Seeking northern exposure
The government has allocated £1m for an exhibition to celebrate the art and culture of northern England. Patrick Steel reports
The chancellor’s autumn statement set out his vision to make the cities of the north of England “a powerhouse of the UK economy”.
Key planks of the strategy were “strong civic leadership and a varied cultural offering”, as well as £1m in funding for a “great exhibition” to celebrate the art, culture and design of the northern regions.
If there is a northern powerhouse, then arguably it is Manchester, as the first devolved city in the north.
The city, which will bring together 10 local government leaders under a mayor from 2017, received £78m in the autumn statement for a new theatre and exhibition space that will join the revamped Whitworth Art Gallery, reopening in February following a £15m revamp, and Home, a £25m centre for film, international art and theatre, opening in the spring.
The Museum of Science and Industry has also been given £3m to fund a new exhibition space.
But it is not a competition, says Simon Wallis, the director of the Hepworth Wakefield: “I don’t look at Manchester with envy – I am inspired to think about what we can do here.”
The Hepworth Wakefield is part of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle, along with Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute. The four organisations are putting on a joint exhibition in July commemorating the sculptor Anthony Caro.
Wallis says it is a relief to be helping each other build audiences, rather than competing for visitors.
There is still a “teasing rivalry” but museum directors and council leaders across the north talk and collaborate with each other, says Maria Balshaw, the director of the Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester City Galleries, “as it is in all our interests”.
Andrea Nixon, the executive director of Tate Liverpool, foresees two impediments to creating a northern powerhouse: a transport infrastructure that would enable visitors to access the “wider north”, and a structure to replace the defunct Regional Development Agencies (RDA) to channel ideas and funds.
Richard Evans, the director of Beamish, The Living Museum of the North and a member of the North East Cultural Partnership, says local enterprise partnerships don’t have the same capacity as the RDAs, requiring partners to work with them.
He would prefer bespoke solutions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, citing “huge cultural and sectoral differences between, say, Manchester and Durham”. Evans also believes that “too many important decisions are being made out of the region”.
The autumn statement allocated just over £100m to cultural projects in the north, but with a single project in London receiving £141m, it was hardly a rebalancing of the north/south divide.
The statement was overshadowed by a forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility that by 2019-20, day-to-day spending on public services will be at its lowest level since the late 1930s, as a share of gross domestic product.
While it is positive that culture has been recognised, Alex Walker, the Museums Association’s north-west representative and the head of arts and heritage in Preston, says: “This is taking place in the context of savage cuts to local authorities – still the major stewards of museums and culture in the regions.”
Links
Museums Journal profile of Simon Wallis
Key planks of the strategy were “strong civic leadership and a varied cultural offering”, as well as £1m in funding for a “great exhibition” to celebrate the art, culture and design of the northern regions.
If there is a northern powerhouse, then arguably it is Manchester, as the first devolved city in the north.
The city, which will bring together 10 local government leaders under a mayor from 2017, received £78m in the autumn statement for a new theatre and exhibition space that will join the revamped Whitworth Art Gallery, reopening in February following a £15m revamp, and Home, a £25m centre for film, international art and theatre, opening in the spring.
The Museum of Science and Industry has also been given £3m to fund a new exhibition space.
But it is not a competition, says Simon Wallis, the director of the Hepworth Wakefield: “I don’t look at Manchester with envy – I am inspired to think about what we can do here.”
The Hepworth Wakefield is part of the Yorkshire Sculpture Triangle, along with Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute. The four organisations are putting on a joint exhibition in July commemorating the sculptor Anthony Caro.
Wallis says it is a relief to be helping each other build audiences, rather than competing for visitors.
There is still a “teasing rivalry” but museum directors and council leaders across the north talk and collaborate with each other, says Maria Balshaw, the director of the Whitworth Art Gallery and Manchester City Galleries, “as it is in all our interests”.
Andrea Nixon, the executive director of Tate Liverpool, foresees two impediments to creating a northern powerhouse: a transport infrastructure that would enable visitors to access the “wider north”, and a structure to replace the defunct Regional Development Agencies (RDA) to channel ideas and funds.
Richard Evans, the director of Beamish, The Living Museum of the North and a member of the North East Cultural Partnership, says local enterprise partnerships don’t have the same capacity as the RDAs, requiring partners to work with them.
He would prefer bespoke solutions rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, citing “huge cultural and sectoral differences between, say, Manchester and Durham”. Evans also believes that “too many important decisions are being made out of the region”.
Giving with one hand
The autumn statement allocated just over £100m to cultural projects in the north, but with a single project in London receiving £141m, it was hardly a rebalancing of the north/south divide.
The statement was overshadowed by a forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility that by 2019-20, day-to-day spending on public services will be at its lowest level since the late 1930s, as a share of gross domestic product.
While it is positive that culture has been recognised, Alex Walker, the Museums Association’s north-west representative and the head of arts and heritage in Preston, says: “This is taking place in the context of savage cuts to local authorities – still the major stewards of museums and culture in the regions.”
Links
Museums Journal profile of Simon Wallis