Creative Darlington’s delighted to hear that 4,700+ people to date have sampled Hark! The Sound of Christmas programme, first shared online on Sunday 20 December 2020, with a special Gig in a Box offer reaching c 200 people across Darlington. All this without a baked potato in sight.

Somewhat unsurprisingly given Tracks track record, Hark! The Sound of Christmas helped brighten the festive season for many people, given the comments the screening has secured to date.

“Thank you Tracks this was amazing. We love the calm you brought to our home today”

“Our 6 year old is belting out Silent night this is amazing”

“Oh wow I love this poem about the choir and human connection – how fitting”

“This is the perfect evening. Needed this. Thank you Tracks xx”

Hark! The Sound of Christmas was backed by Darlington Borough Council’s events service, while Creative Darlington supported the commission of three fantastic local artists Lisette Auton, Merlyn Griffiths from The Littlest Falcon and Andy McAdam. A big thank you to all who helped make this happen, it was a cracker!.

The Creative Fuse Bounce Back programme, delivered by Edale (a business advisory firm and financial professionals), offers four masterclasses to eligible individuals or companies (1. financial healthcheck, 2. getting financially fit, 3. becoming a financial guru, 4. getting going and applying), plus one-to-one mentoring support from industry experts covering investment, grant applications and securing funding from a wide range of sources.

The typical timing of the masterclasses with run from 10am – 1pm (including activities and breaks). The programme will run with two cohorts from January – March 2021. Places are limited and will be offered on a first come, first serve basis so please apply early to avoid disappointment.

Those eligible to apply must be:

• A creative practitioner, freelancer, SME or incorporated non-profit organisation
• Have evidence of trading with a business bank account
• Have a business address located in the Tees Valley
• Actively considering applying for funding / finance

Further information on Bounce Back and a link to apply is at https://thedigitalcity.com/services/creative-fuse-tees-valley/bounce-back-funding-harnessing-financial-resources-and-support/

About Grand Constructions

Grand Constructions is a participatory arts project that will use arts, making and design to explore the architectural and industrial heritage of the North East of England. The project is a collaboration between designer maker Caroline Collinge and architect Edmond Salter of Cabinet of Curiosity Studio and has been commissioned by Creative Darlington as part of our New in Town programme to support original creative projects informed by place and local heritage.

Grand Constructions aims to invite children aged 6-11 years to start thinking about their surroundings and the built environment. The project will involve children and families in creating paper architecture through engagement activities accessible in person and virtually. Engagement activities will include: a virtual design studio featuring talks, downloadable resources, workshops and live demonstrations; outreach workshops in the community; and a pop-up exhibition of paper architecture in Darlington town Centre. The project will begin in March 2021 and will run until November 2021.

Funding and support in kind for the Grand Constructions project has been provided by Arts Council England, Creative Darlington and Head of Steam Darlington Railway Museum.

Cabinet of Curiosity Studio last worked here in 2019 at a community event in Red Hall and in Darlington Market, and delivering one of the Viewpoints suite of new works commissioned by the fantastic Festival of Thrift. Viewpoints featured temporary sculptures, installations and artworks about clean air that were displayed across the Tees Valley.

Cabinet of Curiosity Studio created an installation called Green House that was inspired by Victorian garden architecture and Japanese design. The installation combined contemporary fabrication techniques with Japanese crafts and contained a living environment of house plants that possess air cleaning properties.

About Cabinet of Curiosity Studio

Cabinet of Curiosity Studio was founded in 2010 by costume and theatre designer Caroline Collinge and architect Edmond Salter. The studio brings expertise in the paper arts and crafts to make installations, exhibitions, costumes and illustrations for commission. Their striking paper-based artwork has been shown across the UK and internationally in a variety of settings that include museums, theatres, libraries, heritage sites, outdoor festivals, arts venues and public spaces.

HARK! is traditionally a celebration of music inspired by literature – and Tracks think no holiday embodies that concept like Christmas. HARK! The Sound of Christmas is hosted by Fran Harvey, and features beautiful live music performed by a variety of regional and national artists, readings from ​A Christmas Carol ​ and festive poems, and specially commissioned work from regional artists. This programme has been backed by Darlington Borough Council and Creative Darlington.

