Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art is big. It’s an ex-flour mill with bastion-like proportions. It looks a bit like one of those four-legged mechanical animals from 1980s Star Wars Episode V. But even in this massive building the new director, Sarah Munro, seems very at home even though she has been in her role for just six months.
“I’m still in that really lovely moment when you start something new and view it with a very fresh lens,” Munro says.
Baltic’s programme is centred on showing distinctive, thought-provoking contemporary art from across the globe, a programme that Munro feels passionate about and intends to continue. Having been head of arts for Glasgow Life, the organisation that runs Glasgow International, the biennial city-wide contemporary arts festival, Munro has a strong track record. But she doesn’t take her position lightly.
“Baltic is a visual icon, and people are deeply proud of it,” she says. “It’s the largest contemporary art space in the North, so I can’t help but question what responsibility that brings.”
Munro is aware of the complex audience that needs to be satisfied. She remembers her time as the director of Edinburgh’s Collective Gallery from 1996 to 2008 when she put a compass point into the gallery on a map, drawing a one-mile radius and saying, “that’s our audience”. So who does she see as Baltic’s audience?
“I’ve set a very simple premise for the next 10 years,” Munro says. “By 2026 Baltic’s audience should reflect the population of the North East. It’s simple. It means that if 18% of that population is of ethnic origin, for example, or if eight per cent has a disability, then our audience needs to reflect those figures. It’s politics of representation.”
She stresses that Baltic is an important civic space for the public to share ideas in – anyone should be able to visit this contemporary arts centre and feel there’s something in it for them, she says.
Building bridges
Munro’s approach to her role is to be open, transparent and collaborative.
“We are all very much part of an ecosystem. Baltic wouldn’t thrive if there wasn’t a rich artistic community around it. I’m very interested in how we can create meaningful relationships with self-organised culture, from artist-run spaces to small organisations, that are often focused on particular areas of expertise.”
She thinks of Baltic more as an idea than explicitly a building.
“Of course there’s substantial floor space that needs filling with world-class exhibitions, but I’m also captivated by artists that work across disciplines nowadays, and how an institution like Baltic can move from being more than a gallery to being about the role that the arts can play more broadly.”
Munro vehemently believes that the cross-pollination of ideas from different territories is where the future lies. “What happens in those liminal spaces between disciplines is increasingly more interesting – that murky territory is where exciting new things start to happen,” she emphasises.
So, what exactly is Baltic in Munro’s eyes? “I want to articulate Baltic as a kind of laboratory to test different ideas in,” she says. She even advocates taking creative risk among her staff base, so long as it’s well-researched risk-taking.
But none of this would be possible if the institution wasn’t financially secure, and Munro admits she was fortunate enough to inherit Baltic in a good financial position. There’s a sturdy business plan in place, and funding from Arts Council England, until March 2018.
Baltic hasn’t always been on such an even keel though. “Aye. There’s been a few wee bits in history,” Munro says in her soft Glaswegian accent. “But Godfrey Worsdale, the previous director, re-established that absolutely critical buy-in from stakeholders, funders and politicians. He built confidence back into the organisation.”
Talent spotting
Nurturing a new generation of artists and young people in the arts is important to Munro, especially bringing on a new generation of young women leaders. She’s recently been thrashing ideas out with the curatorial team at Baltic, working on articulating exactly what the space should deliver.
She’s come to think of Baltic as based on the biennale model, bringing different voices together, with no one single narrative.
Munro’s candour is appealing. She likes to mix things up, mix people together, to ensure that the most rounded, engaging programme is delivered. She’s even altered the structure of the organisation to achieve this.
“We’ve disbanded the management team, and created a strategic group instead, supported by working groups focused on criteria including audience, programming content, and looking at how to bring employees across the organisation together. They’re dynamic, active teams composed of people across different departments and different strata,” she says.
