Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) is a major regional museum, art gallery and archives service, managing a collection of nine museums and galleries across Tyneside and the Archives for Tyne and Wear.
TWAM holds collections of international importance in archives, art, science and technology, archaeology, military and social history, fashion and natural sciences. TWAM also delivers the Museum Development Programme for the North East, supporting a total of 55 museums operating in the region.
Our partnership with Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums creates great benefit for both of our organisations. Access to the archives, collections and specialist museum staff gives students and academics a rich resource base that enhances learning and opens up rich new research opportunities. We also gain mutual benefit from placement opportunities and student projects in TWAM’s venues across Tyne and Wear. Northumbria’s research expertise enables the museums and archives service to deepen and extend the knowledge they hold in collections and archives, and we collaborate to develop innovative new ways of using and conserving collections and developing exhibitions and events that engage with the public. Our Designing the Future series investigated perspectives from the past and the present to explore how design will impact on our future ways of living.
In 2013 our partnership launched the Henry Rothschild Ceramic Bursary, inspired by The Henry Rothschild Study Centre at the Shipley Art Gallery. The Shipley is home to a nationally significant collection of 20th century ceramics from the personal collection of Henry Rothschild, founder of the Primavera gallery in London. The biannual bursary of £5000 is jointly funded by the Rothschild family and Northumbria University, and has been developed in the spirit of Henry Rothschild's commitment to nurturing new talent, and his seminal role in encouraging talented and often undiscovered makers early in their career. The programme also connects with local people through a community programme led by artists that promotes engagement with ceramics making and the collection.
Research is the life blood of a University and at Northumbria University we pride ourselves on research that makes a difference; research that has application and affects people's lives.
