North East visitors encouraged back to cultural venues with exciting 2022 programme

Big things are in store for the North East cultural scene next year, with the Lindisfarne Gospels coming to the region, the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival, and The Late Shows making a much-anticipated return after a two-year break.

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM), which manages nine cultural venues across the region, is preparing for a busy and exciting year ahead as they hope to encourage more visitors back to cultural venues.

The Lindisfarne Gospels, a manuscript dating back to Anglo-Saxon England, will be at the heart of a high-profile exhibition at Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery from 17 September until 3 December. The Gospels were last on display in the North East in 2013 at Durham University – an exhibition that attracted over 100,000 visitors.

Alongside the Laing exhibition, there will be a supporting exhibition at neighbouring Newcastle City Library and venues across the North East will host complementary events in an Inspired By programme. The Lindisfarne Gospels will be on loan to the Laing Art Gallery from the British Library, London. The plan to display the Gospels in Newcastle was co-ordinated by the North East Culture Partnership and The British Library.  

Arbeia South Shields Roman Fort, Great North Museum: Hancock and Segedunum Roman Fort will be taking part in the year-long Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival, which will celebrate 1900 years since the building of Hadrian’s Wall. Hundreds of events will take place along Hadrian’s Wall, from Tyneside in the East, across the centre, through Carlisle and down the Solway coast in the west.

Arbeia South Shields Roman Fort will explore the evidence of a previous fort in South Shields predating Arbeia, in a small exhibition named The Lost Fort, which will be displayed from March-October. Segedunum Roman Fort will explore who built Hadrian’s Wall and how, in Building the Wall, which will be on show from 2 April–1 October.

Great North Museum: Hancock will be displaying a spectacular and immersive digital projection mapping experience, Wall in Motion, which will explore a variety of themes celebrating the movement and motion of people, objects and stories associated with this grand frontier. 

After a two-year hiatus due to COVID 19, The Late Shows, which is sponsored by The Biscuit Factory and facilitated by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, will make a welcome return in 2022 from 13-14 May. The late-night cultural crawl across Newcastle Gateshead typically includes around 50 venues and attracts over 35,000 visitors, making it one of the biggest after-hours cultural events in the UK. The two-day event features open art studios, music, performance, galleries, museums and a host of the most bizarre and intriguing interactive events. The full programme will be announced in the spring.

At Newcastle University’s Hatton Gallery this autumn you can see work by Francis Bacon, Prunella Clough, Patrick Heron and Keith Vaughan, as well as a painting by the celebrated twentieth century Australian artist Brett Whiteley - one of only three canvases by Whiteley in a UK public collection. Modern Pictures: The Hatton Collection showcases the gallery’s collection of abstract paintings from the post-war period, as well as figurative paintings and a group of rarely seen drawings.

Other exhibitions opening in 2022 include Pushing the Boat Out: Shipbuilding and Ship Repair in South Tyneside, which opens at South Shields Museum and Art Gallery in May and Unheard Stories of the Second World War (working title) at Discovery Museum in June. Prior to the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Laing Art Gallery will show an exhibition of its renowned watercolour collection in the spring and summer, including works from the Golden Age of watercolours, by Turner, Cotman and Girtin, alongside 20th and 21st century artists. The exhibition will also feature works by women artists.  

Shipley Art Gallery is at the heart of the community in Gateshead, and runs a variety of events throughout the year to bring people together and nurture their creativity. In 2022 there will be Make and Play Baby Socials, ceramic classes for adults and the newly established First Saturdays, which encourages creatives living and working in Gateshead to meet up and share ideas.

For full listings and up to date information on exhibitions and events, please visit the individual venue websites, which can be accessed from twmuseums.org.uk.