GRANTS in excess of £100,000 have been awarded to the Bowes museum for the development of an interactive web site and the support of a temporary exhibition programme.

Resource, formerly the Museums and Galleries Commission, has approved an £80,000 plan to launch a new web site and collections management system, and Northern Arts has contributed £30,000 towards the costs of the programme.

The web site will provide access to a catalogue of exhibits at the museum in Barnard Castle, offer a virtual tour, a booking and inquiry service, educational resources for schools and colleges, news of current and future events, an on-line gift shop and live links to staff, Friends and junior Friends of the museum.

Marketing manager Dr Anne Allen said: "Resource had put our plans on hold until the future of the museum was assured. The award is excellent news."

The money will be used to develop public access to a catalogue of key items in the collection, focusing initially on material in current and forthcoming exhibitions.

Once in place it will enable the system to be expanded to cover all the collections. Researchers will be able to look up information on items not on display through an information point in the museum's library and the public will have access to the system through touch screen machines in the galleries.

A copy of the database will be available on the internet so that a potential worldwide audience can find out more about the museum's collections.

The money from Northern Arts means the museum can target new, younger audiences through exhibitions of contemporary art and design, along the lines of the highly successful Fifties Frocks, which featured a specially commissioned dress by fashion designer Bruce Oldfield.

Northern Arts is also supporting exhbitions at the Bowes, including the controversial (The New) Generic and the more traditional North Country Quilts.

The new year will see a display of the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2000: Jewellery, a touring exhibition showcasing the best in contemporary jewellery by some of the country's leading designers, and Extra Ordinary, featuring the work of jewellers who use predominantly recycled objects to create funky body adornment.

The Bowes received another boost on Wednesday when members of Teesdale council finance committee agreed to the museum's request for discretionary rate relief.

The web site will go live in April. In the meantime, information can be found at www.durham.gov.uk/bowesmuseum/