PR & Marketing Agency | Twist

Northern Lights Newcastle shines spotlight on local talent

Northern Lights Newcastle, the breathtaking light trail in Leazes Park, has attracted tens of thousands of visitors since its grand opening last month. Known for its dazzling installations and commitment to working with local talent, this year’s trail features the remarkable work of South Shields artist Stevie Thompson, whose fibre optic installations have captivated audiences worldwide. 

Stevie’s contributions include The Mycelium Network, an intricate display inspired by the hidden underground fungi networks, and Psychedelic Snails, a whimsical sensory installation created in collaboration with the Alan Shearer Centre and funded by the Arts Council England. These installations reflect not only Stevie’s artistic talent, but also his passion for inspiring awe and wonder in all who experience his work. 

Stevie, an electrician by trade and founder of Custom Fibre Optics, started his career creating decorative light installations in his garage. Over time, his fascination with fibre optics and light art evolved into a thriving business, with his works displayed at major events across the world. 

Despite his international success, for Stevie, collaborating with Northern Lights Newcastle has been a particularly meaningful project, bringing his creations back to the North East. “It’s amazing travelling all over the world for my work, but the best part of working with Northern Lights Newcastle on this year’s light trail, is seeing my friends and family, and especially my kids, enjoying and experiencing my work in my hometown”, he shared. 

One of Stevie’s standout installations, Psychedelic Snails, was created specifically for individuals with additional needs at the Alan Shearer Centre. Inspired by his daughter’s fascination with snail shells and his experimentation with fibre optics, the piece combines light, texture, and colour to create an immersive sensory experience. 

“The most rewarding part was seeing the kids’ reactions at the Alan Shearer Centre showcase event,” Stevie recalled. “Walking into the centre and seeing the children’s drawings of my snails was incredibly moving, it reminded me how special this work truly is.” 

Dr Roxy Robinson, Event Director at From the Fields, the team behind Northern Lights Newcastle, emphasised the value of collaborating with local artists like Stevie. “Working with talented individuals from the region allows us to create installations and art that resonate deeply with the local community,” she said. “Artists like Stevie bring unique perspectives rooted in the North East’s culture and landscape, which enrich the experience for our visitors. Collaborating with local creatives also helps us tell a story that feels authentically connected to the region, making the light trail even more meaningful for everyone who visits.” 

With 15 brand-new installations, a festive Christmas Village, and exciting sensory displays like Stevie’s, Northern Lights Newcastle continues to enchant visitors of all ages. Tickets are still available for those looking to experience the magic of the light trail, but availability is limited as the event approaches its final weeks. 

Accessibility

Ensuring everyone can enjoy the magic of the moment and partake in the festivities, the entire trail is inclusive and accessible via flat, wheelchair-accessible paths, with refreshment areas along the way and ramp access points. Special provisions include reserved access time slots with quieter audio and reduced visitor numbers to support neuro-divergent guests.  

Scroll to Top

Search

We know the importance and value of getting your brand in front of people’s eyes on Google, so we use our expertise in SEO to drive organic search rankings and website traffic to help our clients become more discoverable online. We also include SEO packages into every website we build too.

We have an excellent track record in SEO for tailoring online and offline marketing campaigns that improve website performance, and use our skills and knowledge of Google’s algorithms to help our clients rank higher in Google search that ultimately provide improved conversion rates.

Web Development

We design Wordpress websites in ways that captivate audiences with beautiful visuals and UI to keep them immersed in your site. The look and feel of the websites we design are intended to inspire, with user-friendliness being at the core of each design to achieving conversion. 

As a UK based web design agency, we firmly believe that balancing these two aspects of design results provides the greatest user experience.

Influencers

Anyone who has an influence over your target audience is an influencer. Whether influential in business, sport, leisure or celebrity circles we have an enviable track record of matchmaking those influencers with your brand. An influencer only has influence if the content they’re sharing or conversations they are having is relevant to what their audiences want to see and hear, which is why we always put the audience first when matchmaking brands with an influencer.

We also understand the power of micro influencers and how long term brand partnerships can generate a healthy ROI.

If you’re curious about whether influencer marketing is right for your brand, get in touch and we’ll talk you through our experience and find the best routes suited to your audience. 

Insight

Insight is about making sense of what people want, how they feel and using this information to create truly engaging brand strategies that lead to the power of conversation about your brand. A brand is not what you tell your audiences it is, it’s what they tell each so the power of conversation should never been underestimated.

Twist helps brands to bring insight to life by making sense of the customer to develop campaigns that inspire and create conversations.

Content

With an insightful, strategic and proactive approach to producing creative content, we invest time to understand our clients’ visions, values and identity so the content we create trumps a thousand words. We are here to help set up and liaise on photography and videography opportunities to propel your brand into the media and social spotlight.

From portraits of your team, to atmospheric vibes that reach far and wide on social, to tempt the glossies and inspire editorial inclusion, we can help come up with ideas for capturing the right moment, so when people see it, they will stop, think and want to know “where’s that”, “what’s that” and “I want that”! And even better… we want our content to create conversations for your brand.

Design

Our graphic designers are bursting with ideas to bring your brand to life with standout and eye-catching creative. 

Whether we create campaign content, bring a new brand to life, energise brand identity or come up with compelling creative ideas to turn your vision into a fun visual story, our team are here to support.

Social Media

In a fast-moving digital world, it can be hard to keep up. Our team are on hand to help position and keep your brand front of mind, and for reaching new audiences with a multichannel strategy that covers all social-media bases. 

We’ll set goals to measure authentic content that’s on-message, on-trend and on the right channel. And with regular reporting, we’ll help you react and adapt to keep those click-through and engagement rates rising.

PR

From sparkling copy and video scripts to media pitches, product placement and press release distribution, we use word power to pack a story-telling punch. Our talented team can support you with skilfully crafting distinctive story ideas that capture journalist’s attention, as well as preparing feature articles and setting up interviews.

Whether we write, distribute or come up with the news hook, Twist has built enviable relationships with journalists and are on hand to connect these journalists with your brand. We jump on topical conversations, as well as reacting to media enquiries to build and maintain a regular drumbeat of brand mentions for you in the public domain.