The non-artists

The crew on top of a building, rigging for 'Starry Nights'

We've talked a lot about 'over 50 artists' who have come together to make this festival happen. But what about the non-artists? There are almost as many crew who have been working round the clock to try to keep things running smoothly. Here's an overview of the different teams who have been working on Lumiere.

The Producers
Helen and Nicky, the producers of Artichoke and of the festival as a whole, have been working on the programme for Lumiere for almost a year. They have commissioned new projects (such as Crown of Light and Nine Men Drawing), gone to see other light festivals to get ideas, and met with dozens of artists and companies to select the perfect balance of installations and performances.

The Durham Partners
There's a massive team of people working in Durham, from Durham City Vision to the County Council to the City of Culture teams. All of them have been helping us with contacts, print, and local liaisons, and have been huge supports to us trying to bring the lights to Durham.

Hannah and Hen
A team by themselves, Hannah is our amazing company manager and Hen is our artist liaison officer. Hannah's come straight from working as an associate producer on Antony Gormley's One & Other to co-ordinating artists and volunteers. Hannah has a little team of her own, including Kerry and Steph, who have been recruiting volunteers from the local community and arranging their routes and what they're going to do. Hannah has also been responsible for producing the Spiers and Major piece A Place for the People. Hen has been working alongside Hannah - meeting all the artists when they arrive in Durham, ensuring they have everything they need and being their first point of call if there are any problems.

DGB Events
Production manager David and his gang are in charge of the technical side of things. If you've seen a JCB cruising through the city or a man balancing against a wall twenty feet in the air rigging lighting, chances are that's David and his crew. They've had their work cut out for them trying to rig over twenty installations, all with their own separate requirements and problems, but the proof of their success is all around Durham.

The Marketeers
This sounds straight forward, doesn't it? Design print, print print, distribute print. But it's not all about the posters and the guides, although they play an important part in letting people know about the festival. It is this team - a mixture of Artichoke people and PR company Idea Generation - who are responsible for press releases, the website, the blog and the twitter and flickr accounts. We also work alongside our photographer Matthew to produce some of the pictures you can see on here and in the newspapers, and lately we've been roaming the streets of Durham asking businesses if they've picked up much extra custom during the festival. Once this is over, we'll put all the statistics together and (hopefully!) prove that Lumiere wasn't just a brilliant arts event; it was also good for the local economy as well.

Sky Arts
Sky Arts have been one of Artichoke's major sponsors since the beginning of 2009. For Lumiere they've helped brighten up the city's streets. If you've seen any of our SkyWalkers, with a moving image scrolling across their tummies, that's Sky Arts' commission. They've also helped to keep us warm, with their little vans giving out coffee, tea and hot chocolate in exchange for a donation to their Rainforest Rescue campaign.

The Artichoke Office
Sarah, Richard and Cathy are the poor Artichoke bods who got left behind. They've been fielding calls in our London office all week, and only managed to get up here to enjoy the fun for a few days. Cathy is responsible for the day to day running of the company, and Sarah and Richard are in charge of development and fundraising - trying to ensure that we can raise enough money to fund huge events like this one.

Well, that's the low down. Hopefully it gives you a better idea of how much manpower went in to creating Lumiere! Any questions ask away to the right...

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