Skip to main content

What’s On

Find out what’s on at our venues across Durham. From major exhibitions to family friendly craft sessions, tours, lectures and art workshops. We have something to interest everyone. You can also find out more about our regular groups and online exhibitions and events.
Group of people at an exhibition

Special exhibitions

Explore the range of new exhibitions online and across our venues

Everyday Elegance: daily lives of Women in Late Qing China

From silver hairpins to wooden cake moulds and gilt lacquer boxes. Functional, yet elegant objects reveal the lives of women in 1800s China.
Heavily embroidered piece of textile

Student Art Prize 2025/26: Extraction

View the shortlisted artworks from this year's Student Art Prize
Student Art Prize exhibition photo

Away from Home: the Untold Stories of Women Football Fans

An online exhibitions telling the stores of women football fans of Newcastle United and Sunderland AFC from the 1950s to the present day.
Image with football fans in the background and the words Away from Home over the top
View more

Upcoming events

Everyday Elegance: Daily Lives of Women in Late Qing China

Saturday 16 May, 2026
12:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Oriental Museum
Heavily embroidered piece of textile

Family Activities: Falling into Autumn

Saturday 26 September, 2026
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Oriental Museum
Image of an Autumnal Korean landscape on a scroll. The painting itself depicts a man herding two cows over a windy hillside in the height of autumn. Mountains are shown in the background and the man wears traditional Korean white clothing. The painting uses oranges, browns, blues and black. Accompanying the painting is two columns of calligraphy and this has two red seals next to it.

Gone But Not Forgotten: Remembering Britain's Vanished Species Through Art and Science

Monday 20 July, 2026
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Museum of Archaeology
Art Work of an Irish Elk by Steven Livingstone

Life Drawing at Palace Green Library 

Saturday 10 October, 2026
1:30 PM to 3:00 PM
Historic Libraries
Line drawing of a person with text Life Drawing at Palace Green Library
More upcoming events

Online exhibitions

Explore our collections from home with our online exhibition programme.

Reawakening Durham's Bioscience Collection

Explore the hidden stories behind the unique objects in the first ever exhibition dedicated to the Bioscience Collection.
Reawakening Bioscience

Eternal Ascent: Bentley Beetham and the 1924 Mount Everest Expedition

Marking the centenary of the 1924 Mount Everest expedition, the first Western, and ultimately tragic, attempt to climb the world's highest mountain.
Eternal Ascent Everest Exhibition 2024, Mallory at Everest base camp.

Student Art Prize 2025

View the artworks shortlisted for Durham University's sixth annual Student Art Prize, awarded in 2025.
Student Art Prize 2024/25 LIGHT
View more online exhibitions

Join our Friends

Our Botanic Garden, Oriental Museum and Palace Green Library all have Friends organisations which organise events and lectures including special members-only experiences.

A group of people stood examining a piece of artwork

Regular activities

Durham University Library and Collections offer a range of fun, engaging and accessible workshops, resources and experiences for people of all ages.

  • Creative Age

    Creative Age is a free, weekly art group for people living with dementia or other long-term health challenges and their carers.
    Journey, a collaborative artwork made by the Creative Age group and artist Marián Hernandez Villada.

  • Durham Archaeology Explorers

    Our archaeology club for children aged 7 - 11, meeting monthly at the Oriental Museum as well as trips to local archaeological and heritage sites.
    Child in high-vis jacket taking part in Durham Archaeology Explorers

  • Little Dragons

    Come along to Little Dragons under-fives group and explore the Oriental Museum's fantastic collections and exhibitions.
    Toddler enjoying Little Dragons under-fives session

Creative Age

Creative Age is a free, weekly art group for people living with dementia or other long-term health challenges and their carers.
Journey, a collaborative artwork made by the Creative Age group and artist Marián Hernandez Villada.

Durham Archaeology Explorers

Our archaeology club for children aged 7 - 11, meeting monthly at the Oriental Museum as well as trips to local archaeological and heritage sites.
Child in high-vis jacket taking part in Durham Archaeology Explorers

Little Dragons

Come along to Little Dragons under-fives group and explore the Oriental Museum's fantastic collections and exhibitions.
Toddler enjoying Little Dragons under-fives session
Find a session

Follow us