By Alastair Balls, Chairman Of Newcastle Gateshead Initiative., The Journal
When I was approached to take up the chairmanship of Newcastle Gateshead Initiative I was both excited by the prospect and enthusiastic about the opportunities it presented.
I have watched with real admiration and been pleased to be a participant as this region has transformed itself, in just a few years, into a thriving and vibrant place in which to live, work and visit and demonstrated the power of its creativity in so many spheres.
I'm very keen to be part of culture10, helping to ensure that NewcastleGateshead's ambitions to create a decade of world-class culture are realised and all the benefits that it will bring to the area. In particular, I'm looking forward to seeing how the unusual, innovative events taking shape invigorate people and encourage them to take part in the activities as well as attracting visitors to the region. So much has already been achieved and I join Newcastle Gateshead Initiative at a very exciting stage in its development. We recently announced Hotbed 2004, this year's theme for culture10 events taking place throughout the summer across the region.
I am also interested to see how we can develop the region on an international level, attracting many more visitors from overseas. We have already established very successful links in key European markets such as Spain, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands but with the growth of direct, low-cost air routes into the region this is really just the beginning. There is no doubt that work we have done so far as a region has been a huge success. Our priority now is to build on this success, make the North-East more international and harness this creativity and diversity which make our region so special.
As one of the liveliest and most vibrant places in the UK communicating this message is critical to how we are viewed by the rest of the country and Europe. So let's continue to shout about our achievements and make sure we sustain the momentum created so far.
