2025 Tees Valley Artists Of The Year Revealed

The latest cohort of local artistic talent to secure career-defining funding and support to boost the region’s creative industries has been revealed.

Tees Valley Artists of the Year, launched in 2024, is delivered by the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority, which sees five trailblazing artists backed with a £28,000 investment and vast network of support.

Last year’s inaugural event saw Middlesbrough singer-songwriter Amelia Coburn; Darlington author Lisette Auton; Stockton-based visual artist Claire A Baker; theatre-maker Scott Turnbull and Stockton film-maker Andy Berriman benefit from the programme.

The latest successful artists were revealed at Stockton’s ARC on Tuesday (13 May). They are:

Boo – An innovative DJ and electronic musician known for producing, singing, writing, and composing every element of her work. She currently performs as a DJ and is developing a live audiovisual show that brings her work to life.

Umar Butt – An award-winning theatre-maker, writer, director, and performer. As a first-generation migrant, Umar’s creative ethos is shaped by his lived experiences and by the communities around him.

Finn Forster – A Middlesbrough-born singer-songwriter whose heartfelt, guitar-driven music is rooted in the landscapes and stories of Tees Valley, where his family has lived for four generations.

Will Hughes – A multi-disciplinary artist, whose concept-driven practice is shaped by their lived experience as a queer, non-binary person in the UK.

Beth Wilson – A Middlesbrough-based embroidery artist and designer who creates intricate, personalised textile art through digital embroidery.

All five will receive industry mentoring and tailored business support to take their creative career to the next level alongside a real-living wage bursary and a professional development budget.

Tees Valley Artists of the Year supports an ambition to develop the region as an engine room for creative artists and the successful artists were selected after competitive process involving panellists from the region’s leading cultural organisations, Arts Council England, and the Combined Authority.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “I’m delighted to see another five worthy talents being supported to follow their ambitions, after we proved the success of this innovative project with last year’s fantastic cohort.

“We’re making huge progress with major infrastructure projects, securing billions of pounds of inward investment and transforming the region – but we’re also recognising the importance of our growing creative and cultural industries at the heart of our economy in groundbreaking programmes like this.

“I’ve no doubt these artists will go from strength to strength with this support and play a leading role in shaping the future of their sector, getting more eyes on the region, all while making Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool a better and more interesting place to live and create.”

Councillor Brenda Harrison, Combined Authority Portfolio Lead on the Creative and Cultural Sector and Hartlepool Borough Council Leader, said: “There is not a programme like this in the country that backs artists with such a significant investment and wraparound support and training.

“The assessment panels were blown away by the quality and diversity of the applicants and were really encouraged by the fact that we have such creative excellence in the region.

“The programme and all these artists will play their part in strengthening the cultural landscape and creative economy in the Tees Valley.”

Funding provided through the Artist of the Year comes via the UK Government and its UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Alison Gwynn, Creative Economy Lead for the Tees Valley Business Board and North East Screen Chief Executive, said: “As well as a privilege, working on this programme has been insightful and a hugely difficult and overwhelming task – even more difficult this year as the quality is just as high, but the field wider with the added category of Craft and Design.  It is a big responsibility, when you know what a life-changing difference this investment and support makes.”

The award is part of a wider £20.5million programme of investment by the Combined Authority to grow the region’s creative and cultural industries and visitor economies. Tees Valley Artists of the Year has been launched by the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority, will be overseen by the Tees Valley Business Board. 

Find out more about this year’s winners, including their full bios here