How celebrating our culture can breathe new life

Nov 14 2007 By The Journal

A HERTIAGE ‘renaissance’ is underway in a historic city. Newcastle continues to undergo a heritage renaissance that is contributing to its transformation into a culturally vibrant, historic city and world class tourist destination.

The future is looking particularly exciting for Newcastle as a number of inspiring projects draw close to being opened for the public.

Over £180m has been invested in the North-East by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) since 1994 with more exciting projects in the pipeline for funding.

2008 sees the completion of a number of cultural highlights in Newcastle that will encourage even more valuable tourist pounds that will benefit the city and the North-East as a whole.

The Live Theatre which was awarded £550,000 by HLF recently opened its doors.

The Grade II-listed building on Newcastle's regenerated Quayside has been restored to provide a positive future for a building that was unloved, at risk, and out of place in the now revitalised quayside.

The building is part of a series of Grade II-listed bonded warehouses built in 1840, and has been turned into a creative resource for the people of the region.

Another exciting opening will be that of the restored and transformed Tyneside Cinema which benefited from a grant of £2,793,000 to restore the much loved building and involve the public in bringing the historic newsreels to life.

More than 1,000 people will get the chance to get involved in the cinema and over 200,000 people each year will be able to experience the heritage of the News Theatre in the compelling context of a working cinema. The building restoration will reveal mosaics, decorative plaster works and murals that have been hidden from sight for years.

Joining these two innovative tourist assets will be the £8,750,000 HLF Great North Museums project to give visitors access to collections such as those of the Hancock Museum, the Museum of Antiquities, the Shefton and the Hatton Gallery. Also highlighting the long history of Newcastle is the plans to transform Victoria Tunnel within Ouseburn into a visitor attraction highlighting the role of the tunnel as a colliery wagon-way and recreate the experience of the tunnel as an air raid shelter in WWII.

Dr Keith Bartlett, HLF regional manager explains how protecting our past can inspire regeneration for the future.

He said: “Whether that is by encouraging and driving tourism in the region, or by creating jobs and opportunities for local people to develop skills that will make a difference in their lives, HLF funding is crucial to the massive regeneration and cultural renaissance that the North-East, and Newcastle in particular is experiencing. The people of the North-East have been more successful than almost the whole of the rest of the UK at getting their hands on heritage lottery cash and the results are clear to see.

“For every person in the North-East, HLF has awarded £71.50 making it the third most successful English region – an achievement that is easy to see as we look around the North-East.”