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We can do this with aplomb - Baltic’s Claire Byers talks Turner Prize with bdaily

By her own admission, Claire Byers is not the artistic type. However, that’s not to say she’s not passionate about art and design.

“I’m passionate about the North East, I’ve always lived here and the region means a great deal to me,” she says. “I’m really lucky to have been given the responsibility to shape the cultural landscape of the region, from Northumberland to Tees Valley.”

Prior to her current position as deputy director of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts, Claire spent 25 years working in the arts industry on the North East, and in that time Claire has worked hard to create spaces to help creative people do what they do best.

“We have a really high level, high caliber programme here, and attract renowned artists, both from the North East and internationally.,” she explains.

Modern art is always somewhat of a controversial topic - it’s not for me, I don’t understand it, its just plain weird - but Claire is calling for people to come to the Baltic so people can really see what its about.

“99% of our artists are alive, so they’re influenced by the same things that influence us. Afghanistan, economics…it’s the same world, and it’s for us to interpret it,” she says.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t like it, but if it makes you think about it, that’s what contemporary art’s all about.”

Claire hails from the North East, and is a staunch defender of the region – especially against those who have visions of smog on the Tyne and heavy industry.

“We’re lucky because so much of the arts media does recognize that the Baltic is of an international stature, but I think we still have to do something exceptional to get the same coverage in the south as we do up here.

“This is one of the reasons why we’ve invested heavily in ensuring that we provide first class customer service to go alongside our arts offering.”

While many of us already know of the high standards of art the Baltic houses, it is actually much more than just an art gallery.

Claire and her team have worked tirelessly to make it a centre for arts education, and alongside engaging with 25,000 schoolchildren from across the region each year, Baltic also invests in educating the ‘Crew’ who work there, 80% of whom are art students or artists in their own right.

“We’ve worked really hard to invest in our Crew. They have study time while they’re working, artists talks, trips to studios before the artists come, and there are now accredited modules at Northumbria University leading to an MA,” she says.

“We’re growing their CV – they’re not just invigilators. They’re our living, breathing interpretation of the art we show, and by investing in them, we can in turn create a future career for them.

“In the next five years I’d love to see anyone who presents with Baltic on their CV immediately pulled out as something special.”

Indeed, it seems that whatever it is that is special about the Baltic has been recognized, and this year the venue will play host to the Turner Prize, and for the first time in the history of the award, it is taking place outside of a Tate venue.

The arrival of the Turner Prize is an inordinate coup for Baltic, and Claire now hopes that the prize will now go to other provincial galleries in the future, who will be able to learn from the Baltic’s experience.

“It’s a real badge of honor that Baltic has been recognized for its high level of technical ability and its curatorial expertise, and the resources to put on something on an international caliber.

“It’s a testament to the relationship we have with Tate, that they’ve given us this to deliver, and while they’re trusting us to deliver something of such importance, but also trusting us to give it a new perspective to take it into the next generation of the Turner prize.”

It is such an enormous presentation that actually it will take very special organizations to do it. We’re pioneering it and learning the lessons, so now I can only hope that others hosting it in the future will have help from us to do it.

When asked for her own feelings about the arrival of the Turner Prize, Claire’s passion for the region once again reveals itself.

“It’s another high point for Gatehead and the region to stand up and say we can do this with aplomb, we can do this with panache,” she says passionately, “And you might think we’re punching above our weight, but you know what – we do this all the time.”

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