Great Exhibition of the North line-up: From Postman Pat to Lubaina Himid
The Kaiser Chiefs, Postman Pat and Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid are all on the line-up for the Great Exhibition of the North, which will take place this summer.
The 11-week festival will celebrate "great art, culture, design and innovation from the north of England". Staged in Newcastle and Gateshead, it will be paid for with £5m from the government's Northern Powerhouse fund. After the opening ceremony on 22 June, the event will run until 9 September. It will begin with performances by the Kaiser Chiefs and poet Lemn Sissay, and will feature what's said to be the UK's largest water sculpture - an 80m-long fountain - on the River Tyne. On the opening weekend, members of the public will be invited to join in with wandering groups of dancers, while three choirs will make their way through the towns and cities. Other highlights of the festival will include Robert Stephenson's Rocket, on loan from the Science Museum, with a virtual reality experience recreating the early steam age. John Lennon's last piano and the original Postman Pat models will be part of an exhibition of northern cultural creations at the Great North Museum. Preston-based Lubaina Himid, who won the Turner Prize in 2017, will stage an exhibition inspired by the colourful east African kanga fabric at the Baltic gallery. The same gallery will host works by Ryan Gander, who will create sculptures inspired by northern inventions, from Joseph Swan's incandescent light bulb to George Stephenson's Geordie safety lamp. BBC 6 Music DJ Lauren Laverne will curate a series of concerts featuring northern musicians at the nearby Sage Gateshead. Details of the 80-day arts and cultural festival were announced on Tuesday. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport also released a video, which includes some of the best known faces from the north east. Alan Shearer called it "a great year for the North of England". Visitors will be invited to take in the attractions along three special walking routes. The innovation trail: The arts trail: The design trail: Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.