Since its set-up in 2000, the NewcastleGateshead Initiative has spearheaded strategic project delivery and marketing to visitors and investors, with cultural activity at the heart of this work.
Background and history
The NewcastleGateshead Initiative was set up as a destination marketing organisation for the area, supporting the role of tourism and culture in creating both economic growth and regeneration.
At the outset, this particularly focused on new marketing opportunities arising from the £250 million-plus of investment at that time into the Sage Gateshead, Baltic and the Millennium Bridge, as well as a number of new and refurbished venues.
Today it provides a cultural development team and convention bureau alongside its marketing roles, and in 2016 produced the successful bid to bring the Great Exhibition of the North 2018 to Newcastle and Gateshead.
Timeline
- 2000 – NewcastleGateshead Initiative established
- 2002 - BALTCI Centre for Contemporary Art opened 2003 – Led unsuccessful bid to make Newcastle-Gateshead the 2008 European Capital of Culture
- 2016 - Newcastle Gateshead announced as host of the great exhibition of the north
- 2018 – Great Exhibition of the North
Delivery of activities
- Annual funding for NewcastleGateshead Initiative
- £1 million Newcastle City Council and Gateshead Council
- £1 million partner investments
- £1 million other activities, such as income from NGI Solutions, the initiative’s trading arm
- Total funding: £3 million per year
The NewcastleGateshead Initiative is a public-private partnership involved in a range of activities including attracting businesses to invest in the area; attracting tourists to visit the area and supporting development of visitor economy businesses; promoting the area as a conference destination; supporting the development of a new convention centre; and developing, delivering and attracting events.
Cultural activity is embedded in much of this, as the cultural offer is a key part of the city’s attractiveness to visitors and investors. Many of the events delivered are arts and culture focused, including the Great Exhibition of the North.
The majority of cultural organisations in Newcastle and Gateshead are partners, and the NewcastleGateshead Initiative regularly promotes its events to its large social media following.
Impacts
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Newcastle-Gateshead attracts 17 million visitors per year |
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22 new businesses attracted to the area in 2017, creating or safeguarding 1,300 jobs |
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Great Exhibition of the North expected to add £184 million to the local economy |
- 17 million visitors per year – to Newcastle and Gateshead, spending a total of £1.5 billion, partly due to the successful marketing by the NewcastleGateshead Initiative
- £184 million – expected total economic impact of the Great Exhibition of the North 2018, secured for the area by the bid led by the NewcastleGateshead Initiative
- 1,300 jobs created or safeguarded in 2017 – with 22 new businesses attracted by NewcastleGateshead Initiative’s inward investment activities; the image and offer of the area’s cultural facilities are a key component of the marketing materials
- cultural and creative sector support – through support for networking and promotion of the activities of cultural partners, NewcastleGateshead Initiative is supporting the growth and development of these sectors
- community pride – enhanced through new cultural activities and events led by the NewcastleGateshead Initiative, such as the ‘Enchanted Parks’ programme.
Learning points
- Strategic leadership: for a large city region, having a dedicated body to strategically lead cultural development alongside marketing to visitors and investors has proven highly valuable for Newcastle andGateshead. It has helped to provide well-coordinated marketing, but also an expert capacity to develop and attract major events, including the successful bid to secure the Great Exhibition of the North.
- Coordinating partners: as a strategic partnership, NewcastleGateshead Initiative is able to broker and develop relationships between a wide range of partners, from local arts and cultural bodies to national funders and arts organisations. As well as being able to draw on the expertise of all of these partners, NewcastleGateshead Initiative adds value by providing these networking links.
- Recognising culture at the heart of place marketing: NewcastleGateshead Initiative sees its role as promoting the area as a place to live, work, learn and visit. Across all of these activities, the area’s cultural offer and its iconic cultural institutions are seen as integral.
Gateshead Council has sustained a long and strategic vision for the investment in sport and culture over the last 40 years. This started with the development of Gateshead International Stadium and a groundbreaking public art programme, the culmination of which was the installation of the internationally recognised Angel of the North.
Building on this success, Gateshead Council transformed Gateshead Quays though the creation of the world-class music venue at Sage Gateshead and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. The achievements of regeneration through culture has been widely recognised. The cultural organisations now work actively to achieve a wide reach into local communities and positive outcome for local residents.
Councillor Angela Douglas, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Leisure, Gateshead Council