The streaming event is accompanied by a ‘gig in a box’ featuring a programme with original linocut artwork from Darlington artist The Littlest Falcon and lyrics so audience members can sing along, as well as a mince pie or piece of Christmas cake, and a few other goodies. The Gig in a Box is free to all, subject to availability. Tracks will create and deliver these boxes to audience members, as well as have some stock available for collection from the library. They are also reaching out to organisations such as Food For Thought to distribute some of the boxes to the elderly, socially isolated and people on lower incomes.

Hark! The Sound of Christmas will include performances from…

The Bookshop Band​ is internationally renowned folk duo Ben Please and Beth Porter. Based out of Mr B’s Bookshop in Bath, the Bookshop Band writes and performs enchanting music inspired by books by hundreds of authors from Shakespeare to Philip Pullman. They have released 13 studio albums featuring many of the authors they have worked with, and are usually found performing in bookshops. For HARK! they will be performing a specially selected set of songs based on festive and wintery tales, as well as a couple of Christmas classics.

Benjamin Amos​, of North Eastern super-band Nel Unlit, graces us with tunes from his latest solo album, Christmas folk feast ​Joy. Ben performs three beautifully arranged Christmas songs, filmed in some very special locations.

Songstress ​Oui Bee​ returns exclusively for HARK!. After a hiatus, local singer-songwriter Oui Bee is bringing her hauntingly beautiful vocals back to celebrate Christmas.

The evening also includes specially commissioned work from local writer performance artist Lisette Auton, animation from artist Andrew McAdam, as well as readings of festive poems and ​A Christmas Carol.

Sarah Wilson of Tracks Darlington says: ‘It’s great to have been given this opportunity to create something really magical and original for this special time of year, especially with 2020 having been such a tricky time for people. It’s great to have the opportunity to work with local artists to create something for everyone to enjoy.’

So here’s an invitation to enjoy Hark! The Sound of Christmas beaming directly into your home via the magic of the internet, and hosted from the majestic Crown Street Library.

Tracks advise the event is suitable for ages 13+. The live stream starts at 7pm on Sunday 20 December and is free to view, with a donation link available.

Get creative to help keep the Loco in Darlo and you could win a family pass to The Head of Steam Railway Museum plus a family ticket* to see Cinderella at Darlington Hippodrome in Christmas 2021!

Due to COVID-19 restrictions The Head of Steam Railway Museum has been unable to distribute their Keep The Loco In Darlo posters far and wide for everyone to display in windows across Darlington. So you have an opportunity to get creative and design your own masterpiece to show your support for the campaign with the chance to win some super prizes.

To enter the competition simply download and colour in the template from the Head of Steam website or design your own Keep The Loco In Darlo poster and display it in your front window. Take a photo of your poster on display and post it on your social media profile tagging Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum and using the hashtag #KeepTheLocoInDarlo.

A winner will be picked in early 2021!  To download the colouring page visit www.head-of-steam.co.uk/keep-the-loco-in-darlo/activities-for-children/

To add your support to the campaign visit: www.darlington.gov.uk/keep-the-loco-in-darlo

*Family ticket comprises 4 tickets – Minimum 1 adult and 1 U16. Only available on performances between 10.12.21 – 16.12.21 

Following the announcement of the second lockdown coming into place on Thursday 5 November 2020 ODDMANOUT theatre company and Creative Darlington have cancelled the sharing of work from the ‘It’s All Happening Here!’ programme and an exhibition of  Darlington Wonders planned inside Cornerstone Arts.  While this decision is sadly unavoidable ODDMANOUT are taking steps to ensure the creative work from ‘It’s All Happening Here!’ will be accessible online, and over 20 Darlington Wonders are currently accessible online.

‘ODDMANOUT are disappointed that due to the new restrictions we have to cancel ‘It’s All Happening Here’ due to take place at Cornerstone Arts, Darlington on the 5th/6th/7th of November. We will be doing our best to move all of the content online to ensure the hard work of all our artistic community is not wasted.’

Katy Weir, ODDMANOUT

NARC. TV is launching Thursday 5th November at 7pm, with performances and interviews from Ceiling Demons, Girl From Winter Jargon, bigfatbig, Mt. Misery, Wax Heart Sodality, Shakk & Eyeconic, Marketplace, Plastic Glass, The Dead Seat and Faye Fantarrow’. Creative Darlington was delighted to back some filming of a number of bands and artists at The Forum Music Centre earlier this year.

