The BALTIC Centre as viewed from the Millennium Bridge

The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art is an arts centre located on the South Bank of the River Tyne close to the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, in Gateshead in the north-east of England. Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x709, 134 KB)The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, England By ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Download high resolution version (800x709, 134 KB)The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, England By ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Gateshead Millennium Bridge spans the River Tyne in England between Gateshead on the south bank, and Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank. ... The River Tyne can refer to two rivers in the United Kingdom: River Tyne, England River Tyne, Scotland This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Gateshead Millennium Bridge spans the River Tyne in England between Gateshead on the south bank, and Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank. ... Jump to: navigation, search Map sources for Gateshead at grid reference NZ2460 Gateshead Millennium Bridge Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear in north-east England on the south side of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne which covers the North Bank. ... Jump to: navigation, search Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK...

Dominic Williams of Ellis Williams Architects won an architectural competition in the mid 1990's to convert the redundant 1950's flour mill into an arts centre at a cost of £46 million. BALTIC, which opened in 2002, is now recognised as a major new centre for international contemporary art. Jump to: navigation, search 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The term contemporary art encompasses all art being done now. ...

BALTIC has attracted frequent controversy and criticism for its management since before its opening. The project was awarded £32 million from the Arts Council of England's Lottery programme with a variation to the then rules of the award programme that a portion of this would be used for running costs though at the time the Arts Council was insisting publicly that new lottery funded capital projects such as BALTIC would not require an increased demand from the taxpayer for revenue funding and would pay their own way. In 1996 the Swede Sune Nordgren was appointed as Director even though he had no prior experience of managing a new building project of this scale. Nordgren's first action was to dismiss most of the team that had been responsible for securing the main funding awards to make BALTIC possible. Prior to the opening of the building Nordgren launched a costly pre-programme of publications and events - most controversially a launch for BALTIC in Venice reputed to cost £150,000. A Deputy Director was appointed in 2001 to attempt to place better financial controls but left after less than a year. In June 2002 BALTIC opened almost a year later than scheduled but with many parts of the building poorly finished. The Arts Council of England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Jump to: navigation, search Location within Italy Venice (Italian: Venezia), the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice, 45°26′ N 12°19′ E, population 271,663 (census estimate 2004-01-01). ...

In February 2003 a critical memo from the Arts Council of England to the board of the BALTIC has leaked to the press. The items included poor management of exhibition budgets, exorbitant management costs and expenses claims and concern over the low level of income generation from the trading elements of the building. One exhibition by the artist Chris Burden was reported to have cost £800,000 with no money being secured from sponsorship or other funds. In May 2003 the Head Curator resigned and in late 2003 Nordgren also announced he was leaving for a job in Norway. His replacement Stephen Snoddy on taking over the post publicly admitted that work needed to be done to stabilise the organisation. In March 2004 it was announced that the Baltic would recieve a £500,000 increase in its annual grant from the Arts Council regardless of the structure of its original lottery funding. In August 2004 Snoddy was suspended from his post following charges concerning an indecent assault in London and subsequently resigned. [1] Jump to: navigation, search 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Chris Burden (born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1946) is an American artist. ... Stephen Snoddy is a British Curator of Contemporary Art and Gallery Director. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Since then, the Baltic has improved dramatically. It has attracted many contemporary, and controversial, artists. It has also participated in the promotion of local visual and auditory arts, such as art-inspired bands. In October 2005 Director Peter Doroshenko admitted in an interview with the "Guardian" that the Gallery has suffered from poor administration, in-particular a failure to constrain costs on some hi-profile commissions or prioritise the need for additional fundraising activity. Jump to: navigation, search 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search Guardian may refer to: A legal guardian, a person responsible for a ward. ...

External links

Official BALTIC Site