National Glass Centre

Following a successful fundraising campaign, we are delighted to announce our success in attracting £2.25 million worth of investment for our re-development programme which will begin this month and continue until Summer 2013.

We have successfully attracted £750,000 from the Arts Council England’s Large Capital Programme, £337,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and £50,000 from the Foyle Foundation.  This, coupled with the £975,000 investment from the University of Sunderland, illustrates a significant commitment to the development of the arts in the City.

The investment will contribute towards our ambitious re-development project, which will see major improvements to our gallery and learning spaces.  It will also contribute to the cost of the addition of new electric furnaces in our integrated Hot Glass Studio, which will improve our environmental sustainability and significantly reduce its carbon footprint.

We will be developing a new heritage gallery within the centre that will be created alongside an extensive range of learning activities. The new exhibition spaces, which will showcase the origins of glass, the growth of the glass industry and the legacy of glass making in Sunderland, will help boost our visitor numbers and enable more people to come in and enjoy this important heritage.

On 1 January 2013 the Centre temporarily closed to the public in order to begin work on the re-development.  The project is due for completion in Summer 2013 when the Centre will re-open to the public with a high profile launch event.