Gloomy headlines about cuts to local authority arts budgets have cast a bit of a pall over the winter months but please regard our March issue as a cheering first sign of spring.

There is plenty to be optimistic about, as you will see on the following pages.

Firstly, we are able to lift the lid a little on the Festival of the North East which is to envelop the region in June.

This is a brilliant example of local initiative, a sign that good ideas in this region can be made to happen.

The full programme will be announced in due course but  details are emerging and we can announce  a few of the festival attractions now.

Festival of the North East is a first, a trailblazer even ... which brings me neatly to the glamorous Victorian lady on the cover.

Ada King, or Lovelace, was the daughter of Lord Byron. More significantly she was a dab hand with figures and something of a computer pioneer.

Like so many women who have achieved great things in male-dominated fields, her accomplishments have gone largely unsung.

But she will get her just deserts in a new exhibition called Trailblazers which is to open at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle. This inspiring exhibition promises to be eye-opening and popular. If it inspires today’s young women along similar paths, we will all be the beneficiaries.

In this issue we also have exciting news about The Journal Culture Awards which have come to be regarded as the principle platform in the North East for celebrating creative excellence in arts and culture.

No less a venue than Durham Cathedral will host this year’s awards which are tied in to the Festival of the North East, which itself precedes the eagerly-awaited return of the Lindisfarne Gospels to the region in July.

We are grateful to the Dean and Chapter of Durham and all who are contributing to what promises to be a great night of celebration.

While we can’t offer you an interview with Ada King, we were very excited to speak to Michelle Dotrice, the actress who to many will forever be long-suffering Betty from Some Mothers Do ’Ave ‘Em.

Michelle, who proved to be a delightful interviewee, full of memories and anecdotes, is coming to Newcastle Theatre Royal in a production of The Ladykillers.

We also look ahead to two of the region’s big annual music festivals.

Jazz composer Tim Garland discusses his contribution to the Gateshead International Jazz Festival and there’s news of Evolution’s stellar line-up.

David Whetstone

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