Member Article

Museum Plans Get £5m Funding Boost

Plans to create a spectacular Great North Museum in Newcastle upon Tyne have received a £5 million funding boost. The £26m centre is set to be a flagship visitor attraction incorporating the Hancock Museum’s natural history collections with the archaeological and ethnographic collections held in Newcastle University’s Museum of Antiquities, Shefton Museum and Hatton Gallery.

The new Museum, which will be housed in a completely refurbished and extended Hancock Museum building, will receive £5m from the TyneWear Partnership, via Single Programme Funding from One NorthEast. The Great North Museum project team also learned this week that the Heritage Lottery Fund has confirmed £8.75 million towards the museum. Professor John Goddard, Newcastle University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Great North Museum project director, said: “The TyneWear Partnership’s support is fantastic news for the project. It recognizes how much importance this region’s policy-makers place upon the project and its ability to be a key visitor attraction, bringing visitors both from within and outside the region.” Chris Thompson, Chair of TyneWear Partnership, said: “Cultural initiatives like the Great North Museum project have an important and transformational role to play in the regeneration of the area.

“As well as celebrating its rich heritage, this facility will contribute greatly to the region’s reputation as a cultural hotspot.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .