Art centre celebrates birthday

One of the largest contemporary art galleries in the world is celebrating its fifth birthday.

Since it opened in 2002, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead has attracted 2.5m visitors.

Earlier this year it was revealed that visitor numbers to the centre - housed in an old flour mill - had fallen 11%.

But bosses said they were managing to get 400,000 visitors through the door each year. The £46m centre is on Gateshead's Quayside.

Tania Robinson, head of marketing at One NorthEast, said the centre was a big attraction to people who lived outside the area.

She said: "Baltic is certainly part of the reason people come to the region - we know from research that 23% of visitors come from more that an hour and a half's drive away.

"It is part of the culture of the North East - it has had high profile exhibits which has raised its profile and achieved target visitor numbers."

Formal education

The Arts Council, which is one of Baltic's main funders, said it was happy with the centre's performance.

Last year's Spencer Tunick project - a series of pictures of naked people striking poses at four locations in Newcastle and Gateshead - was a popular attraction.

Sir Ian Wrigglesworth Chairman of Baltic said: "We are a tremendous success - Baltic is an asset to the region as well as an icon.

"Friday 13th is not the most auspicious day - but we are going to have a great celebration tonight.

"We want to reach out to people who do not normally go to art galleries so from today we are opening a step in learning centre.

"We are providing formal education for more than 10,000 students a year."