Baroness Joyce Quin first Chair of new Strategic Board

Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (TWAM) is delighted to announce that Baroness Joyce Quin has been appointed as the first Chair of the TWAM Strategic Board.

TWAM is a major regional museum, art gallery and archives service. It manages a collection of nine museums and galleries across Tyneside, and the Archives for Tyne and Wear.

Joyce Quin’s life and career has been rooted in Tyne and Wear.  Brought up in Whitley Bay she gained a first class honours in French at Newcastle University, which led to an early academic career working as a French language and Politics lecturer at Durham University.

Joyce Quin served as an MEP (Member of the European Parliament) for Tyne and Wear for ten-years followed by 18-years as Member of Parliament for Gateshead East. In the House of Commons she held a variety of high profile Government Ministerial positions before entering the House of Lords in 2006. She is passionate about issues relating to cultural affairs, international affairs and regional policy, in particular relating to the North East.

TWAM: Establishing a Strategic Board is a core element of TWAM’s development.  It will enable TWAM to diversify the range of people, skills and expertise which will support and influence the strategic growth of the organisation.  One of the tasks will be to implement a commercial strategy that will help to fulfil the organisation’s mission, and to devise innovative ways to generate income.

The Strategic Board is made up of representatives from each partner local authority from Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside and South Tyneside; a representative from Newcastle University; and independent members.

Joyce Quin said of her appointment:

“I hope to build on TWAM’s great success as being one of the country’s leading cultural organisations, and to strongly support them in their work with schools and young people. 

“In my role as Chair of the Strategic Board. I will work with TWAM and their partners on helping to raise the profile of the region, and highlight our unique heritage and cultural assets.  This will be through major events and initiatives.  Next year is the perfect example, as we prepare to host the Great Exhibition of the North, which is a huge opportunity to showcase Newcastle, Tyneside and the North East as a great place in which to live and work.”

For over four-decades, Joyce Quin has also been an active Newcastle volunteer city guide; each year taking residents and tourists on heritage walks around the city.

Iain Watson, Director of Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums said:

“I’m very much looking forward to working with Baroness Quin. She is a respected figure who will bring TWAM excellent networks in the region and nationally, and provide great leadership as the new Strategic Board develops. The recruitment of such a senior figure as chair is also an indication of the very high regard in which TWAM is held.

“The Chair and the Strategic Board will help to steer TWAM in the direction it aims to take in future years.”