Music lifts the spirits and can help you feel connected even in troubling times.  Music venues, including The Forum in Darlington, play a massive part in connecting artists with music fans and Creative Darlington was delighted to back the NARC TV programme, which we hope will help keep them in the public eye.  We offer thanks to NARC., Tees Music Alliance, all those who shared their work, the film-makers who captured it and the Northern music venues in which performances and filming took place for safely bringing a fabulous array of today’s music to the screen. 

Here’s to NARC. TV helping music fans stay connected with the output of artists and bands and sharing the ongoing practice of those in the music sector who brighten so many lives.

The workhouse sessions is a podcast and a DJ service performing at local events, venues and festivals run by DJ Alan Rees, pictured above. It is focused on building a platform to benefit the guest DJ’s that perform on the podcast and at events they perform at, in collaboration with local venues and businesses.

They have produced 117 podcasts over the last 5 years with highlights including interviews with Roger Sanchez, K-Klass, Jeremy Healy, Bez (from the Happy Mondays) and Mark Doyle, associated with the Hed Kandi brand.

The Workhouse Sessions have performed at local festivals including the Remedy House music event in Newton Aycliffe, The Mighty Dub Fest in Alnwick and The Darlington Food and Drink festival. In Darlington they have regularly worked with Darlington Borough Council and the Darlington Markets team to provide live DJ performances at local events.

The Workshouse Sessions recently secured a small arts grant from Darlington for Culture and support from Creative Darlington to produce a series of 5 “pandemic podcasts”. Each podcast featured a guest DJ and focussed on how Covid 19 had affected them personally and from a business point of view. Here is the link to the first of these podcasts , a chance to hear more about what’s working for DJ’s.

Creative Darlington was delighted to back the first Hark! The Sound of Stories event on 22 November 2019, which was held in Darlington Library, and presented a scintillating combination of live music and readings. There was a really appreciative audience and brilliant performances from artists, bands and readings from authors, a really special vibe.

Hark! was conceived by Tracks and in 2020 and we offered them support to develop the Hark! online programme, parts of which can be viewed here on either Facebook or Youtube. Whilst the first event was less than a year ago, so much has changed since then with the pandemic, but the creativity and can do/want to do/must do (I’m not sure which, you’d have to ask them, but glad they did) spirit of Tracks has ensured the creative wagon rolled on. Faced by the challenges of organizing activity safely this year Tracks embraced technology whilst applying their expected programming pizzazz and working through networks to bring together a brilliant bill for the Hark! The Sound Of Stories (Help The Witch) event, which offered a wonderful platform for regional and art form cross collaboration.

The event was first available on the evening of Sunday 11 October 2020, and followed an online writing workshop that afternoon, which was wonderfully well received by eight participants. Artists performed in the second Hark! remotely from London, Bedford, North Wales, Devon and Darlington.

Audiences and participants were able to engage with an event born in Darlington from far afield and in significant numbers, with 835 video views and lots of positive comments of the film to date.

Thanks to Tracks and all the artists involved, it appears it takes an awful lot to derail their creative spirit. I’m looking forward to the next chapter!

CCreative Darlington has allocated support to artist Matthew Pickering to progress a proposal which will consider current environmental concerns.

Hot Contents will take place in Darlington, imagining the role of new trades in a not-too-distant future where the over-production of unrecyclable waste materials has dramatically changed our landscape, reimagining Darlington’s history as a hub of crafts and trades built instead on recycled industrial materials.

Through a process of research, production, presentation and critical discussion exploring the life-cycle of the materials of industry, it asks:

• How can we creatively imagine ways to reduce environmental pollution and learn to live better with the waste we create?
• How do we re-examine industrial heritage narratives in environmental discussion?
• In what ways can we feed in a circular economy approach to our lives?
• What practices do we need to learn, and what do we need to unlearn?

While it touches on the many interconnected issues that are feeding climate change, Hot Contents look at pollution as a wider metaphor for living with the environmental crisis we have created for ourselves.

A trace – physically and emotionally – of what will be left for the future.