The Light Durham is to become a regular destination for evening culture, family activities and creative events after announcing its autumn and winter programme at Aykley Heads.
The Durham County Council venue opened to the public last month and welcomed more than 5,000 people during its first week. Its new programme builds on the opening exhibitions We Are The Durhams: The Durham Light Infantry Exhibition and Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light, bringing together art, history, music, conversation and hands-on creativity.
Organisers say the programme is designed for audiences of all ages and includes regular Thursday events, monthly late-night sessions, adult workshops and daytime activities for families. The venue is also aiming to establish Thursday evenings as a regular fixture in the region’s cultural calendar.
Thursday evenings at The Light
The monthly Thursday programme includes events for creative professionals, history enthusiasts, adults interested in making and people looking for live music or an informal book club.
The Salon – The North East’s Creative Social begins on 1 October. Curated by Create North in partnership with The Light, the event will bring artists, musicians, performers, writers, designers, filmmakers, producers, makers and other creatives together for conversation, ideas and connections.
Making History – History, memory and culture in conversation starts on 10 September and takes place on the second Thursday of each month. The series will include talks, screenings, tours and discussions exploring the relationship between history, heritage, art and culture.
Inspired by We Are The Durhams, the sessions will consider how the past is interpreted, represented and reimagined through literature, film, television, photography, public art, music and popular culture.
Adults can join I don’t want to grow up from 17 September. Held on the third Thursday of each month, the programme will use creative workshops, making sessions and artist-led activities to encourage participants to experiment and rediscover the enjoyment of making.
Also beginning on 17 September, The Light Lounge will run on the third and fourth Thursday of each month. The venue’s café will become a setting for cocktails, conversation and live performances, offering an after-work programme of drinks, music and socialising.
Tomorrow’s Library starts on 22 October and will take place on the fourth Thursday of each month. Described as “not your average book club”, it will explore visionary novels, speculative fiction, groundbreaking science, philosophy and cultural criticism, focusing on ideas, inventions and creative works that have shaped people’s understanding of the future.
After Dark events and the exhibitions
The monthly After Dark events will take place on the first Friday night of each month. They will combine the venue’s exhibitions with live performances, music, food, drink, installations and other creative experiences, with each event co-curated by a leading artist, musician, filmmaker or creative collaborator.
The first three dates are 2 October, 6 November and 4 December. Tine Bech will be involved in the October event, Liz West in the November edition and Neon Workshops in the December event. All three are creatives involved in Victory Over the Sun.
Victory Over the Sun: Encounters with Light continues until Sunday 17 January. The exhibition brings together works by artists including Tracey Emin, Dan Flavin, Olafur Eliasson and Chila Burman, whose work uses light in different ways.
The exhibition considers light as both a subject and a material, raising questions about perception, nature and the cosmos. The first three After Dark events will offer visitors an opportunity to experience the exhibition in a different atmosphere, alongside performance, music and other activities.
The permanent We Are The Durhams exhibition draws on The Light’s military heritage to tell a human story about identity, belonging and community. It uses objects, images, sounds and hands-on activities to explore those themes.
Family activities and visiting information
The autumn and winter programme also includes daytime activities for families. A week of creative workshops is planned for the October half-term, while Sensory Saturdays will offer regular artist-led sessions and sensory play experiences for younger children.
Entry to The Light and We Are The Durhams is free. Tickets are required for Victory Over the Sun and the autumn and winter events, and can be booked through thelightdurham.org.uk.
Updates are available through The Light’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, @thelightdurham. Visitors can use those channels and the venue website to check the latest event information and ticket details.
Cllr Karen Allison, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for leisure, tourism, regeneration and high street, said: “The autumn/winter programme reflects our ambition to create opportunities for people of all ages to connect with culture in meaningful ways. We want The Light to become a part of people’s everyday lives – whether that be as a place to view amazing exhibitions and explore new creative pursuits or as somewhere to catch up with friends.”
She added: “We’re delighted the venue has already welcomed thousands of visitors. County Durham’s visitor economy is worth more than £1.5 billion a year and The Light is helping to boost this further, while raising our profile as a vibrant county to live, work, visit and invest.”
The programme’s launch follows what the venue described as an overwhelmingly positive response to both opening exhibitions and to The Light itself. With activities now extending from family workshops and sensory play to creative networking, live music, talks and late-night events, the Aykley Heads venue is positioning itself as a place for regular cultural participation rather than only occasional exhibition visits.