No More Nowt

No More Nowt Co. Durham, Co. Created: The Creative People and Places Programme for County Durham. More than three quarters of people who responded were from East Durham.

Programming working with local people to shape culture in County Durham, by & about the place they live No More Nowt is a programme set up to try out new ways of getting more local people involved in something creative. It’s about trying new things, building on what’s already happening, learning what works – and what doesn’t – and pulling together to bring about long term change in County Durham.

After an ambitious start (including a festival with more than 40 events over 20 days in 30 venues!) we asked people what they thought. With their help, we’re making some changes – there’ll be a year round programme of things to see and do and more ways for people to get involved, from coming up with ideas, working with artists and running events, to training and volunteering opportunities. Or just simply coming along to see, experience and (hopefully!) be surprised by some amazing art. Whether we’re commissioning new work from community groups or international artists, No More Nowt projects will always be inspired by things that local people have told us matter to them – the people, stories and heritage that are unique to our area. We know what we’re trying to do will take time, but by working with a network of local partners including schools and colleges, community centres, local businesses and transport providers to support grass-roots cultural activity and build local capacity through investing in skills development and training we are laying the foundations for long term change. Have a look around Facebook for things to see and do, or ways to get involved, or get in touch to find out more.

🌍DISCOVER ‘ACTUAL REALITY’, a people-powered experiment in bridging "Digital Divided” people, communities and places acr...
04/06/2026

🌍DISCOVER ‘ACTUAL REALITY’, a people-powered experiment in bridging "Digital Divided” people, communities and places across County Durham.

'Actual Reality' is part community-generated artwork, part action research project and part DIY digital accelerator, working with easy-to-ignore communities experiencing challenges around digital connectivity and opportunity through inhibitors of socio-economic, health, age and geographic infrastructure realities.

➡️ If you have a relative or friend who has a computer or smartphone and might be a little lonely - or could do with discovering ways to connect with other people in their

community - or advice on how to stay safe online - then point them to the 'Durham Digital Voice - Your digital friend & guide' chatbot (via the Actual Reality webpage - LINK IN BIO 🔗)

You can also explore the radical, democratic ethos fuelling this evolving project - exploring what's happened so far and get a hint as to where it's going next.

It's for anyone; young, old, rural or urban - from savvy tech heads - to the otherwise digitally unheard or frustrated segments of County Durham’s diverse geographic demographic.

The aim is to inspire and empower these groups to engage creatively across digital spaces new to them, that can enhance access to culture where and how they live in new and meaningful ways - whilst enjoying building our shared community in new spaces where real life and digital life comes together.

Actual Reality playfully explores the transformative potential for good through digital exploration with a place-making context.

The project is led by OGRE Studio and funded in partnership with Google Arts & Culture and Arts Council England.
studio , , & special thanks to @

/// More updates coming soon so if you're not already, follow .studio and to see us in your feed.

29/04/2026

📢 PEOPLE OF HORDEN - Tell your story! 💬 🙌

JOIN us for the 'Horden Storytelling Project' and get involved in a series of in-person and online community-led gatherings - bringing people together to share stories of your place and enjoy some food whilst exploring collective ideas of identity, hope and tell an unfolding story of Horden through creativity, reshaping narrative of our place.

First session:

📍 The Horden Centennial Centre (SR8 4LX)
📆 Thurs 7th May
🕦 4pm-7pm

🔗 GET INVOLVED HERE: https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAN__me3WPJUNTA0VlZTS0lOOTlSSDZFS0hBVTk2R0ZWQy4u&route=shorturl 👋

🤔 About the project:

The Horden Storytelling Project is a series of community-led workshops that will bring people together over food to share stories, explore creativity and challenge negative narratives about the village.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑👭👫👬 We are building a movement - a group of people who want to work together to build bridges and tell positive stories about Horden through creativity.

JOIN a series of community-led workshops running from late April - late July this year.

🫵 Who is it for?

✅ This is for people who care about Horden and want to tell a different story about it.

✅ For people who are tired of hearing the same negativity and want to challenge it.

✅ For people who believe in the village’s history, rooted in solidarity, collective challenges and liberation.

✅ For people who care about Horden and want to tell a different story about it.

✅ For people who want to work together, share their experiences, and use creativity to shape how Horden is seen - now and in the future.

JOIN US in a series of workshops and work together with local artists to tell better stories about Horden.

-------------

Thanks to our project partners:

Horden Together, Golden Sankofa, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the residents of Horden.

