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Our Cultural Venues

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Our Cultural Venues

Supporting the cultural richness of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Key enablers for research and teaching

Our cultural venues are key enablers for our research and teaching in many subject areas. They are also an important part of our Engagement and Place strategy.

Developing world-leading research with the public

Increasingly our venues are becoming hubs of interdisciplinary research. They're taking our world-leading research to a public audience. In 2021-22, almost 626,000 people attended our:

  • public lectures
  • performance arts events
  • galleries
  • museums
  • other cultural events

Great North Museum: Hancock

The Great North Museum is our museum of natural history, archaeology, geology and world cultures.

Its vision is to inspire curiosity, learning and debate.

It does this through a stimulating, innovative and provocative science and cultural engagement programme.

There is cutting edge university research at its heart.

The skull of a dinosaur at Great North Museum: Hancock.

Collections and archives

The Museum holds the collections of the Natural History Society of Northumbria and the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne. The Museum works with colleagues and students across our three Faculties. The collections and archives particularly support:

  • archaeology
  • botany
  • ethnography
  • geology and palaeontology
  • zoology
A stag on display at Great North Museum: Hancock

Museum studies teaching and research

In addition, the museum itself is a focus for our teaching and research in museum studies. This is across areas such as digital innovation, learning and participation, and audience engagement.

Visit the Great North Museum: Hancock website


The Hatton Gallery

Founded in 1912, the Hatton Gallery stages a programme of modern and contemporary art exhibitions, and events.

From the 1950s and 1960s the Hatton has pioneered experimental exhibition making, often by blending disciplines.

A famous examples of this was Richard Hamilton’s Man, Machine and Motion. It went on to be shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.

The gallery is home to Kurt Schwitters’ Merz Barn (1948) and the Hatton Collection.

The Hatton Gallery

Significant investment in improving the gallery

The gallery recently received significant improvement work funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

We are looking forward to building on the gallery’s heritage of interdisciplinary and experimental exhibition making.

We also use the Hatton as a “living lab” for teaching, research and contemporary programming.

Outside the Hatton Gallery on Newcastle University campus.

A venue for our talented students

Each year, the Hatton hosts the Fine Art Degree and MFA shows. Students from our School of Arts & Culture also curate exhibitions there.

Explore our Fine Art Research and Teaching

The Gallery is complemented by art across our Newcastle campus.

Visit the Hatton Gallery website


The Philip Robinson Library – special collections and exhibitions

One of four libraries on our Newcastle campus, the Philip Robinson library is home to our special collections and archives.

It has dedicated physical and virtual exhibition spaces. They are used to showcases our extensive collections.

Often these exhibitions are co-curated by students and researchers. They are derived in partnership with cultural and heritage organisations regionally and nationally.

Students looking at our special collections.

Our exhibitions

Exhibitions often amplify university research strengths.

Previous work has included exhibitions on Gertrude Bell and Contemporary Poetry Collections.

The collections have also supported transformative initiatives such as social justice through exhibitions on:

  • Martin Luther King’s visit to Newcastle
  • Newcastle’s Forgotten Female Reformers
The outside of the Philip Robinson Library.

Archive Service accreditation

Since 2018, the library has held Archive Service accreditation.

Find out more about our special collections