Great Exhibition will “help change the way the world views the North”

With just days to go to the 80-day extravaganza showcasing northern innovators, businesses, artists and designers, it’s too early to say if this will come to fruition. One thing’s for certain, though – Carol Bell will be keeping track.

As executive director of the event, as well as being a key player in its parent organisation, NewcastleGateshead Initiative, she’s front and centre of all that’s going on. She describes the hectic lead-up to the exhibition’s launch at its very heart on the Quayside.

“They launched the competition in April 2016 so, all in all, it’s been an incredibly short timescale,” says Carol. “City of Culture and the Olympics have four to six years and we’ve had about 15 months. It has felt pressurised but in an exciting and challenging way.”

Based on the old idea of bringing together the masses to celebrate all that’s new and novel, glorious and great, the exhibition was first championed by the former chancellor, George Osborne, who pledged £5m towards funding it (the overall budget has now risen to £13m). A host of cities, including Sheffield, Bradford and Blackpool, submitted bids, but it was NewcastleGateshead’s that triumphed. Carol feels that the strong partnerships that had already been forged through projects like the Sage and the Baltic, with which marketing body NewcastleGateshead Initiative is closely linked, were a definite asset.

“The feedback we got from the judges and the DCMS (department for digital, culture, media and sport) when we showed them round and they met with all our partners was that they could see the strength in the partnerships, and that was one of the key lynchpins of our approach,” she says. “What we didn’t want to do was parachute in an external organisation to deliver the exhibition.”

The result is something entirely homegrown, reflecting the region’s heritage, as well as its character and people. Part of the aim is to highlight innovations that came from the North – hence the return of Stephenson’s Rocket – but the exhibition is about much more than harking back to past glories.

“It feels more like a progression of what’s happened in the North in relation to particular areas, whether they’re urban or rural, which have embraced cultural and creative activities to change the landscape,” says Carol. “NewcastleGateshead is a great example of that. They see the importance of cultural regeneration as being a driver of wider economic regeneration. With the Great Exhibition we’ve tried to push that even further by pulling together content which is about great art, great design but also about great innovation. It’s making that meaningful and visible for the general public.”

By that, Carol means people from both within the region and outside it. She concedes that, historically, the North has suffered from the double disadvantages of low self-confidence and southern prejudice. There is pride, she believes, but this needs to be encouraged. “When the Turner Prize came to Baltic they had more visitors than when it was in London,” Carol points out. “I think people are fiercely proud of what’s on their doorstep and want to support it and I think that’s the essence of what we’re trying to do here.

“I think there is (southern prejudice) but I think it works both ways. If we’re based in the North we’ve got to stand up and shout about what we’ve got and talk about the support that’s required with whoever is in power at the time. I think one of the legacies of the Great Exhibition will be the partnership working and the connections that have been made that will continue beyond it. People based in the South will be aware that there’s a range of opportunities in terms of business across the North. I think everybody is working hard on that.”

As well as helping forge external links, the exhibition aims to bring local businesses together – one of its flagship events, in July, will be a business summit, and projects linked to its themes, from Kynren to the Bradford Literature Festival, are adopting an “Inspired By” badge. “Larger businesses are interested in hearing about what SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises), particularly in the creative and digital sectors, are doing to address some of the challenges they are faced with,” says Carol. “Also, collaborations with business and the academic side. Battery storage is big at the moment and Siemens are doing great work with Newcastle University.”

But it isn’t all about boosting business – though by the time it closes, the exhibition will have generated an estimated £184m for the local economy. It’s also designed to be accessible, informative and even, Carol ventures, fun. “We wanted to put it in the heart of the city, across NewcastleGateshead, so people could discover it,” she says. “It’s in shopping centres, it’s out on the streets, it’s in cultural venues. It’s in businesses, it’s in university campuses. The idea is that people can explore it at their leisure. We’ve got an amazing app by a North-East company to help engage families. There are two characters that Ubisoft have given us and when you explore the route (the exhibition has three main ones) you can collect crystals. It’s known as gamification.”

In keeping with the focus on the future, there’s a strong emphasis on inspiring the next generation. This includes things like careers videos and remotely-accessible resources for schools – though Carol predicts that of the three million estimated visitors, most will be physical. There’s also a family expo, from August 2 to 9, for which, like the business summit, Carol sees a possible afterlife.

“I think one of our core objectives in doing this is to help raise aspirations – if you’re a young person, inspiring you to think, I can do that,” she says. “The careers videos will be available after the exhibition and there’s lots of examples of people talking about the careers they’ve chosen and the opportunities that exist across the North.

“The original idea was to have the family expo in Exhibition Park but the logistics of that were quite challenging so we’re running it in St James’s Park, working with the football club and the two councils. It’s an eight-day event showing a lot of the content of the exhibition, with things like creative activities and learning about 3D printing, coding and smart technology. NUFC are running activities through their foundation so there will be physical stuff as well as more technical things.”

As everything has been purpose-designed for the exhibition, Carol will have to wait for the data, including public perceptions as well as hard figures, to come through to decide which elements have a future. One thing that can be guaranteed is that she will maximise every opportunity. “We will look at how we can apply things like the expo and the app and we will also be measuring how the Great Exhibition has made a difference in terms of more people knowing what’s happening in the North and instilling, or reinforcing, a sense of pride,” she says.

• The Great Exhibition of the North runs until September 9, culminating in the Great North Run.
• For more details, visit getnorth2018.com