Shout out to for a really great afternoon chatting for their new 'Spotlight' pod with 🎙️ in Collab with brilliant st...
22/04/2026

Shout out to for a really great afternoon chatting for their new 'Spotlight' pod with 🎙️ in Collab with brilliant students from Durham Sixth Form Centre.

Our digital programme lead, Steven .studio was in great company with mural artist and conductor .

Thanks to for the photo 📸 and follow for updates for when the podcasts are live 🙌

Get your self along to Thornley Village-centre for a mighty family adventure of HERE BE DRAGONS with Unfolding Theatre 🐉...
14/04/2026

Get your self along to Thornley Village-centre for a mighty family adventure of HERE BE DRAGONS with Unfolding Theatre 🐉

✨ A magical story
✨ Dragons, adventure & imagination
✨ Perfect for ages 6–11 (siblings welcome!)
✨ Only 40 minutes — ideal for keeping little ones engaged

📍 Thornley Village Centre
🗓 Friday 17th April
⏰ 12 noon

💷 £2 per person (adults & children!)

Honestly… you’d struggle to get a snack for that price, never mind a full theatre experience 🎭

📩 Message Thornley Village-centre or Unfolding Theatre or pop into the centre to book

NMN awarded funding for next 3 years 🎉No More Nowt (NMN) awarded funding for the next 3 years As part of 's largest eve...
08/04/2026

NMN awarded funding for next 3 years 🎉

No More Nowt (NMN) awarded funding for the next 3 years

As part of 's largest ever Creative People and Places (CPP) Portfolio, seeing £42M invested in 45 programmes across the UK to 2029, to deliver more grassroots-led cultural experiences, we are continuing our mission across the county as we invest funding of £1,050,000 into the creative and cultural lives of our area from 2026 - 2029.

We’re working to ensure that nobody in Co. Durham should be left behind by culture and that Co. Durham is Co. Created with its people and places 🤝

NMN was developed with our creative communities, becoming the cultural rallying cry that they needed to act as hope in hard times. NMN is about creative courage, togetherness and nurturing creative and cultural talent, opportunity and making change that lasts.

NMN is radically inclusive, allowing our people to redefine what it is to be from County Durham and where we’re going next.

We're advocating for the people that some forgot, but we did not. We embody County Durham’s proud Unionist past, placing equity and justice at our core. We listen, enable and welcome people who might not believe they have a place in culture or a voice in creativity. Our mission is for people in County Durham to believe that there is something for them here, by co-creating it together. 

NMN has shared almost 500,000 co-created moments with local people, across over 15,000 hours of activity, working with 1,719 artists. On average 96% of engagers don't regularly engage with culture.

In 2022, our delivery remit expanded from town - to county, seeing our community grow by more than 450% - and our delivery area increased by 1500% 🗺️

THANK YOU  to everyone who has been part of our success over the past decade - funders, partners, consortium members, residents, community organisations, project partners and the NMN team pivotal to our success; , , , .studio , , and many more ✊

HORDEN IS CLASS! 💬✊JOIN a series of community-led workshops bringing people together to share stories and food, explorin...
07/04/2026

HORDEN IS CLASS! 💬✊

JOIN a series of community-led workshops bringing people together to share stories and food, exploring creativity and reshaping Horden's narrative.

🔗 FOLLOW LINK IN BIO to get involved 👋

The Horden Storytelling Project is a series of community-led workshops that will bring people together over food to share stories, explore creativity and challenge negative narratives about the village.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑👭👫👬 We are building a movement - a group of people who want to work together to build bridges and tell positive stories about Horden through creativity.

JOIN a series of community-led workshops running from late April - late July this year.

Who is it for?

✅ This is for people who care about Horden and want to tell a different story about it.

✅ For people who are tired of hearing the same negativity and want to challenge it.

✅ For people who believe in the village’s history, rooted in solidarity, collective challenges and liberation.

✅ For people who care about Horden and want to tell a different story about it.

✅ For people who want to work together, share their experiences, and use creativity to shape how Horden is seen - now and in the future.

🫵 JOIN US in a series of workshops and work together with local artists to tell better stories about Horden.

🔗 LINK IN BIO to get involved

-------------

Thanks to our project partners:

Horden Together

NoMoreNowt NorthEastEngland CoDurhamCoCreated SolveUKPoverty Art Culture EastDurham Placemaking Storytelling

31/03/2026

Sneak peek 📸 👀📸
Dawdon Youth Group partnered up with Ellen Dixon as part of our Cultural Hubs programme. The young people worked with Ellen over six weeks, learning the fundamentals of photography.

