I can credit two events for revitalising my commitment –
such as it is – to this blog. The first was my recent domestic holiday, which I
started a month ago. I added 7 new museums and heritage sites to the index for
my journals, despite the pre-existing backlog, and I want to blog about all
7 very, very soon. The second event happened just this past weekend: The
Late Shows.
Come September, I will have lived in Newcastle for 5 years.
I moved up here to pursue museums as a career, and whilst fate has played out
slightly differently, nothing reconnects me more to that original purpose than
this weekend in May, as part of the wider national Museums at Night event. And
what a wonderful idea – opening up a cultural venue after hours and enticing
people in with special events. If, like me, you work regular weekday hours,
your museum-visiting time is curtailed to holidays, weekends and, if there’s
one nearby, maybe lunch breaks. There are a whole range of impracticalities
relating to opening up cultural venues in the evenings all year round, but
for one weekend a year, people have the opportunity to drop in and see what
their local museums have on show.
The dust has yet to settle on the 2014 Late Shows, so whilst
I gather my thoughts on this year’s offering, I thought I’d write a prelude
about my past experiences with the event, and how they opened my eyes to what
was truly around me on Tyneside.
My first exposure to The Late Shows was in 2010, whilst I
was still sitting my MA Heritage Education and Interpretation course at
Newcastle University. That weekend in particular saw me hosting my friend Dan,
who was my former housemate from our undergraduate days at Lancaster University.
He had driven up from Lancashire, and, as I did not have a set of wheels of my
own, we decided to spend the most part of Saturday at Beamish Open Air Museum,
which is not the easiest place to get to via public transport. We had lovely
weather for our visit, which would take the whole day as I had to document as much
as I possibly could for my journal (Beamish is #119 in my index).
Returning to my student house in Heaton, we changed and hit
the Toon for a few drinks. I had not forgotten that The Late Shows were going
on. At that time, I was in the placement module stage of my course, with my
placement being within the Renaissance North East Hub Learning team, or “The
Hub” for short. My colleagues within the Hub were all gearing up for the events
which would be happening within the flagship Tyne & Wear Archives &
Museums (TWAM) venues within Newcastle, principally the Great North Museum:
Hancock (index #102) and their base of operations, Discovery Museum (#98). I
wasn’t required to assist on the night, but I said I’d try and stop by, not
realising the scope of what they were involved in.
So Dan and I went out, had some food, had some beers and generally
caught up with one another. I talked about my second coming as a student and
what Newcastle was like to live in. Dan talked about his life as a policeman,
which I find endlessly fascinating. A few lagers later, I suggested we head
across to Discovery Museum, to see if any of my colleagues at the Hub where
there. And they were...along with half of city’s populace! Now, Discovery is a
large museum, and the Great Hall on the fourth floor, where the events were
being held, is a massive room which can hold a number of visitors, but I was
surprised to see quite how many people were milling about. I had previously
visited Discovery a handful of times: once for writing up in my journal, the
other times in relation to my MA course. But I had no idea that a single event
like The Late Shows could attract so many people.
The two of us had walked the entirety of Beamish earlier in
the day and were now slightly inebriated. Nevertheless, I showed Dan around as
much of Discovery Museum as I thought he would enjoy. Again, it is a large
museum, so there was plenty to see: not least The Newcastle Story (a gallery in
which visitors walk through the various eras of the city’s history), the
Tyneside Challenge gallery which focuses upon local innovations, or the
hands-on interactive minefield that is The Science Maze. But it was The
Soldier’s Life – Discovery’s military history gallery – which caught Dan’s
imagination the most. And I’m not sure it was for the content so much as it was
for the special features...
Aside from a merry copper riding a rocking horse within a
museum at night, the highlight of the evening was what was actually within the
Great Hall – the advertised event that was drawing people into Discovery
Museum: Giant Games! That is to say, traditional games that have been recreated
to a much larger scale, from Connect 4 and Chess boards to a large Scalextric race
track and a large button-bashing reaction test. All in all, it was a terrifically fun night and the memory has stayed with Dan
to this day. Well, the rocking horse has at least....