Munro is also instigating longer-lead exhibition programming so that the art centre can be even more ambitious. She’d also like to host dance and performance artwork and events there.
Collaboration is the key to all of this though. Munro sees that to achieve these goals she must keep Baltic’s relationship with the local artistic community central, alongside its role in the visual arts landscape across the North East.
Baltic’s ambitious international art programme also leads to many ties abroad, which Munro is keen to foster. The Omer Fast exhibition was at the Jeu de Paume in Paris before coming to Gateshead. And High North, a three-year artists residency scheme, partners arts organisations in Tromsø in Norway, Baltic in Gateshead and two Glasgow arts institutions. It’s run by Arts Council Norway and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London.
Munro wants to grow these partnerships further. “One of the conversations we’re beginning to have is how we can create strategic international partnerships that would enable our institutions not just to make exhibitions but actually develop and share learning and best practice all round.”
Munro is happily ensconced at the helm of Baltic, the mothership for contemporary art and culture in the North East. Yes, she has big ideas, but she also has the wherewithal, the platform and the cultural landscape to deliver them.
Hajra Waheed: The Cyphers is at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until 5 June; Omer Fast: Present Coninuous, until 26 June
The institution is free to enter. The majority of its annual funding (£3m) comes from the arts council. The rest is self-generated through donations, events, merchandise sales, and its cafe and restaurant. Baltic also hires its space for weddings
and corporate hires to supplement that funding.
With six floors and 3,000 sq m floor space, Baltic attracts 500,000 visitors a year as one of the most popular art spaces in the North East of England.
Prior to that, she was the artistic director of Tramway contemporary art gallery in Glasgow from 2008 to 2012.
From 1996 to 2008 she was the director of the Collective Gallery in Edinburgh.
Munro has an MA in politics and philosophy from the University of Dundee, is chairwoman of Glasgow International Festival, and vice-chairwoman of the Pier Art Centre in Orkney.
“I’m still in that really lovely moment when you start something new and view it with a very fresh lens,” Munro says.
Baltic’s programme is centred on showing distinctive, thought-provoking contemporary art from across the globe, a programme that Munro feels passionate about and intends to continue. Having been head of arts for Glasgow Life, the organisation that runs Glasgow International, the biennial city-wide contemporary arts festival, Munro has a strong track record. But she doesn’t take her position lightly.
“Baltic is a visual icon, and people are deeply proud of it,” she says. “It’s the largest contemporary art space in the North, so I can’t help but question what responsibility that brings.”
Munro is aware of the complex audience that needs to be satisfied. She remembers her time as the director of Edinburgh’s Collective Gallery from 1996 to 2008 when she put a compass point into the gallery on a map, drawing a one-mile radius and saying, “that’s our audience”. So who does she see as Baltic’s audience?
“I’ve set a very simple premise for the next 10 years,” Munro says. “By 2026 Baltic’s audience should reflect the population of the North East. It’s simple. It means that if 18% of that population is of ethnic origin, for example, or if eight per cent has a disability, then our audience needs to reflect those figures. It’s politics of representation.”
She stresses that Baltic is an important civic space for the public to share ideas in – anyone should be able to visit this contemporary arts centre and feel there’s something in it for them, she says.
Building bridges
Munro’s approach to her role is to be open, transparent and collaborative.
“We are all very much part of an ecosystem. Baltic wouldn’t thrive if there wasn’t a rich artistic community around it. I’m very interested in how we can create meaningful relationships with self-organised culture, from artist-run spaces to small organisations, that are often focused on particular areas of expertise.”
She thinks of Baltic more as an idea than explicitly a building.
“Of course there’s substantial floor space that needs filling with world-class exhibitions, but I’m also captivated by artists that work across disciplines nowadays, and how an institution like Baltic can move from being more than a gallery to being about the role that the arts can play more broadly.”
Munro vehemently believes that the cross-pollination of ideas from different territories is where the future lies. “What happens in those liminal spaces between disciplines is increasingly more interesting – that murky territory is where exciting new things start to happen,” she emphasises.
