EVENTS
PICTURES: TOM BANKS
Tees Business LIVE: March 9, 2026
MIMA, MIDDLESBROUGH
IN ASSOCIATION WITH MIDDLESBROUGH COUNCIL, TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY & MIMA
The Tees Business LIVE event featured( from left) MIMA director Laura Sillars, the Creative Economist’ s Erika Rushton MBE, Middlesbrough FC’ s Helena Bowman, Navigator North’ s Vicky Holbrough and Middlesbrough Council head of culture Gaye Kirby.
CULTURE AGENDA
‘ Be proud, be Boro and embrace Turner Prize,’ firms urged
Businesses across the Tees Valley have been encouraged to embrace the opportunity when Middlesbrough hosts the Turner Prize.
A four-strong panel at Tees Business LIVE,“ Turner On Tees”, considered the implications of having such a worldrenowned contemporary art prize heading to Middlesbrough.
And all agreed the impact of welcoming the Turner Prize to Middlesbrough could be far-reaching for businesses and the community as a whole.
An autumn exhibition will showcase the world-famous accolade, which is coming our way after a joint partnership between Middlesbrough Council, Teesside University and the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art( MIMA).
And its impending arrival was greeted with enthusiasm by the Tees Business LIVE panelists – Navigation North director Vicky Holbrough, Creative Economist founder Erika Rushton MBE, Middlesbrough Council head of culture Gaye Kirby and Middlesbrough FC chief operating officer Helena Bowman.
Gaye told the 90-strong audience at MIMA:“ For it to come to Middlesbrough puts a real spotlight on the town and shows our ambition.
“ Economically, it’ s huge, but it’ s also about confidence – it’ s about pride of place. It’ s about saying we’ re Middlesbrough and we can host something like this and do it really well.”
6 | Tees Business
Gaye told delegates how the Turner Prize’ s arrival is part of a 10-year vision, begun in 2023, to develop the town’ s arts and creativity sector – including Middlesbrough’ s bicentenary celebrations in 2030.
She said:“ We are a creative place and it’ s about reclaiming that identity.
“ We are a town of‘ makers’. We always have been, but our industries have changed and evolved. We see the creative and digital sectors growing, but how do we make that more visible?
“ We’ ve just submitted an expression of interest to be City of Culture because we believe we’ ve got the infrastructure, the people and the creativity.
“ That’ s where we’ re going, and we want to take everyone with us and be bold. I always say,‘ Be bold, be Boro’.”
Calling it a“ huge achievement” to secure the Turner Prize, Helena Bowman pointed to the Riverside Stadium’ s part in boosting visitor numbers and interest in Middlesbrough – both for football matches and concerts.
She said of the Turner Prize award:“ It’ s such a brilliant thing for our area and the amount of people who will be coming – visitors to the town, celebrities, people invested in arts. We’ ve got to make sure we take advantage of that and showcase what’ s happening on Teesside.
“ Fifty per cent of people coming to Riverside Stadium concerts are from outside the Tees Valley, but this is off the scale in comparison – we just have to make sure we capture that and offer people the best experience.”
Vicky Holbrough felt it provided a perfect opportunity to enthuse the whole community.
She told the meeting:“ It’ s very much around what impact does this have on the people who live here and that includes artists and people who aren’ t engaged in art or culture.
“ For it to have true meaning and impact, we need to be looking at what that looks like for the everyday person.”
And Erika Rushton, who was involved in securing European Capital of Culture status for Liverpool in 2008, said that achievement not only gave the city confidence, it stimulated businesses and jobs too.
She said:“ There’ s a risk that we think art only happens in places like MIMA, but creativity is when we imagine the world differently.
“ And for all of you who run a business in this room today, you continually have to think of the future of your business. The businesses that die are those that can’ t reinvent themselves – the businesses that succeed are those that can reinvent themselves continuously.”
The Turner Prize will arrive in Middlesbrough, hosted by Teesside University’ s MIMA art gallery, under the banner Turner on Tees. The exhibition alone is forecast to attract more than 130,000 visitors.
Tees Business LIVE events are organised by Tees Business in partnership with series associate North East Chamber of Commerce.