of the same name which starred Divine and Ricki Lake, by cult filmmaker John Waters. With music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, Hairspray originally opened to rave reviews on Broadway in 2002 and subsequently won eight Tony Awards. The production opened in London at the Shaftesbury Theatre in 2007 and won four Laurence Olivier Awards including Best New Musical. Proving to be an international success, Hairspray has also opened in South Africa, Japan, South Korea, China and Dubai. Following the musical’s phenomenal success on stage, a film of the musical was released in 2007 which starred John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and James Marsden.

Photos from 2017-18 tour by Darren Bell

Tickets:

Hairspray The Musical comes to Sunderland Empire from Monday 14 -  Saturday 19 June 2021.

Tickets available online at https://tinyurl.com/HairspraySunderland #Ad

Booking fees may apply to telephone and online bookings.

Advertisements:

REVIEW: The Book Of Newcastle

The Book Of Newcastle

A City In Short Fiction

Edited by Angela Readman & Zoe Turner

Comma Press

ISBN 1905583109

www.commapress.co.uk

We are now entering the third week of lockdown and hence we are getting the opportunity to do much more reading. We were offered the chance to review this new release – a book full of short stories about Newcastle – by the publisher. It has been a source of some escapism. The 144 pages contain a number of vignettes about the city.

A collection of different voices, different situations but centred around a location we know well. Some tales are by born and bred Geordies, others by people who moved into the area and were taken in by its charm. Now like any collection, this is a mixed bag. Mixed in voices, styles, attitudes and colour. There are happy stories, thoughtful stories and some which are much more poignant. There are some really strong stories in this anthology which made it worth reading.

The book makes a really strong start with Calling from Newcastle.  From the pen of the much missed Julia Darling. Whilst traditional industry has disappeared, new technologies have taken their place. Thus, for many, their first job will be in a call centre rather than down a coal mine or in a steel works. The opening story captures both the issues of starting your first job, along with that necessary adjustment, and the nature of speaking to strangers on the phone all day. The tale is quickly developed and, like any good short story, leaves you wanting more.

Magpies by co-editor Angela Readman is rich with local identity. If you know this region then you'll be able to picture the scenes well.

Another set of familiar surroundings are found in Tabs by Sean O'Brien. A library full of regulars keeping warm and examining the images in Practical Photography magazine between filling in job applications. I don't recall smoking in libraries myself - they always seem to be one place that smelt of something different (books) but I do remember the fog when entering pubs like the Crown Posada and the Barking Dog. As the story points out, these city centre bars have their regulars - their characters - with their own relationships.

J. A. Mensah’s Thunder Thursday on Pemberton Grove ties up life in a Newcastle street with a significant real life chapter in Newcastle’s recent past. The close proximity of interconnecting lives in the Tyneside flats is examined. The noise DIY in one flat causes issues in others. Do we know our neighbours. Will we support our neighbours if an issue occurs? Of course,  if you were in Newcastle in June 2012 then you know what is about to happen.

Living on Planet Clacky by Glynis Reed is a a brief tale of sisters, popularity and coping with parents splitting up.

Margaret Wilkinson is better known for scriptwriting and with The Here and Now she adopt a unique voice as the story refers to “you” throughout. A shop keeper in his 30s with a health condition pondering on his future.  Should one have that operation? The story refers to the historic yet run down nature of aspects of Westgate Road. Once prestigious and now a shadow of its former self. As a former resident of Westgate Road this was one story that resonated with me.

Blood Brothers by Jessica Andrews is another that hit a chord. Two girls grow up together and one heads off to university. Nothing unusual there perhaps but by wrapping this tale around familiar Newcastle haunts, with the pair doing the recognisable things that you did as you grew up sets it apart. Indeed, I recognized the feeling of when you return from university and the place and people that you left behind haven't stood still waiting for you.

Duck Race by Crista Ermiya nods in the direction of Newcastle's blossoming cultural scene.  Three poets meet up as the Newcastle based poet welcomes back her ex and his pregnant wife. The mix of venues like the Cluny, and its’ fund raising duck race, along with the city's role in the rise of Jimi Hendrix make this story into much more. The author paints a strong picture of the area in which the story takes place. This is a narrative that could be easily made into a short film.

