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Barney Set to Profit from Economic & Cultural Exchange

30/10/2009

Barnard Castle recently played host to a range of international dignitaries as part of a campaign to attract new economic regeneration investment to the town.

Officials from two market towns on the continent, Harfleur in France and Montfoort in the Netherlands, visited Barnard Castle as part of a three day Economic and Cultural Visit to gain an insight into cultural and economic activities in North East England. Guests included the French Consul, Economic and Cultural Development Leaders from Harfleur and Montfoort and Members of Ateliers D’Art de France (French Crafts Council).

The aim of the weekend visit was to bring together arts and regeneration experts from similar towns in Europe to share success stories and generate positive ideas to enable Barnard Castle to become as successful and flourishing as possible in future years.

As part of their visit, the dignitaries were treated to an evening reception and guided tour of the Bowes Museum, followed on Saturday 17th October by a walking tour of Barnard Castle town centre, accompanied by a series of workshops to discuss street proposals, shop front designs and the establishment of a Craft Quarter in the centre of the town. After visiting Newcastle’s Quayside and an Anglo-French exhibition at the Sage, Gateshead, they also returned to Teesdale to visit Cotherstone for an escorted tour of its artists’ studios, gaining a thorough insight into the life of creative and cultural businesses in the area.

Following the event, organiser of the event Dr Anne Allen, of Barnard Castle Vision, commented: “We were delighted to welcome the party of guests from Harfleur and Montfoort to Barnard Castle. The many activities across the weekend have enabled us to form meaningful relationships with our European partners and equipped us with many new ideas to benefit Barnard Castle in coming years. Since the event, I have already had a barrage of emails from delegates who want to stay in touch and make the new friendships and partnerships work.

“As a direct result of the visit, the three towns have committed to work together in submitting a joint three-way funding bid between the three towns to access European regeneration funds only accessible to partners in three separate countries. Our next step will be a conference report and regular teleconference meetings with partners to maintain the dialogue between us all. We are keen to obtain as many funds as possible to help improve our towns on every front.

“St Etienne artists' network Collectif+ and Newcastle-based Designed&Made have also committed to give practical advice to Barnard Castle Vision to enable them to develop the current Teesdale Artists Network and create new jobs. We also hope to establish an open-studio workspace especially for artists in the town centre, which in contrast to a traditional gallery space, will be an animated space with artists on hand to talk about their work, effectively ‘on show’ at work.”

One proposed site for new artists' studios is the former Dorants garage on Newgate and the Vision is currently working with Rennie Hamilton (who previously ran the Rennie Hamilton Gallery opposite) towards establishing this aim. During the last week, Rennie has been occupying the space on a temporary basis for an Open Studios event, which has proved very successful. The Vision are now in the process of securing the site, and a planning application for the fitting out of the artists' studios has recently been submitted.