Cultural quarters – Development on the Quayside

In recent years, much has been written about the renaissance of NewcastleGateshead, says Suzanne Goulding. Its bid to become European Capital of Culture 2008 focused national and international attention on the city as it transformed itself into a post-industrial, cultural force to be reckoned with.

The recent opening of The Sage Gateshead as the latest stage in the £1bn development on the Quayside has reinforced the sense that the transformation is real. So how did this happen? And what may set NewcastleGateshead apart from the other UK and European cities busy reinventing themselves?

The North of England as a region, and NewcastleGateshead as its capital, have had co-ordinated strategies for investment in arts and culture for two decades. These are based on a shared belief that the City/Region could recover from the social and economic problems caused by earlier over-dependence on heavy industry and that, through investment in culture, we could simultaneously find ways to bring people and communities together, turn the international spotlight on our part of the world, create a thriving tourism industry, develop a reputation as a centre of excellence in learning, and change, once and for all, the perceptions of our region held by our own population and by those viewing us from elsewhere.

Many believe that the cultural regeneration of NewcastleGateshead began with the building of Antony Gormley?s Angel of the North. However, while the statue has become a truly iconic image of the North East, this was simply the culmination of a 15-year strategy in local authority and artist-based community and public arts, which began with small-scale projects at grass roots level and built up momentum over time via such events as the National Garden Festival in 1990 and the award of UK Region of the Visual Arts for 1996.

The consistent implementation of strategies that engaged from the start with the political process, with artists and with local communities meant that when the Angel of the North encountered a prolonged campaign of opposition, Gateshead Council had the confidence to stay with the project and deliver it. It is this approach to cultural regeneration ? centred on engagement with the political process, and respect for the role of the artist and the voice of communities ? that may be truly unique about the North and NewcastleGateshead and which enabled us to begin to fulfil our ambitions.

The next stage of development was the desire to create cultural institutions and a cultural quarter ? locally rooted but of international significance. Unlike other major UK cities, NewcastleGateshead lacked the capital infrastructure created elsewhere from the wealth of the industrial revolution. To register internationally and to provide world-class facilities and opportunities for the local population, new capital investment was needed and in 1991, despite having no clear idea of how this ambitious programme would be funded, the region committed itself to achieving a new contemporary visual arts space and a regional music centre in Central Tyneside.

By 1995, this ambition was codified in a regional capital development strategy, The Case for Capital, launched by Tony Blair. With the advent of the Lottery, the availability of a 500 acre brownfield site in Gateshead opposite Newcastle City Centre, and a Millennium project for a new bridge across the Tyne to connect those two areas, the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and The Sage Gateshead became the key cultural drivers of the Quayside cultural quarter.

Certain characteristics enable a town or city to thrive in the new creative economy ? surplus wealth, great cultural infrastructure, ongoing immigration of creative people etc. In the early nineties, NewcastleGateshead had very little in the way of any of these. In a sense, the NewcastleGateshead experiment has been to see how much precisely targeted capital and programming investment in culture could contribute to success in this new economic environment: success that would benefit the indigenous population as well as new residents and short-term visitors.

We are clearly interested in the direct economic and social impacts of the investments made, but we are paying particular attention to the cultural impact of these major arts buildings and their programmes. Located, as they are, next to the Tyne Bridge ? the icon of NewcastleGateshead in the 20th century ? what impact would these developments have on the way the North East felt about itself?

Longitudinal research is in the early stages as yet, but there is substantial evidence (from an independent research study with large and representative samples commissioned from Market Research UK by Professor Chris Bailey of the Centre for Cultural Policy and Management at Northumbria University) that cultural attitudes and patterns of activity are moving. Witness the shifts in percentages agreeing with the following statements:

In relation to the museums, art galleries and BALTIC, it is telling to note that in 1988 only 15% of the region claimed to have visited an art gallery or museum in the previous year (the lowest nationally, with London highest at 26%). By 2002 the NewcastleGateshead figure for a visit to a gallery or museum was 35%, rising to 49% for BALTIC alone in 2003 (opening year) and now 51%.

2005 will see whether The Sage Gateshead?s extraordinary investment in a programme of events and participation (one million contact sessions in the education and participation programme area alone) can produce an equivalent penetration into the regional population for visits to and use of The Sage Gateshead.

Another key indicator is that 2003 saw, for the first time in 30 years, an increase (albeit modest) in the population of the North East ? and one caused by an increase in inward migration. The Demos report, Northern Soul, suggests that this reversal of the population drain is partly caused by the region beginning to attract people involved in creative businesses, producing a real growth in the creative economy, feeding the growth in the inner city housing market and contributing to the buzz felt by everyone who lives here or visits us.

So what?s next for NewcastleGateshead? Our capital infrastructure is almost complete with the exception of a few significant projects due to come to fruition over the next two years (DanceCity, a new international centre for dance; Seven Stories, the centre for the children?s book; and Live Ideas Factory, an extension of the popular Live Theatre). But we cannot go on building more buildings! Our objective now is to animate our capital infrastructure with unique and world-class events and festivals which will continue to attract new visitors to the area as well as inspire and excite local communities.

The bid for European Capital of Culture 2008 may not have been successful, but the process raised the aspirations of people living in NewcastleGateshead and the surrounding area.

We knew we had to continue to build upon the momentum created during the bid process, so in October 2003 we launched ?culture10?, a programme of events and activities designed to invigorate our public spaces over the next 10 years with the very best of the region?s culture in art, performance, music, sport and film. Supported by stakeholders that include Gateshead Council, Newcastle City Council, One North East, Arts Council England, North East and Northern Rock Foundation, culture10 is about attracting world-class talent to the region as well as nurturing local talent, and aims to generate £1.2bn for the local economy and create some 24,000 jobs in the region.

Each year has its own theme, and Hotbed 2004 celebrated creativity in art, gardens, fashion and design. For example, Saltwell Park in Gateshead and Leazes Park in Newcastle, both recently restored to their former Victorian glory, were animated over the summer with a number of arts and entertainment projects. We worked with fashion designer Scott Henshall, who lived and studied in the region on a special NewcastleGateshead collection, which was shown at London Fashion Week in September 2004. Scott also worked with a number of local schools and colleges on design projects. More than anything, this project epitomised the aims of culture10 ? to develop innovative projects which attract international attention, but which also inspire and local people to get involved and raise their aspirations.

2005 Alive is the most ambitious cultural programme ever developed by any UK city to take place over one year. It will see the opening programme of The Sage Gateshead, The Tall Ships Race, the 25th Anniversary of the Great North Run, and built around every one of these showcase events are hundreds of activities and events, reflecting the themes of music, rivers, sport and visual art. We are committed to ensuring culture10 continues the legacy created over 20 years ago by continuing to reinvent ourselves through art and culture, making NewcastleGateshead a fantastic place to live, work and visit.

Suzy Goulding, spent ten years in PR with both public and private organisations in the North East, including The Sage Group plc, and is now Head of Corporate Communications for Newcastle Gateshead Initiative (http://www.visitnewcastlegateshead.com), the destination marketing agency for NewcastleGateshead.