Quest to recapture greatness of city

Apr 27 2009 By Christopher Knox, The Journal

Companies in Newcastle city centre have voted to establish the busiest and one of the most ambitious Business Improvement Districts in the country. Christopher Knox meets the man behind it, Sean Bullick.

His career then led him to London to lend his skills to the National Museums Directors’ Conference (NMDC), which brings together seven directors from the UK’s biggest museums and galleries, including Dr Michael Dixon from the Natural History Museum, Dr Nicholas Penny from the National Gallery and Alec Coles from Tyne and Wear Museums.

It was not long after he joined the group that the International Council of Museums brought in a resolution that sought to address the theft of Jewish art during the Second World War.

The impact was enormous and meant Sean would be given the responsibility of working from the Imperial War Museum on behalf of some of the world’s most revered galleries and museums to identify and return artworks stolen by the Nazis. He says: "It was a dream combination to be able to draw on my experiences in law within an environment that genuinely excited me. It was like a dream come true at the time. However, it soon dawned on me that it was going to be a lot of hard work as the implications of the new laws concerning Jewish art were massive.

"Finding the rightful owners and heirs of some of these artworks was a very complicated process and certainly tested my skills.

"The issue has now opened up massively since my time at the NMDC, with teams looking to return everything from stolen Aboriginal art to the Elgin Marbles back to their rightful owners."

After spending two years in France working for a similar cultural project, Sean decided to return to Newcastle with his wife Bridget after she fell pregnant with his son George.

"It was when we were looking at places that we could bring up a family that I remembered how perfect Newcastle was. It has everything from the coast to the countryside and everything in between. We now have a daughter called Grace and the whole family just loves the North East."

It is this genuine affection for the place he now calls home that is the key to why Bullick landed the job at City Centre Partnership and why he was seen as the perfect man to secure the BID.

"I was honoured and excited to be handed the job of director of City Centre Partnership and then chief executive of NE1 as I am very clear on what I want to achieve." he says.

"I want the city centre to continue the vision of John Dobson and Richard Grainger in helping to maintain Newcastle city centre as the heart of the North East.

"There are things that still hold back this city, one of which is the lack of different cultures on its city centre streets.

"It is part of my job to promote everything that is good in the city centre as well as what needs to be done to take it forward."

After finishing our coffees and walking past Grey’s Monument on a hot spring day, it’s hard not to feel the same passion for the city that has led Bullick to begin his mission.

Page 3: The Questionnaire