Nicholas Craig column

Mar 17 2006 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

The past appears to have a bright future in our region. Our museums are full of new ideas and big changes, rejuvenating interest in customers of all ages with some astute moves. Beamish, The North of England Open Air Museum, is leading the way with an international architecture competition inviting world-class practitioners to design a landmark visitor centre at the museum.

Hancock Museum is being refitted as the Great North Museum, Discovery Museum's extension has been a great success, Monkwearmouth Station Museum in Sunderland is newly open after a £1m refit and the grand launch of the £16m Woodhorn Colliery Museum aims to attract 75,000 visitors a year to south east Northumberland when it opens later this year.

Museums are big business. Their popularity dipped mid-last century, when the more cash-strapped relied on dead creatures in even deader surroundings. Our region led the way in introducing new ways to bring the past to life.

Beamish exudes vivacity, fresh air, character and the ability to fascinate. It rightly won a national award last year as the country's Best Large Visitor Attraction, and its success is down to the fact that it never stands still.

I enjoy museums that are full of light and life. Bede's World in Jarrow and the Museum of Antiquities in Newcastle are jewels, illustrating the view of our forebears that museums are there for our edification and delight.

Technology can help to make the past more accessible, but too much digitised information creates a visit as flat as the screen. I'd rather see, touch or hear the real thing for myself than press buttons to have a virtual experience. Thankfully, low-tech enjoyment is making a comeback in museums and visitor attractions.

Museums are central to our tourism strategy, invaluable resources for schools and local people, but most of all, they are increasingly entrepreneurial businesses. Their funding requires energy, imagination and hard-nosed commercial acumen to supplement visitor fees and uncertain grants.

Many of the north's museums are showing the way for companies to understand past and present success, by adapting their plans to flourish in a highly competitive marketplace.