Each week they had a photoshoot in their own makeshift studio, playing with lights, perspective and objects to explore photography. One week they went out into the world to High Force to capture some of the amazing landscapes there and get and get a full sensory experience (wet!).

Honing their skills, their work culminated in an exhibition at the Leanne Kennedy Centre, Seaham, last week, where friends, family and even the Mayor of Seaham 🏅 came to see the amazing products of the young people's hard work.

Whilst this project did have an amazing end product, the magic is created in the process of making. This project gave a freedom of expression to explore and create in a safe space. So watch this space for more in the future from these budding photographers!

Thanks to our brilliant Creative Producer Eilis McGowan for nurturing this impactful activy as part of their wider work collaborating with our Cultural Hub network across the county 🙌

CulturalHubs Dawdon Seaham CreativeFutures

28/01/2026

CALLING ALL BANDS & ARTISTS FROM EAST DURHAM (& beyond) - deadline this Friday.

🤔 Would you like to develop as a band / artist with support and mentoring from professional musicians / artists?

Get involved here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScJK0tgYI_OBRzfk9DoXI7LAHkcP_ZDh9lwAon5_m5xOyk0yA/viewform?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQPNTY3MDY3MzQzMzUyNDI3AAGngk8k_oxX6OSn_xhwPOQpECqt5iAkiEk_7nn5-6r2X1LKrQHG2MmZFDmrw9g_aem_2F7agQdQ9F-WtaNZoryCcw

👉 This way for our BATTLE OF THE BANDS project (NB: No bands will be battled at this time; the project title is just very catchy!) - for ;

✅ Mentoring from professional artists and musicians.

✅ Building your skills.

✅ Boosting your knowledge.

✅ Getting your art to the next level.

>>> EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST NOW
(By Friday 30th Jan at the latest)

🔗 LINK IN BIO (right at the top) for the application form.
.. we can't wait to see your application!

🤔 WHERE IS DIGITAL / NEW TECHNOLOGY HAEDED FOR ARTISTS?WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! 🧠Some evidence points to this sce...
25/01/2026

🤔 WHERE IS DIGITAL / NEW TECHNOLOGY HAEDED FOR ARTISTS?

WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! 🧠

Some evidence points to this scenario:

The year is 2030 - AI has taken over, everyone’s lost their job, Labubu’s are sentient beings, reality is rubbish and you wish ‘The Matrix’ was real. Oh and we’re forced to worship a Tamagotchi named R.A.L.P.H., monthly Adobe CC Subscriptions cost more than your rent and 10 trillionaires own everything. Including you.

— OK. we’re joking, but now we’ve broken through your attention algorithm, let’s talk about how new technology is supporting your artistic practice?
                         
This post is intended to prompt a communal response via the comments section - to share what you think of ‘digital’ and new technology in the process of making and engaging with art across all disciplines.

So please add your experience or opinion! We want to know. In fact we‘re creating a community knowledge-base to help build a better informed digital programme as we move forward >>>

We feel hopeful about the opportunities that a digital discipline brings to artistic practice, new tools and realms in permanent flux - BUT WE’RE AT A WEIRD CROSS ROADS - where digital technology and AI is seen as both ORACLE and HARBINGER. Or somewhere in between? That it gives but it takes. Perhaps.
                       
👀 We’ll soon be sharing a panel discussion from our first county-wide Digital Gathering day that took place on 9th January at Redhills Durham. Here, we invited our wider audience in to get closer to our digital programme and the artists whose work brings it to life in many different ways.

In the meantime, please simply add your thoughts :)
..This is all fertile ground for artists in holding a mirror up to where we are now as a county, a people, a place - a society.
..To tell our stories, to express ourselves and to get excited about creating a new, differently accessible culture and community - where MORE PEOPLE feel seen, heard and belong.

THANK YOU for supporting our EVOLVING digital programme - that serves as a vibrant testing ground to define and open up a people- and place-orientated that for everyone, by everyone.

🙌

08/01/2026

Are you joining us at for our Digital Gathering tomorrow?

This is the way into the new reception area where you'll be greeted with brews! ☕☕☕

It's very warm, cozy and we can bunker down from all the weather!

Looking forward to a day of celebrating our Digital programme, with the artists, peers and supporters all in one place, together in REAL LIFE!

Address

Community House
Peterlee
SR85DP

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+441915693511

Website

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