Confected, Borrowed and Blue, The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, opens on Saturday, runs until April 12

BLUE and white china is often displayed at home for its decorative qualities, but in Paul Scott’s hands domestic ceramics mutate into subversive comments on our life and times. Scott is an artist best known for his research into ceramics and print, creating highly individual pieces that blur the boundaries between fine art, craft and design. In Confected, Borrowed and Blue, Scott – an expert on printed industrial tableware – turns the familiar into the alien, his expert manipulation of familiar motifs, like the famous Willow Pattern, giving his work a special significance and fascination. His appropriation of traditional patterns as vehicles for socio-political commentary has made his work unmistakable. Tel 01833 690606.

Darlington Music Society presents Olga Stezhko, Central Hall, Darlington, on Saturday, 7.30pm

OLGA Stezhko was born in Minsk, Belarus. She started to play the piano at the age of five and entered the Republican Music College in Minsk a year later. She studied there with the famous Belarusian pianists Oleg Krimer and Evgeny Pukst, graduating with distinction. In 2002 she was awarded one of only a handful of scholarships to study at the United World College of the Adriatic in Italy, where her teachers were Alberto Miodini and the legendary Trio di Trieste. In 2004 she came to the Royal Academy of Music in London on a scholarship, graduating with first-class honours in 2008. She's back performing for the music society with a very different programme. Tickets £12, available on 01325 486555.

31st Jorvik Viking Festival, York, starts Saturday, until February 22

RECOGNISED as the largest Viking festival in Europe, the annual Jorvik festival is a city-wide celebration of York's Viking heritage. The festival's programme of family-friendly events, lectures, guided walks and battle re-enactments attracts more than 40,000 visitors each year from across the globe. Join in the action with Vikings from all over the world for a nine-day celebration which ends when York becomes a battleground with a finale that includes a cast of warriors, gods and monsters in a live-action battle with sound and light effects and pyrotechnics. Full details on jorvik@yorkat.co.uk

A Day Out with Paddington, National Railway Museum, York, starts Saturday, until February 22

GRAB your duffle coat and marmalade sandwiches and enjoy lots of family fun. Take part in our exciting half-term activities and meet the lovable bear. School holiday fun includes: Meet Paddington – he will be making appearances at intervals each day, experience the Paddington themed science show, uncover Paddington's journey from deepest, darkest Peru, make your own luggage label – just like the one Paddington wears, or dress up like the bear himself. Join a Paddington themed story hunt with York Theatre Royal. Tel 08448 153139.

Verdi's opera, Rigoletto, by the Russian State Ballet and Opera House, Barbican, York, on Sunday

RIGOLETTO will be sung in Italian with English subtitles, with music performed by a large, live orchestra. Often considered the world’s great opera, Rigoletto is a tragic tale of misunderstanding, revenge and sacrifice. The Russian State Ballet and Opera House delighted audiences last year with two successful performances of Carmen and La Traviata. The tragic story revolves around the hunchbacked court jester, Rigoletto, his beautiful daughter Gilda (whom he had kept secret from the Court) and the Duke of Mantua, whom he serves. Tickets from 0844 854 2757 .