I'm willing to bet that everyone, at some point in their life, has asked themselves the question 'are we alone in the universe?' Few people, however, have created a festival based around the idea - with the notable exception of local space-funk band SKX Funkanauts, of course.

Led by the musicians at the heart of the project, Cosmic Frequencies is a grassroots festival where everyone from astronomers and astrophysicists to UFOlogists and filmmakers are invited to take the stage and explore this question of galactic proportions, with the diverse blend of disciplines resulting in a truly interesting look at what alien contact could look like, both in fact and fiction. Set in the grand yet cosy atmosphere of Forum cinema in Hexham, it was definitely an interesting evening.

Dan Pye, deputy CEO of Kielder Observatory, gave a fascinating talk about the science of exoplanets, UFO researcher Ryan Sprague looked at sightings of unidentified flying objects during World War Two, and Steve Crabtree curated an interesting selection of BBC archive footage about alien life. However, it was interdisciplinary artist Daniela De Paulis' talk about the A Sign in Space project, where an 'extraterrestrial message' was created for members of the public to decode to see how we would learn to communicate with alien life through collaboration and thinking in new ways, that was the highlight for me.

The combination of science and art that the A Sign in Space project seemed to encourage was further compounded by the SKX Funkanauts' stellar performance to end the night. I've never seen such an eclectic blend of art and science, fact and fiction, archive and speculation, in one place, and I look forward to attending next year and seeing what new questions - and maybe even answers - this team of passionate experts will bring to the stage.