The Great Exhibition of the North

We are so excited to share that we will be exhibiting at The Great Exhibition of the North. A 3 month celebration, Great Exhibition of the North 2018 will showcase the North of England's inventors, artists and designers and the impact they've made. The exhibition will take place between 22 June - 09 September 2018.

Said to be the England’s biggest event in 2018, the exhibition will be packed with lots of amazing exhibits, live performances, displays of innovation, new artworks and magical experiences – and the best part? Most of the exhibition will be absolutely free! The Great Exhibition of the North will take place in the stunning cityscape of Newcastle Gateshead.

"Immersive experiences, hands-on activities and family-friendly fun will provide new ways to discover how our big ideas made history and continue to drive our future." - getnorth2018.com

The exhibition will welcome people from all over the world, with more than 3 million people estimated to visit.

There will be thirty venues on either side of the River Tyne that will also be involved, from world-class music venues and museums to hidden workshops. The exhibition will also head on out onto the streets and into lively bars, restaurants and cafe’s.

With most events, exhibits and activities taking place daily for the next 3 months, your whole summer can be spent exploring Newcastle Gateshead.

The Trails

There will be three starting points to The Great Exhibition of the North: Sage Gateshead, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and the Great North Museum. They will be connected by three trails. Each starting point will host its own programme of experiences before you head out into the city on your chosen trail.

Get North Art Trail

The Art Trail begins at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. The whole gallery will be packed with the very best in Northern visual arts. You can also pop into the Sage Gateshead, where you’ll discover a whole world of wonderful sound. Iconic pieces of Northern art and world-famous paintings will be on display at Great North Museum.

The trail continues across the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and includes elegant and historic cultural spots such as the Theatre Royal and Laing Art Gallery.

Design Trail

The Great North Museum will begin your journey on the Design Trail. Take part in the special design challenge, called the Northern Design Quest, which will lead you through idea generation, research, storyboarding and prototyping, developing the brand and finally showcasing your idea at Northern Design Centre. As well as coming up with your very own ideas, you can follow our story and find out how The All-in-One Company came to life.

At the Ideas Lab (Ellison building) you will learn all about creative thinking and the different ways that you can come up with lots of ideas. Because they won’t all be good ones so you need plenty to choose from.

At the Research Station (Newcastle Library) you will carry out research in our ideas to see which ones will work the best, and maybe even which ones you could patent.

At the Design Studio (Toffee Factory) you will work on your favourite product idea, thinking about why people would use it and how it will help them.

At the Workshop (Toffee Factory) you can build a model of your product idea, and start to see it come to life.

At the Marketing Suite (Northern Design Centre) you will create a distinctive brand and logo for your product.

Finally at the Product Showcase (Northern Design Centre) you will get to display your product, alongside five other iconic products that came from the North.

You’ll explore the design campus at Northumbria University – the university the Chief Design Officer of Apple attended! There will be lots of children’s literature at Seven Stories, the National Centre for Children’s Books, and check out the Northern Design Centre, home to a new generation of entrepreneurs exporting design and digital gaming content to the world.

Innovation Trail

The Great North Museum will see you off on the Innovation Trail. Once you’ve explored the the ground-breaking innovations of the North, it’s time to visit some of the places where the magic happens.

From medical breakthroughs at Newcastle University and the Centre for Life to solutions of tomorrow’s Smart Cities at Newcastle Helix, you’ll visit the spots where history was made, including Stephenson’s Quarter, where the Rocket was designed and built, and the Mining Institute, witness to many engineering world firsts. You can even see the Rocket itself on a visit to Discovery Museum.

For more information, visit getnorth2018.com