A MUSEUM is celebrating its tenth birthday.

Since it opened in 2007 Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (mima), in the centre of Middlesbrough, has received more than 1.2m visitors.

To celebrate its anniversary, the museum has created a gallery of art works chosen by the public from its Middlesbrough Collection.

One of the highlights include a 1959 painting by LS Lowry of the The Old Town Hall and St Hilda’s Church, in Middlesbrough, along with other works that depict the town.

The glass-fronted mima building cost about £14m and was designed by Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat.

A spokeswoman for the museum, now part of Teesside University, said it had a social function and its programmes “promoted creativity for everyone in ordinary life”.

She said: “It is very much now driven from input from the local community and there has been a lot more work done to find out what people want.

“It is much more than a place to see art. We have creative classes for adults with dementia, our weekly ‘mini mima’ club for the under fives and a community garden where people can learn how to grow vegetables which are then cooked and shared in a community meal.”