Durham County Council engaged Maria to support programme development and the panel visit for their City of Culture 2025 bid, as part of a four-strong creative team.

Building on ideas gathered from across the County in preceding months, Maria contributed ideas for opening and closing celebrations, significant railway anniversaries, and a creative climate action programme called Earth Revolution, inspired by the Durham Miners’ Motto ‘The past we inherit, the future we build’.

County Durham helped to power the industrial revolution.  Today, we need an earth revolution, and arts and culture can help to power the transformation.  The photograph opposite features Ali Pretty’s brilliant Beach of Dreams flags on Blast Beach.

Alison Clark, Head of Culture, Sport and Tourism, Durham County Council

“I recommend Maria to everyone. I think there are few people out there with the balance of strategy, creativity and sensitivity that Maria has.

I wanted to work with Maria on the Durham City of Culture project as I was aware from her previous work how much her values, ways of working and creative vision matched with the values of our bid process; cultural democracy, rootedness, environmental/ecological awareness, high production values, tenacity, deep relationships with artists, clear translation of strategic intent into creative and imaginative programming.

It’s a sensitive balance to produce a programme that is highly space-specific and place-based at the same time as resonating nationally and internationally, and Maria struck this balance so well, listening to and respecting local expertise and bringing her expertise to bear both lightly and deeply. Crucially Maria remained close to the strategic intent of the bid and to me as commissioner, ensuring that the direction of travel met the overall aims of the bid and the wider strategies that sat behind it.

We developed the Durham City of Culture bid and made it to the final shortlist of four in under a year, and produced a set of processes and programme that drew extensive praise and support equally from national government and local communities. Maria played a key role in this, and continues to do so as we work towards a county of culture programme.”