So, what exactly is Baltic in Munro’s eyes? “I want to articulate Baltic as a kind of laboratory to test different ideas in,” she says. She even advocates taking creative risk among her staff base, so long as it’s well-researched risk-taking.
But none of this would be possible if the institution wasn’t financially secure, and Munro admits she was fortunate enough to inherit Baltic in a good financial position. There’s a sturdy business plan in place, and funding from Arts Council England, until March 2018.
Baltic hasn’t always been on such an even keel though. “Aye. There’s been a few wee bits in history,” Munro says in her soft Glaswegian accent. “But Godfrey Worsdale, the previous director, re-established that absolutely critical buy-in from stakeholders, funders and politicians. He built confidence back into the organisation.”
Talent spotting
Nurturing a new generation of artists and young people in the arts is important to Munro, especially bringing on a new generation of young women leaders. She’s recently been thrashing ideas out with the curatorial team at Baltic, working on articulating exactly what the space should deliver.
She’s come to think of Baltic as based on the biennale model, bringing different voices together, with no one single narrative.
Munro’s candour is appealing. She likes to mix things up, mix people together, to ensure that the most rounded, engaging programme is delivered. She’s even altered the structure of the organisation to achieve this.
“We’ve disbanded the management team, and created a strategic group instead, supported by working groups focused on criteria including audience, programming content, and looking at how to bring employees across the organisation together. They’re dynamic, active teams composed of people across different departments and different strata,” she says.
Munro is also instigating longer-lead exhibition programming so that the art centre can be even more ambitious. She’d also like to host dance and performance artwork and events there.
Collaboration is the key to all of this though. Munro sees that to achieve these goals she must keep Baltic’s relationship with the local artistic community central, alongside its role in the visual arts landscape across the North East.
Baltic’s ambitious international art programme also leads to many ties abroad, which Munro is keen to foster. The Omer Fast exhibition was at the Jeu de Paume in Paris before coming to Gateshead. And High North, a three-year artists residency scheme, partners arts organisations in Tromsø in Norway, Baltic in Gateshead and two Glasgow arts institutions. It’s run by Arts Council Norway and the Royal Norwegian Embassy in London.
Munro wants to grow these partnerships further. “One of the conversations we’re beginning to have is how we can create strategic international partnerships that would enable our institutions not just to make exhibitions but actually develop and share learning and best practice all round.”
Munro is happily ensconced at the helm of Baltic, the mothership for contemporary art and culture in the North East. Yes, she has big ideas, but she also has the wherewithal, the platform and the cultural landscape to deliver them.
Hajra Waheed: The Cyphers is at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, until 5 June; Omer Fast: Present Coninuous, until 26 June
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art at a glance
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art opened in 2002 after a redevelopment, funded by Arts Council England. Ellis Williams Architects oversaw transforming Baltic from flour mill to art space.The institution is free to enter. The majority of its annual funding (£3m) comes from the arts council. The rest is self-generated through donations, events, merchandise sales, and its cafe and restaurant. Baltic also hires its space for weddings
and corporate hires to supplement that funding.
With six floors and 3,000 sq m floor space, Baltic attracts 500,000 visitors a year as one of the most popular art spaces in the North East of England.
Sarah Munro at a glance
Before being appointed director of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, in August 2015, Sarah Munro was the head of arts for Glasgow Life from 2012. She was responsible for Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, as well as the Gallery of Modern Art’s exhibitions programme and the Merchant City Festival. Prior to that, she was the artistic director of Tramway contemporary art gallery in Glasgow from 2008 to 2012.
From 1996 to 2008 she was the director of the Collective Gallery in Edinburgh.
Munro has an MA in politics and philosophy from the University of Dundee, is chairwoman of Glasgow International Festival, and vice-chairwoman of the Pier Art Centre in Orkney.