Twam rebrands as North East Museums ahead of Northumberland merger

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (Twam) has unveiled a new name as it prepares to expand its museum portfolio into Northumberland.

The regional museum service, which currently manages nine sites across Tyne and Wear county, will now be known as North East Museums.

The rebrand comes ahead of the service’s planned takeover of Northumberland County Council’s museum venues.

The Northumberland sites are currently looked after by the independent charity, Woodhorn Charitable Trust, also known as Museums Northumberland.

From April 2025, they will be taken back in-house by the council and managed by North East Museums as part of a shared services arrangement.

The three venues included in the new arrangement are Woodhorn Museum in Ashington, Hexham Old Gaol and Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum. Ownership of the sites will remain with Northumberland County Council.

The addition of the Northumberland venues brings the total number of sites managed by North East Museums to 12. The service also looks after the archives for Tyne and Wear and runs arts and cultural projects across the region.

North East Museums is formed of a local authority partnership that now includes Gateshead Council; Newcastle City Council; Northumberland County Council; North Tyneside Council; South Tyneside Council; and Newcastle University. 

Keith Merrin, the director of North East Museums, said: “This is a hugely positive and significant moment for both our organisation and our partners to ensure that by working together we can deliver the best museums, galleries and archives for the people of our region and visitors from all over the world.  

“We were already working on a new name and brand for the organisation before Northumberland County Council approached us about the potential of managing their museums, and now our new name makes even more sense.” 

'No consultation'

However there has been some criticism of Northumberland County Council for its lack of public consultation on the merger.

In October, Ian Lavery, the Labour MP for Blyth and Ashington, said in a parliamentary question: “Responsibility for Woodhorn Museum on the former Woodhorn colliery site in my constituency — the home of the fantastic world-renowned pitmen painters — has this week been transferred to Twam s by the Tory-led Northumberland County Council, which has sold off the family silverware.

“There has been no consultation whatsoever with residents. Can the leader of the house please make time in the parliamentary schedule for us to discuss how local people and communities can have a say on how to protect cultural assets in their region?”

Northumberland County Council said in response: "A broad consultation with stakeholders was carried out as part of the Delivery Model Assessment process, which included consultation with a number of key partners and stakeholders nationally, regionally and locally to gather thoughts, opinions and intelligence on a range of options and opportunities that might be possible for the provision of a museums service in Northumberland as well as the potential implications."

Questions have also been raised about how the new arrangement will mitigate the impact of cuts to Northumberland’s museums. Prior to the introduction of the new delivery model, the council had reduced its grant to Woodhorn Charitable Trust by 43%.  

An assessment conducted by Northumberland County Council earlier this year found that the shared services arrangement would provide “more opportunity to deliver efficiencies, and the savings expected than any other model”.

The council expects the arrangement to save £240,000 a year compared to the current model.

The assessment said: “The inclusion of Northumberland County Council's museums and collections within the Twam partnership is mutually beneficial and would add value and expand the regional museums offer, reaching and providing broader opportunities for engagement for Northumberland and North East residents and visitors.”

Northumberland County Council's leader, Glen Sanderson, said this week: "Museums are extremely important for our residents and visitors which is why the county council want to make sure we provide the very best offer we can. Our new providers come with a very impressive and proven track record and will bring a fresh spark which I am sure will be appreciated." 

Woodhorn Charitable Trust will be wound down at the end of this financial year.

The council said: "We are in the early stages of a Tupe [Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations] consultation process with employees of Woodhorn Charitable Trust. The formal consultation is yet to begin. No redundancies have been made. Following consultation staff from Woodhorn Charitable Trust will Tupe to the new partnership on 1 April 2025.

"Operationally 2025/26 will be a transition year as the Northumberland museums join the North East Museums partnership. The commitment to heritage and culture in Northumberland will continue through the new partnership."

The trust is currently part of Arts Council England's national portfolio and it is not yet clear what will happen to its annual National Portfolio Organisation grant of £346,680, which runs until 2026.

An Arts Council England spokesperson said: “Whilst it is too early to say what this means in terms of our own investment, we’re working with all partners to ensure communities in Northumberland continue to benefit from the county’s museums and their collections, building on the work and achievements of Museums Northumberland.”

There are relatively few shared museum services between local authorities in the UK, but other such partnerships include Colchester & Ipswich Museums and Norfolk Museums & Archaeology Service.

The shared model was recently promoted by former Tory culture minister Ed Vaizey, who told the House of Lords earlier this month that more cultural institutions should consider “M&As” (mergers and acquisitions) to ensure their survival.

Update
02.12.2024

The article previously stated that some roles at Woodhorn Charitable Trust had been made redundant. In fact a formal consultation on roles at the trust is yet to begin and no redundancies have been made as of yet. This article has also been updated to include statements from Northumberland County Council and Arts Council England.