Fast forward a year, I wanted to be more involved in The
Late Shows. At the time, I was a freelance Heritage and ICT Facilitator on the
side, whilst living off of an admin job at a law firm. It did not look like I
would be staying in Newcastle for the long term, so at the time, I wanted to
contribute whilst I still had the opportunity. After all, I had only ended up
going to a single venue the year before.
An opportunity presented itself through my contacts. TWAM
were overseeing a volunteering scheme to get young people involved in
documenting The Late Shows for all those volunteers that were 18-25. The Late Shows 2011
were happening the month before I turned 26, so, eligible as I was, I signed
up. The plan was to go around as many venues as possible, taking pictures and
recording footage (audio and video) to get as complete a picture of the events
as possible. The technical side was being directly overseen by Rob McIver, whom
I had worked with closely during my time at The Hub, so he knew what I could
do. However, I only committed myself to this project for one of the two nights,
as I wanted the chance to volunteer at a single venue for a full night.
For those of you who haven’t had the chance to experience
The Late Shows, they run over the course of the Friday and Saturday night of
the allotted weekend. The cultural venues of Newcastle and Gateshead
collectively open their doors on the Saturday evening, but the Ouseburn
district of the city – which sits between Shieldfield, Manors and Byker – opens
up its doors on Friday evening as well. Nestled beneath tall bridges for road,
rail and Metro transport links, the Ouseburn boasts an urban farm, a stables,
some fantastic pubs, the Cluny live music venue, artist studios and Seven
Stories (#144) the National Children’s Centre for Literature, whilst further
down the valley on the mouth of the Tyne is The Toffee Factory artistic complex,
The Cycle Hub centre – a one stop haven for the cycling enthusiast – and some
more pubs.
So for 2011, I committed myself to help capture the mood of
the Ouseburn on the Friday night, whilst I would be one of the two volunteers
stationed at Newcastle’s Castle Keep (#104) on the Saturday night. Not only
would it be another string to my museum-based volunteering bow, but I’d also
receive a free, and very fetching, Late Shows-branded hoody:
...the large size, clearly. So after work, I headed from the
Haymarket down to Seven Stories, where I met up with Rob and my fellow members
of the “Documenting Team”. I had been to Seven Stories once before with the
Hub, but had yet to add it to my journals – that would happen a month later
when my parents came up to visit. Literally seven floors tall, it’s an unsung
gem of a place which champions the best of children’s literature through
engaging displays, with plenty to occupy young visitors. I make a point to visit
every year during The Late Shows, although that’s partially because it’s free
to enter during those evenings and I’m a cheapskate! Be that as it may, it’s
another reason for parents to take advantage of the event and check out a venue
they might otherwise not visit.
After starting our documenting at Seven Stories, we moved on
to other parts of the Ouseburn. We were not the only group milling around, as
The Late Shows is not solely restricted to venues and buildings. The troupe of
players known as the Time Bandits were on hand to give open-air performances of
their Jack the Ripper show, with the occasional scream distracting the bemused
denizens of The Cluny, who were sitting outside and watching on whilst cradling their plastic pint glasses.
After getting some video footage from the actors – in character, naturally – we
moved up the Stepney Bank road, which leads up to the west side of the valley. The
route takes you past Northern Print, a perennially popular Late Shows
destination by virtue of the fact that it gets VERY busy! But then, who doesn’t
enjoy the spirit of Caxton?
But my personal highlight of that night was the contribution
of the artistic collective Roots and Wings. Their contribution was a treasure
hunt around the Ouseburn, which started at the “Enchanted” door of their
building on Stepney Bank. We spotted the queue leading to the door before we
saw the door itself. A set of instructions were posted nearby, imploring
visitors to knock on the door and state the password: “Roots & Wings”. We
set up our video camera and watched as a family group walked up to the door,
behind which some ethereal music was playing, and knocked. An amplified,
hoarse-sounding voice boomed out from the other side of the door, asking for
the password. The children shouted back “ROOTS AND WINGS!” From there, the
hoarse voice gave way to the loud chords of ‘O Fortuna’ as dry ice flushed through the
letterbox, along with a special envelope for the children. As it appeared the
voice boomed out its commandments “TAKE THE ENVELOPE AND FOLLOW THE
INSTRUCTIONS!!” I’ve managed to unearth one of the videos we compiled, which
illustrates the visuals, if not the booming voice, about 54 seconds into the clip. Heck, even when taking a 10 minute break to make up further envelopes
(such was the demand), the booming voice decided to tell cheese-related jokes
over the ethereal music to keep the queue entertained. Such as:
WHAT KIND OF CHEESE DO YOU USE TO HIDE A SMALL HORSE? MASCARPONE!