The late Chrissie Blazebrook was a comic novelist and in Loftboy some thought has been put into setting the scene. Heather Boot lives with her son Billy in a housing association property. The house is over a hundred years old but, when an inspector from the association  comes around,  Billy discovers that the loft space is communal. No walls separate each house up there. In other words, Billy could explore it when his mam was out. The neighbours described by Chrissie Blazebrook reflect how Elswick's population has changed since the second world war. The author captures the excitement of 'going up there'. This is something I recognize from my own childhood.

The final story, Ekow in Town Moor, is poet Degna Stone's first published short story. It is a deeply reflective tale looking at the loss of a parent whilst exploring the Town Moor. I remember being amazed at the huge expanse of green moor in the centre of Newcastle when I first arrived in the city. Degna's short tale manages to encapsulate both the   process of grieving with this unique space.

One major advantage of a set of short stories is that it is easy to pick up, read up a complete tale and then do something else. It has fitted in well around the life of a family in the current lockdown.

Review by Stephen Oliver

The book is available direct from the publisher and online from our affiliates Waterstones https://tinyurl.com/WaterstonesBookOfNewcastle and Amazon. #Ad

News: Comedian puts on shows to entertain families (who aren’t boring!)

Comedian puts on shows to entertain families (who aren’t boring!)

Every Thursday, comedian Lee Kyle presents a show for families that he records in his own living room to no live audience. Because of, you know, the rules.

'Very funny' - Primary Times

'The leader of the revolution' - The Times

'The Kids Completely Lose it, Parents cover their faces and laughter with their hands; This is genuine fringe comedy' - Deadline News

Cheeky tour-de-force Lee Kyle (“very funny” Primary Times) is helping families around the UK laugh, with an hour of live comedy streamed directly into their homes every Thursday throughout the pandemic. The only catch is, it’s for families who aren’t boring!

Having entertained audiences of all ages up and down the country for the past 10 years, Lee has suddenly found himself performing alone in his own front room because of, you know… The Rules. Each show features a host of guests that look and sound suspiciously like Lee, making for lots of laughs for the kids as well as the adults.

It’s easier to say what it isn’t than what it is, it’s not the show you’d expect a kids comedy show to be if you’ve never seen one.  Lee is silly and rude but never talks down to the young audience, instead allowing them to feel like a grown up comedy crowd rather than some toddlers at a library storytime.

Lee has hosted the kids show at The Stand in Newcastle for 5 years, headlined the family show at The Comedy Store, played various theatres for Comedy Club 4 Kids and done TV warm up for CBBC. He’s worked with both Sweep, Jedward and Basil Brush.

Lee Kyle’s ‘Giant Comedy Shows for Families (Who Aren’t Boring!)’ will be broadcast live online, every Thursday during the lockdown at 2pm.

The show may be daft, silly and even cheeky but it’s suitable for families. 

You can find it on Facebook (www.facebook.com/lee.kyle.9), Youtube (www.youtube.com/user/leekylespresence ) or via his website www.imleekyle.com.

News: Darlington Hippodrome launches support for Darlington Samaritans with online crowdfunding page

Darlington Hippodrome launches support for Darlington Samaritans with online crowdfunding page

Darlington Hippodrome staff have selected Darlington Samaritans as their new annual charity partner with the launch of an online crowdfunding page.

Darlington Samaritans Lillian Howell (left) Gill Osgerby (right)

Darlington Hippodrome has announced that the Hippodrome staff selected Darlington Samaritans as their new annual charity partner.

Samaritans is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with over 200 branches across the UK and Ireland. Every year Samaritans answer more than 5 million calls for help through their unique 24 hour listening service. Demand for the service is growing with Samaritans responding to a call for help every 6 seconds.

Through the partnership, Darlington Hippodrome will help support Darlington Samaritans’ services through various fundraising activities.

Darlington Hippodrome has launched an online crowdfunding page to allow individuals to show their support for Darlington Samaritans and find out more about the services they provide.

