Bowes Centre for Art, Craft and Design aims to be innovative 'ideas machine'

“THE whole point of being here is to try to do something different.”

So says Matthew Read, director of the recently established Bowes Centre for Art, Craft and Design.

Or, as he describes it, an ideas machine.

The centre is housed in The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, but will operate independently during its initial three-year tenure.

The challenge of doing something different is what tempted Mr Read north from his previous teaching post at West Dean College, in West Sussex.

“Part of that challenge is to get new audiences,” he says.

“The museum struggles for new audiences. We are in a rural environment and a distance from bigger urban centres.

“People can’t get here and when they do, there is the imposing nature of the museum.

“The building is a massive asset, but how do we make it more accessible?

“A lot of what I do is to question what a museum is about. Without undermining the positive things about a museum, they need to move with the times.”

Another challenge is to bring town and museum closer together.

“How do you get people who have not been in here for 20 years to come back and spend a day here? How do you attract families?

“The town is one of our challenges – how we can relate more to the town and get the town to relate to use.

“My job is to be a bit more experimental.”

The Bowes Centre has been established thanks to the support of a private sponsor and Mr Read says this will allow him the freedom to take a different approach.

That will include embracing the digital world – allowing people a window into the world of The Bowes Museum without the need to be there.

He breaks the centre’s work down into three areas.

“A third of it will be art, craft and design. Within the next six weeks we will be having our first open call.

“We want to invite ten artists, makers and designers to each work with us for a month developing their work.

“It might be something very traditional or something modern, such as a digital soundscape.”

A third of the centre’s efforts will be spent getting this new work out to the wider world and the final area of work is education – linking with organisations such as the Craft Council to inspire young people aged 13 to 23.

Mr Read will be leading the charge.

“Building on the museum’s well established education programme, I have to be going out and looking outwards, going to leisure centres, village halls and running workshops in the community with our product.”

Quite what that product will be is the exciting part of the challenge, he says.

“We need to do the developmental stuff. There will be some disasters as well as some great things.

“I can afford to take risks. The centre needs to be an ideas machine. When an idea works well, the museum can have it, or the town can have it.

“It’s a three year project. It is a short time and keeps the mind focused – there is no time for resting on our laurels.”

Mr Read has spent his first three months networking and “getting the place established”.

This has included an invitation to artists to come up with a distinctive logo for the Bowes Centre – with £1,000 to be awarded to the successful entry.
A further £1,400 has been secured for workshops which will identify opportunities for digital innovation involving the museum, such as virtual exhibitions and downloadable content.
Mr Read has set a number of ambitious goals to be achieved during the centre’s initial lifespan.
“We are incredibly lucky to have a sponsor to get us off the ground and one marker of success would be to surviving financially.
“Another would be to get some tangible education outputs – get a significant number of people to say ‘that was really great’ or ‘it sent us in a new direction’, and that we have a viable digital presence.”
He adds: “It would be nice if this centre became a model for others as well.
“Museums face common problems in terms of audience and cash and if we could do something that develops a new model, we can take that away to other places.”