The Challenge
With events staged by multiple partners, including Kielder and Battlesteads Observatory, and organisations throughout Northumberland and the Borders, the festival needed a central digital platform to bring everything together. And they needed it quickly.
Having worked with the team previously on the Reiver Trails project, they came to us with a short deadline and an outline design concept. They needed a website that could showcase the festival, list events across multiple venues, and make it easy for the public to discover and book experiences - all launched within a tight timeframe.
Our Approach
We jumped on the brief straight away, recognising both the time pressure and the opportunity to create something that would serve the festival well beyond the immediate launch. Rather than simply building to the brief, we looked for ways to help them engage with their audience more effectively from the outset.
We suggested social media integration to help amplify the festival's reach, and built in Instagram feeds to showcase the stunning night sky photography the region is known for. Such integration also lessen the work burden moving forward as feeds are automatically populated from the updated social accounts. We also ensured the CMS would be intuitive enough for the team to manage events and content themselves without ongoing technical support.
The Solution
Bespoke CMS for Festival Management
We built a custom content management system that allows the festival team to add and edit events, update content pages, and keep the site current throughout the festival period. This gives them complete control without needing technical knowledge or external support for every change.
Region-Wide Events Platform
The events system showcases activities across the entire region - from Kielder Observatory deep in the National Park to Battlesteads and coastal venues like Beadnell. Each event listing provides details and directs visitors to book tickets through the specific venue's own booking system, recognising that different partners have different ticketing arrangements.
Social Media Integration
Instagram integration brings the festival's visual content directly into the website, showcasing the stunning dark sky photography and community engagement that makes the festival special.
Rapid Delivery
Despite the short timeframe, we delivered a complete, professional platform that launched on schedule and ready to handle the festival's growing programme of events.
The Results
The North East Dark Skies Festival website launched in January 2026 and has been embraced by the local community and businesses quickly. Events are being staged across the region, with businesses running special offers to support the festival.
The CMS gives the festival team the flexibility to add events and update content as the programme evolves, whilst the central platform makes it easy for the public to discover everything happening across this unique celebration of dark skies.
Services Provided:
- Bespoke website design and development
- Custom CMS for event and content management
- Region-wide events platform
- Social media integration (Instagram)
- Rapid development and deployment
- Ongoing technical support
We needed to get the website live quickly, and the Lazy Grace team jumped on our brief straight away.
They were responsive throughout and went beyond our initial ask, coming up with ideas to help us engage with our audience more widely. They are great to work with and we’re really happy to have them as a partner.
Liz Blair,
Partnership Director, Kielder Trust and North East Dark Skies Festival Curator.