The crowdfunding page can be accessed at : https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DarlingtonHippodrome

For full information on Darlington Hippodrome visit www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

Preview: The Secret Earl of Biddick – Webcast

The Secret Earl of Biddick – Webcast Online Wednesday 8 April 2020, 6pm

Arts Centre Washington’s theatre may be closed at the moment but that doesn’t mean you have to totally miss out on top quality theatre. Settle in for a webcast premiere of The Secret Earl of Biddick which was specially commissioned by Arts Centre Washington for the visit of the Tall Ships to Sunderland in July 2018. The webcast will be premier on Arts Centre Washington’s Youtube channel and on the centre’s Facebook page on Wednesday 8 April at 6pm.

The River Wear becomes the setting for the local legend of James Drummond, a Scottish Earl who made his way to South Biddick after defeat at the Battle of Culloden.    In 1746, a man calling himself ‘James Drummond’ arrived in the little Pit Village of South Biddick, Washington, claiming to be the Sixth Earl of Perth.

His claim that he had just fled the Battle of Culloden whilst fighting for Bonnie Prince Charlie was met with disbelief by some but belief by others. Like, for instance, his wife Elizabeth who he met and married shortly after he arrived here in the North East.

To this day, no-one knows for sure if he was telling the truth – but if he was, then someone around here is due a Castle and a sizeable part of Scotland! Thomas’ story is told by a twenty-five strong cast of young, tough Biddickers, played by the Art Centre’s own Youth Theatre, alongside professional actors Dale Jewitt, Sarah Boulter, Like Maddison and Zoe Thompson.

The Secret Earl of Biddick was generously supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of ‘Harbouring Heritage’, an exciting range of heritage events, activities and performances that took place across Washington and Sunderland as part of Sunderland Tall Ships 2018. It features an original script and music from award-winning playwright, Neil Armstrong, and a cast of professional actors and members of Arts Centre Washington's Youth Theatre. The live recording will be available from Wednesday 8 April on the Arts Centre’s Youtube channel.

Preview: Gateshead International Festival of Theatre Goes Digital in May

Gateshead International Festival of Theatre Goes Digital in May

Gateshead International Festival of Theatre

Online: https://www.giftfestival.co.uk/

Friday 1- Sunday 3 May 2020

Gateshead International Festival of Theatre launches digital, tenth edition programme of performance art and interactive events- to connect artists and audiences to share, and inspire creativity.

This week the Gateshead International Festival of Theatre, (GIFT) announced a fully digital, thought-provoking programme of contemporary theatre, dance, talks and workshops; featuring Jonathan Burrows, Matteo Fargion, Wendy Houstoun,Tania El Khoury, Action Hero, Greg Wohead, Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas, from Friday 1- Sunday 3 May 2020.

Aiming to entertain, inspire and reaffirm the importance of artistic and cultural communities throughout the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s festival features exciting UK premieres and an eclectic programme exploring human connection, surveillance, resilience through crisis and international identity. GIFT creates a vibrant, curated space for self-isolating artists and audiences to harness domestic technology to encounter bold new works, share human stories, build networks and discuss ideas. Over 30 performances and events will be presented in real time, online at giftfestival.co.uk, and tickets are available to book, from Friday 10 April.

GIFT was created to make extraordinary things happen across Gateshead, and this year’s tenth edition will transport global artists and audiences at home on sensory journeys to virtual locations, ranging from a radio studio campervan in Europe and a detention centre, to a rock band escape, a tropical getaway, and a kids catwalk birthday party.

Contemporary artists are once again invited to participate in GIFT by pushing the parameters of their practice and performance genres; showing their work, co-creating new pieces in response to the pandemic and other urgent modern day issues, and meeting other artists at digital social events. Alongside the main programme, a community of North East artists who regularly engage with GIFT, including Unfolding Theatre, Gillie Kleiman and Rosa Postlethwaite, will be offering bite-size online opportunities to welcome new audiences, and facilitate conversations across the festival community. 

GIFT 2020 performance highlights include:

Don't Worry Me By Atresbandes

Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas

Photo: Berta Vicente & Richard Perryman

The UK online premiere of thrilling performance collaboration, IT DON’T WORRY ME, by ATRESBANDES, Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas, interrogating the tension between art and political correctness. Audiences will find themselves at the heart of a supposedly ‘empty space’ analysed by two commentators, but as they become ‘the commented-on’, theories and visual associations spiral the show out of control, meaning, and context. After the show audiences are invited to join the artists in a virtual cocktail lounge for small talk and martinis (Friday 1 May). 

