A summer of sport and art sweeps the city

This summer Great North Run Culture launch their 11^th year of cultural programming which is inspired by the Great North Run.  Great North Run Culture explore and celebrate the areas where sport and art meet, through art exhibitions and installations, films and moving image, workshops, events and community activities they look for new ways to give a different perspective on the world’s largest half marathon. One such take comes from artist filmmaker Layla Curtis, who in 2014 was commissioned to create a moving image work inspired by the Great North Run. The series of short films, which have been almost 12 months in the making, premiere at The Gallery, Tyneside Cinema on 10 September in a multi-screen installation called HEATSCAPES. Filmed entirely using a thermal imaging camera at last year’s Great North Run, HEATSCAPES follows the runners and tracks their body heat as they move along the run, their warmth leaving temporary invisible imprints across the 13.1 mile route. A series of workshops and events with Children North East will also support the moving image commission project. A debut project borne out of a partnership with Northumbria University also offers bold and inspiring commentary on the Great North Runthis September, as artists Hope Stebbing and Oliver Perry - graduates of the university’s Fine Art course - launch ONWARD TOGETHER AS ONE. The project is a pop-up art installation, in which large sculpted letters spelling ‘onward’ ‘together’ ‘as one’ will be shown in three specific locations around the route of the run. Appearing on the morning of Sunday 13 September and disappearing with the 57,000 runners after the race, the artists’ have taken the idea of over fifty thousand individuals moving through the course as though they were one, all connected and communicating, ebbing and flowing, moving forward together. Great North Run Culture, who last September hosted a spectacular occasion on the river Tyne to celebrate the one millionth finish of the Great North Run, continue in 2015 to pay homage to the region and its people with GREAT NORTH GREATS: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Achievements. This exhibition, sponsored by Port of Tyne, has toured museums and community spaces along the route of the run over the past 12 months. On Saturday 15 August it will reach its final destination: Discovery Museum in Central Newcastle and it promises to be bigger and better than ever! GREAT NORTH GREATS is an exhibition about the world firsts and big ideas that have all come from the North East, focusing on the little known links between our sporting and industrial heritage with films, photographs, collections and archives, as well as interactive and digital displays and exhibits. From Harry Clasper to William Armstrong, Baroness Tani Grey Thompson and Joseph Swann the exhibition offers something for everyone and is guaranteed to stir regionalpride. GREAT NORTH GREATS at Discovery Museum will include an exhibition of items from objects from the Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums collection as well as specially donated items from some great north greats, including the London 2012 rowing suit worn by goldmedal winner Katherine and Unique Puma trainers worn by Great North Run millionth finisher Tracey Cramond. Also at Discovery Museum is a brand new interactive display celebrating those who have participated in the Great North Run over the last 34 years, plus never-before-seen short films from ordinary people of all ages and backgrounds who have achieved extraordinary things in their profession, for their community, for the North East. The exhibition at Discovery Museum opens on Saturday 15 August and runs until Sunday 18 October, with a whole host of activities throughout the summer holidays for families and children to get involved with. A brand new and fascinating addition to GREAT NORTH GREATS at Discovery Museum is OBJECTS TO SEE FURTHER by artist filmmaker Matt Stokes. As part of the Great North Run Million celebrations, Matt Stokes was invited to take up an artist-in-residency post with Great North Run Culture, the first of its kind for the cultural organisation. The fruits of the residency are in OBJECTS TO SEE FURTHER, a multi-faceted exhibition featuring carefully curated limited edition newspapers, an exhibition of unusual and significant objects chosen from the Tyne & Wear Archives, as well as a new film - all of which will be exhibited together for the first time at Discovery Museum from 15 August. OBJECTS TO SEE FURTHER has taken Matt Stokes on a journey from Tyneside to Athens and the film, along with the supporting exhibition of objects, tells the story of some prominent Great North Greats. Set during the Victorian era, in the year 1871, industrialist Robert Stirling Newall, NineHours movement advocate John Burnett, champion rower James Renforth and songwriter Joe Wilson (played by Newcastle based folk musician Richard Dawson) are visionaries in their fields. The film tells fragments of the, often overlooked, lives of these men, highlighting the threads that tie them together as a quartet who changed both the people and world around them. Richard Dawson takes on the role of Geordie songwriter and concert hall performer Joe Wilson, considered the most prolific of the era Wilson began performing in 1864 and could be regularly seen at the Wheat Sheaf in the Cloth Market. Dawson, who is famed for taking inspiration from Tyne & Wear archives to create his music, similarly hails from Newcastle and has received critical acclaim for his 2014 album Nothing Important. Great North Run Culture director, Beth Bate, said of the 2015 programme, “This has been an incredibly busy and exciting year for us at Great North Run Culture. Following on from the GNR Million programme last year, we’ve been delighted with the response to the Great North Greats exhibition, which has been exhibited across the region and reaches Discovery Museum this summer. “People have been genuinely inspired by the stories they’ve uncovered about the extraordinary achievements of the people in our region and that’s exactly what we wanted to deliver with this exhibition. In addition, we’re also launching Heatscapes by Layla Curtis the artist delivering our annual Moving Image Commission - this will open at The Gallery, Tyneside Cinema in September. “Plus a brand new partnership with Northumbria University sees a pop-up art installation along the route of the Great North Run! We’re also looking at exclusive screenings of Tal Rosner’s moving image projection from the GNR Million ceremony taking place in the city this autumn, so there’s certainly plenty to see!” The programme has been supported by a number of local organisations and corporate partners including Port of Tyne and was made possible with funding from the Great Run Company, Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Essential in delivering all of the activity across the year was the partnership with Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, who’s Discovery Museum hosts the exhibition finale. Carolyn Ball, Discovery Museum and Archives Manager said, “I’m delighted that Discovery Museum is the host venue for the last three months of Great North Greats. Visitors can look forward to visiting an updated and expanded exhibition, watching fantastic new creative works and taking part in a comprehensive programme of events that will appeal to young and old alike.  “We’ve worked closely with Great North Run Culture over the last year to identify objects in our collections and further afield that truly reflect ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  “I’m sure that Great North Greats will leave our visitors believing that, in the north east, sporting excellence and industrial advances go hand in hand and are proud to call the north east their home.” For more information on everything to see and do this summer visit www.greatnorthrunculture.org