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Five Minutes with Laura Sillars

Laura Sillars, director, MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art)
www.mima.art | Instagram: @mimauseful

As Middlesbrough prepares to welcome the Turner Prize, the spotlight is set to shine brightly on Teesside's cultural scene. One of Britain's premier art celebrations, the event will take place at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA) from September. Here, Laura Sillars, director of the venue, which sits within Teesside University's wider estate, tells Steven Hugill why the landmark occasion represents far more than an exhibition, the incredible legacy it stands to leave and its importance ahead of the gallery's 20th anniversary.

While much of the region was easing into summer holiday mode, you and your team were putting the final touches to the biggest contemporary art event in Middlesbrough's history. What does hosting the Turner Prize mean for the town and wider North East?

Hosting the Turner Prize is a magnificent moment for Middlesbrough and the wider North East.

It is the world's most important contemporary art prize and the biggest contemporary art event to be staged in the town.

It is also the first Turner Prize to be hosted within a university context.

The artist list announcement has already generated several hundred global news stories, with commentators reflecting on the cultural impact of hosting it within a university setting.

Such a major event acts as a catalyst to reshape narratives.

Many are suddenly realising Middlesbrough is the fastest-growing tech hub in the country.

A new story is emerging of our locally grown cultural confidence, creativity and ambition.

That is what art can do. It's massive.

Our 'Turner on Tees' programme extends activity beyond the gallery walls into schools, communities, young people and numerous brilliant partner galleries.

This is a very Teesside trope: start where you stand and then dream big.

What impact could the Turner Prize have on artists and the wider creative community in Middlesbrough and across the region?

Our vibrant cultural ecology is gearing into action.

On the September opening weekend, more than 100 artists from across the North East will present their work in venues across the town as part of the Middlesbrough Art Week.

Events of this scale create opportunity for networking, commissioning, partnerships and new collaborations.

They also strengthen confidence within the existing creative ecology, helping artists and organisations feel connected to something larger.

They change what people believe is possible.

Young people can begin to imagine creative futures for themselves without feeling they need to leave the region to achieve them.

Beyond the headlines and visitor numbers, what would a meaningful long-term legacy from the Turner Prize look like for Middlesbrough and the North East?

We want to become the next UK City of Culture, for which Middlesbrough is now in the running.

People keep asking me if I'm surprised we have won the opportunity to take care of one of the nation's cultural jewels.

I'm not surprised; I know how fantastic the creative community is here.

Middlesbrough will do a fabulous job of embracing the Turner Prize.

Beyond that, we are particularly focused on young people.

Through the programme, we aim to work with every school in the region, ensuring the Turner Prize creates tangible opportunities for learning and participation.

Legacy is about sustaining momentum, and we have a tremendous cultural programme that stretches into the next decade.

Middlesbrough's hosting of the Turner Prize continues a broader shift away from London-centric cultural events, a move that was last year reinforced by Newcastle's staging of the MOBO Awards and Mercury Prize. To what extent could Teesside's moment in the spotlight help further reshape perceptions about where contemporary art belongs in the UK?

There is a significant national shift underway.

Contemporary culture does not belong exclusively to the metropolitan centres, and there is a growing recognition that some of the most interesting cultural conversations in the UK are happening outside London.

We've always been early adopters: from Charlie Chaplin to one of the UK's earliest Bauhaus exhibitions and Ella Fitzgerald – Middlesbrough has an extraordinary cultural heritage.

Digital culture has already decentralised creativity, enabling ideas, artists and movements to emerge from distinct places and reach global audiences.

We are now seeing that institutional attention is beginning to reflect that reality.

And Teesside's role is important.

It demonstrates contemporary art can – and should – be rooted in different places, shaped by local identities, histories and communities.

Turner's work focused on periods of profound change, from the Industrial Revolution to maritime technology. In an age shaped by artificial intelligence and social media, what conversations do you hope the exhibition will spark around art, identity, place and regeneration?

Turner worked through periods of profound change, including industrialisation, technological development and shifts in how people experienced the world.

That feels remarkably contemporary.

Today, we are living through another period of transformation.

Questions around identity, image-making, truth and public life are becoming increasingly complex and urgent.

Teesside is a particularly resonant place for these discussions.

Its industrial heritage sits alongside a future-facing ambition around digital innovation and creativity.

We hope to create spaces where people can come together to explore what these changes mean for identity, place and how communities evolve.

The Turner Prize will also shine a national spotlight on MIMA ahead of its 20th anniversary next year. How significant a chapter is the event for the gallery at this stage in its story?

This is a major milestone for MIMA.

Hosting the Turner Prize is a strong endorsement of the gallery's national standing, its curatorial expertise and its role within both the cultural sector and Teesside University.

As we approach our 20th anniversary in 2027, it feels like a moment of recognition and momentum.

For MIMA, the Turner Prize feels less like an arrival point and more like an acceleration point.

It creates new opportunities to deepen partnerships, expand our reach and continue shaping an ambitious cultural future for Middlesbrough and the wider region.

Ultimately, it reflects not only how far MIMA has come, but the confidence and ambition of a place increasingly shaping the UK's cultural conversation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by N Magazine .