Crack Of Dawn by Greg Wohead. 

Photo: Paul Blakemore

Crack of Dawn: Online premiere of Texan writer, performer and live artist, Greg Wohead’s improvised durational, sunrise to sunset performance featuring four artists simultaneously performing from different UK locations. In January 2009, Greg and his partner found themselves in rural Illinois sitting at the kitchen table of a traditional Amish couple. Secret thoughts, differing perspectives and apple butter recipes are shared over a distance as one afternoon turns into a strange, kaleidoscopic examination of empathy, assumptions, and the possibility or impossibility of ever really understanding one another. Jokes recur, facades slip and there might be Time After Time karaoke (Saturday 2 May).

  

Radioh Europa by Action Hero

Photo JMA Photography

RadiOh Europa- artists Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse of Action 

Hero create a 24 hour international homage to love, in a new digital translation of their continent-spanning work, Oh Europa, where they travel through Europe in a motorhome recording strangers’ love songs. Audiences can tune in live to enjoy all the love songs recorded to date by global performers, and newly recorded songs from North East artists including Ross Millard of The Futureheads and actor Charlie Hardwick. Since 2005, Action Hero have created performances spanning theatre, live art, installation, multimedia and site-specific practice, touring to over 30 countries across five continents (Saturday 2 May, 9pm through to Sunday 3 May, 9pm).  

As Far As Isolation Goes by Tania El Khoury & Basel Zaraa.

Photo: Basel Zaraa

 As Far as Isolation Goes (Online). Lebanese artist Tania El Khoury and Basel Zaraa invite audience members to individually take part in this thought-provoking performance installation, using touch, sound and interactivity, to experience the personal journey of one man’s detention centre inhumanity (Friday 1 May- Sunday 3rd May, performances for one audience member at a time).

World premiere of soundscape, Music For Lectures/ Get lost, written and spoken by Wendy Houstoun with music by Jonathan Burrows, Francesca Fargion and Matteo Fargion. A funny and deeply moving podcast show, a new commission by GIFT, which invites audiences to listen to a short piece on lostness through the medium of a rock band, while walking or running in a moment of escape from the house, colliding travels with a virtual journey that goes nowhere. Music for Lectures: Get Lost is the third of an ongoing series conceived by Burrows and Fargion, inviting artists to deliver a talk, alongside band accompaniment (available across the festival, for download- Friday 1 May- Sunday 3 May).

Elision by Gudrun Soley Sigurdardottir

Elision, by Icelandic artist Gudrun Soley Sigurdardottir - In a climate of division and disconnection, this live performance piece explores national identity through an attempt to stay warm in a fake tropical set. A funny and tender show, which invites the audience to work with materials and objects at home in the same way as planned for a live theatre space, and draws on autobiography, pop culture and ice in its many forms (Saturday 2 May, broadcast live from the artist’s home).

Audiences can enjoy two intimate Scratch performances by UK theatre makers Luca Rutherford and Greg Wohead, over lunch, followed by a facilitated feedback session, in a Scratch n’ Scran. SQUAWK is an ARC Stockton Production co-commissioned by the Albany, Cambridge Junction and Theatre in the Mill, presented by Luca Rutherford. A story of discovering quiet power in a moment of making a lot of noise, SQUAWK is about the stories we tell, the ones that get retold and the ones we hide behind. The ones we have the power to re-make, re-mould and disrupt. Greg Wohead’s In Floods is an early-stage reading of new material outlining the strange things that can happen when you unexpectedly return to where you came from, for two back-to-back funerals. The lump in your throat grows until there is no room for it (Saturday 2 May).

Ships-Ov-Fool by Gobscure.

