Audience experts in Durham for summit

A prestigious national summit aimed at boosting visitors to culture and the arts is being held in Durham for the first time this week (27 - 28 January).

Nearly 100 delegates from as far afield as Norway and all parts of the UK are attending the two-day Network Summit 2010 Need to Know conference at Durham’s Gala Theatre from Wednesday.

Experts in arts and culture audience development will be on hand to meet and debate with chief executives and senior marketing officers from arts and cultural organisations as well as local government and arts council officers, consultants, audience development agencies and ticketing providers.

Keynote speakers at the conference, which is hosted by Audiences North East for Network, the umbrella organisation for the UK’s regional audience development agencies, includes Kate Brindley, director of MIMA, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, and Graham Leicester, director of International Futures Forum and a former member of the diplomatic service.

Melanie Sensicle, chief executive of Visit County Durham, said: “Increasingly, Durham is being recognised as a centre for innovative cultural activities – our recent Lumiere winter festival of light which attracted around 75,000 visitors is testament to that.

“Hosting a conference of such national importance as Network Summit 2010 aligns perfectly with our bid to become the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013,” she said.
 

As part of the summit, delegates will visit Durham Cathedral for an evening reception supported by Visit County Durham.