MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND.- The Regional development agency One NorthEast pledged £4.6m for the new art gallery project in Middlesbrough. The money will be channelled through the Tees Valley Partnership and will be used to construct the new glass art gallery and to develop a cultural quarter in the town. There is also a plan to create a civic square around the gallery that will link to Middlesbrough’s central library, other key public buildings and existing open-air artworks. The new art gallery is expected to draw around 110,000 visitors a year.
Alan Clarke, chief executive of One NorthEast, stated: “One NorthEast’s £4.6m pledge is a demonstration of our confidence in the gallery and its new cultural quarter as a major economic driver for Middlesbrough and the wider Tees Valley. You only have to look at the new business, new developments and new infrastructure that has come to NewcastleGateshead on the back of the European Capital of Culture bid, to see that cultural regeneration does bring with it wealth creation and tangible economic benefits.”
Dutch architects Erik van Egeraat Associates are designing the new art gallery and will feature a glass fronted entrance, eight separate exhibition spaces, workshops, an education suite and auditorium and a conservation studio.
Alistair Arkley, chairman of the Tees Valley Partnership, stated: “The gallery will be at the heart of a new cultural quarter that will bring huge benefits to the town as well as improved facilities for local people. However, we also expect the benefits to be much wider, with the Tees Valley as a whole enjoying a higher national and international tourist profile.”
The new gallery is scheduled to open in 2006. The project has secured £4.5m from Arts Council England, £4.67m from Middlesbrough Council and private investment of more than £600,000.