A night at the museum – and many other venues

May 14 2009 by Pearl Cullen, The Journal

After-hours fun is about to be unleashed across a goodie bag of North East cultural venues. Pearl Cullen previews The Late Shows.

SINCE its arrival in 2007, The Late Shows has made a firm imprint in the minds of many across the region.

This weekend it returns for a third consecutive year... and this time it’s bigger and better.

Twenty-nine museums, galleries and associated cultural venues will be tripping the night fantastic offering two nights of post-sunset fun not to be missed.

Celebrating the North East’s thriving culture in style, The Late Shows links up with the Europe-wide campaign La Nuit de Musées on Saturday. Launched in 2001, the main purpose of La Nuit de Musées was to attract a younger visitor who would find it easier or more interesting to visit a museum or gallery in the evening.

But The Late Shows aren’t just for the young. All ages are welcome to enjoy the thrill of being inside venues like the Discovery Museum, Northern Print, Seven Stories, the Lit and Phil and the Laing Art Gallery long after they should have bolted their doors shut.

And this year, the Late Shows are getting even later with the advent of the Late Late Shows – offering visitors the chance to stay out until the early hours.

World Headquarters, the Tyneside Cinema and Northern Stage will all be staying open past 11pm for any cultural night owls who want to go on into the night.

Highlights of the weekend programme include exclusive guided tours of the pitch and dressing room at Newcastle United; live acoustic sets from local musicians at the Discovery Museum and a sneak preview of Newcastle City Library, which doesn’t officially open until June.

Those after a slightly more eerie weekend can head over to St. Mary’s Church where there will be a spooky, lantern-led tour through the dark graveyard. If this is a bit mild for those ghost and ghoul lovers, the Tyneside Cinema is having its very own ghost hunt, courtesy of real-life Ghostbuster Dean ‘Midas’ Maynard, who has visited some of Britain’s top haunted locations.

For a more relaxed evening down in the Ouseburn Valley visitors can try their hands at knitting, print making and swing dancing or visit the Make It, Sell It Market. This will be selling quirky crafts, one-of-a-kind jewellery and other random curiosities from a range of contemporary, designer makers and stallholders.

With food being a key theme throughout the two-day event, visitors can explore the world of edible art with mushroom sculptures at the Workplace Gallery and sugar craft at The Mushroom Works, where the focus is cake, cake and more cake.