WHAT KIND OF CHEESE DOESN’T BELONG TO YOU? NACHO CHEESE!
WHAT KIND OF CHEESE DO YOU USE TO COAX A BEAR OUT OF A TREE?
CAMMEMBERT (COME OUT OF THAT TREE!)
Maybe they don’t work as well written down, but I re-enacted
them to my sister a few months later whilst in a car and she nearly swerved off
of the road with mirth!!
After interviewing those who had received envelopes to get
an insight into the nature of the clues, we headed back down the hill, stopping
by the 36 Lime Street Studios before calling it a night. For my compadres, they
would be doing the same thing all over again the following night, whereas I
would be abandoning them to spend my Saturday evening in a bloody great castle!
Again, I think to describe The Castle Keep is best left for
another day, so instead I will talk about the experience of volunteering there.
Worthy as it was, I could not help but think, as I stood alongside my fellow
volunteer, whose name I’ve sadly forgotten, that I had made a mistake. In the
brief downtime I had that night, due to the slow
queuing on the stairs guaranteeing that it was largely chock-a-block throughout
the night, I was the one stringing the trademark Late Shows glowsticks. Yes,
the beloved glowsticks! Join The Late Shows bandwagon too late, and you run the
risk of not getting one at all, whilst certain sly beggars can go around the
place hoarding a substantial amount! But they do lose a certain amount of
lustre when a) they haven’t been cracked into translucent life, and b) you’re
handing them out to other people.
And when you’re stood in the same place for
hours on end, it’s almost a given that some of the people filing in will be people
you know or recognise. I shared a few words with my university friends as they greeted me, asking them where they had been and what they had seen. Yes, I had wanted to
volunteer, but now that I was volunteering, I was green with envy. I felt like
I was missing out. I *was* missing out, however noble it is to volunteer (and
it is noble). And after shutting the large wooden doors to the punters at 11pm,
I waited for my complimentary taxi ride home, feeling weary and fairly down for
denying myself a night of new sights and discoveries. Even though the Time Bandits had shown up at the Keep halfway
through the night to perform for the visitors, I didn’t feel like I had
experienced much from within those thick medieval walls.
A month or so later, an event was held by TWAM to thank the
volunteers for their efforts over The Late Shows. It was being held at Tyneside
Cinema, the Newcastle’s premier independent cinema, because some
of the video footage that we had shot and edited together would be projected on to
the big screen, whilst there would also be a free buffet, goody bags – the
reason why I’m the proud owner of a TWAM-branded mug – and also a free
screening of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’. I give it 3 stars out of 5: I found
the central character to be largely unsympathetic, which hampered the film’s
narrative flow. Still, funny in places and Principal Rooney was fun.
Come 2012, in which I now had a full time job, and an MA to
pay off, I put away notions of using The Late Shows to impress old friends or
to make a contribution. That year, I wanted to see the vast scope of The Late
Shows as a regular punter, taking in what was on display as someone whose
direct connection to the museum world was steadily loosening. 2011 had taught me the structure of how to approach The Late
Shows: namely, devote your Friday night to the Ouseburn, then prioritise what
you want to do in Newcastle/Gateshead on the Saturday. And it was literally
what I wanted to do as well – I wasn’t taking anyone with me. This was my own
selfish treat to finally see what my adopted city had to teach me.
In truth, I don’t have much in the way of the anecdotes for
this year. I didn’t take any pictures on either night, I tweeted once at the
end of each night to say how much I had enjoyed the event, and travelling alone
has the distinct disadvantage of lesser chances of memorable incidents. Which
isn’t a bad thing when I’m doing my museum tour, but the bonhomie of visiting
such places at night whilst weaving through people having a traditional night out,
almost lends itself to visiting in pairs/groups.