Photo: Liz Rose Ridley

Intimate live performance installation ships-ov-fool, by writer-performer-artist and former Sage Gateshead summer studio resident, gobscure international, followed by a post-show conversation. In this new playful work, Newcastle-based gobscure (Sean Burn) weaves together storytelling, soundscapes and objects inspired by Hieronymous Bosch’s painting ‘Ship of Fools’, in which the artist once found temporary peace. This playful performance questions those currently shouting their sanity the loudest (Friday 1 May).

GIFT audiences will once again be at the forefront of the action this year, from the comfort of their own homes. They can book to be the sole participant in intimate interactive shows; workshop performance ideas; air and share views in lively talks and debates and enjoy drinks and chats with artists in GIFT’s virtual post show festival bar, from their own kitchens. Families can take a break from entertaining children with a fun-filled, Little GIFT House Party, offering hours of games and activities and the creative use of household items, run by family-focused company Chalk.

Interactive art works, events, talks, debates and workshops include: 

Manifestos From Times Of Crisis  - Scottish Artist Rosanna Irvine poses provocative questions about our responses to the current global pandemic, in a new participatory public art work, where groups of people connect across distances and differences to come up with their own collective future manifesto. Conceived during the current COVID19 outbreak, Manifestos From Times Of Crisis  creates a virtual gathering space to reflect on what is happening, how we are living - and how we want to continue. Lively audience interaction guaranteed (Friday 1 May-Sunday 3 May). 

International Working and Sustainability- GIFT Festival Director, Kate Craddock, joins a panel of guest speakers from arts venues and festivals across the world for a lively debate about working internationally, its environmental impact and how to create artistic projects more sustainably (Sunday 3 May).

The Atresbandes, Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas post-show cocktail lounge- hold on to that Friday night theatre feeling, with a post-show cocktail party in GIFT’s online festival bar, hosted by Bert, Nasi and Atresbandes. Join the makers of It Don”T Worry Me E for a post show cocktail, curated playlists and chat. Audiences are asked to bring their a-game small talk, internet connection, burning questions, sincere and insincere reactions to the show. The place to hang out for discerning theatre goers (Friday 1 May).

Making Intergenerational Stories: Where have I been, where am I now, where am I going?- CINAGE Live Director, Teresa Brayshaw, and performer and facilitator, Hannah Butterfield, host a talk, film screening and accompanying workshop designed to get people reflecting on their own experience of ageing. Based on two innovative and ongoing practice-based research projects, CINAGE: Film & CINAGE: Live, the session will encourage the telling of personal stories by older people through the creative practice of film writing and theatre making. The workshop will involve movement, speech and writing and is open to people of all ages, with priority booking for people in Gateshead (Saturday 2 May).

Exploring Process: A lively workshop led by Atresbandes, Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas, for theatre makers and artists working across performance disciplines, which sees the artists explore their own distinct methods for theatre making and the processes they encountered coming together to create ‘IT DON’T WORRY ME’ (Saturday 2 May).

GIFT Festival Director, Kate Craddock, said: “Amidst the devastating and hugely uncertain times that we face, we’re delighted to still be able to deliver GIFT as a digital experience for artists and audiences this May. Packed with new and experimental shows, sensory installations, practitioner workshops, provocative talks and plenty of fun social events, we aim to make GIFT as powerful as ever, and celebrate our tenth edition in style. 

Little Gift House Party by Chalk

Photo: Dan McCourt for Chalk

“The festival was created to remove barriers between artists and audiences, nurture creative communities and have fun together in the process. It gives a crucial platform to otherwise underrepresented North East contemporary artists and shares big ideas and creative responses to Gateshead, as a site of regeneration and transition.This year, more than ever before, we’re using GIFT’s spirit and energy as a vehicle for artistic communities, and the millions of people impacted by this pandemic, to come together, to inspire and encourage each other, maintain vital artistic conversations and champion our human resilience and creativity. 

“To keep the buzz of an ephemeral real-time festival, events will be presented with their usual scheduled starts, audiences will have digital tickets and can enjoy after-show virtual drinks and chats in the festival bar. We’d love to see you this May for a very special GIFT 2020.”

All events will be hosted on giftfestival.co.uk. Tickets are available to book, from Friday 10 April and audiences can make a Pay What You Decide donation to support this year’s festival here.

GIFT is supported by artists, funders and partners including Arts Council England, Gateshead Council and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.