My plan was that I started at GNM: Hancock and worked my way
down towards the Tyne, looking to cross over to Gateshead. I didn’t get nearly
that far – I called it a night after re-visiting the Castle Keep to mentally compare the visitor numbers with those of the previous year. But en route, I managed to
visit places that I had never seen before. The particular highlights were two
institutions that happen to live next door to one another: The Literary & Philosophical Society and The Mining Institute. The former with its magnificent
library, and the latter’s fantastic hall and lecture theatre; both sites were
real eye-openers, particularly given the countless times I had walked past
their buildings without any idea of what they held. That is what The Late Shows
can do – change your perception of the city you live in. For a community which
is seeing the remnants of its industrial past being dismantled and packed away
for the 21st century, it is important that citizens and tourists alike
are exposed to such places to gain a proper insight into Newcastle’s past.
Last year, I followed the ground rules of what I had
established in 2012, but decided to change things up subtly in two ways. The
first was to set less targets of what to go and see. The second was to tweet
about it. Tweet incessantly, and earn that Twitter handle you bestowed upon
yourself. So Friday evening came along, and I started at the venue nearest my
own house – The Biscuit Tin Studios. Not only was it a building I’d never been
to before, but certain artists were giving out complimentary plastic cups of
wine! I moved through Shieldfield, via Holy Biscuit: the gallery within a contemporary
church building. I then went to the larger sister site of The Biscuit Factory,
with more art on display, more artist studios and more wine! After running into
my friend Caroline, who had a hand in the running of the Late Shows, I
continued on my merrier-than-anticipated way, moving down the Stepney Bank for
another busy Northern Print visit and into the central area of the Ouseburn.
I sidled into Ouseburn Farm to check out the sights and
smells, whilst an exhibition based upon the nest patterns of birds was on
display inside. I gave it a mention on Twitter and the artist subsequently
followed me – the tweeting strategy was
working! The route was already becoming familiar to me after 3 years. From the
farm, we go past the Cluny. To Seven Stories, to see what might capture the
imagination this time around: I tweeted about the fact that I had spent time in
front of some ‘Where’s Wally?’ illustrations. Double back to 36 Lime Street for
the annual cardiovascular workout of climbing its many floors. Then head out
towards The Toffee Factory, stopping by a mobile exhibition space run by the
Ouse Street Arts Club, mixing a bar with computer games and table tennis!
Finally, upon reaching The Toffee Factory, I experience “The Big M”; an
inflated tent with three large screens, showcasing looping imagery to music. All
in all, a good evening’s jaunt in culture.
If my tweeting rule proved successful on the Friday, then my
free-form jazz approach to where I wandered on the Saturday worked a treat.
Starting at the Great North Museum: Hancock, I bounced from there to its sister
site (GNM: Hatton) to the Newcastle Central Library, to the Laing Art Gallery
across the road. If I thought the beach party vibe of the Central Library was a
little offbeat, then the Laing belting out some loud dance tracks was a
complete surprise! From there I found myself in the Church of St John listening
to cello music in the haze of incense, before walking up the road to Newcastle
Arts Centre, which was hosting live African music. Further west I headed, to
the Globe Gallery, where I was invited to hang a personalised tube from the
ceiling, and to its larger neighbour of the Discovery Museum, where the theme
was similar insofar that messages relating to individual identity were being collated
and would be hung by a massive crane at the end of the night. I stayed for that
and then called it a night.
So there we have it. Four years experiencing The Late Shows,
from starting off with a brief taster for the event, to a budding volunteer,
then an interested explorer, and, finally, a ramshackle semi-veteran. This is
the basis upon which I get excited for that one weekend in May, for as long as
I live in or around Tyneside. This is the event which reminds me how much the
North East positively gushes with culture. And through these experiences, I was
chomping at the bit for the 2014 Late Shows to arrive. And arrive they did.
But that’s next week’s lengthy
entry!
