Tyne and Wear Museums' The Laing Art Gallery. © Tyne and Wear Museums

Four leading UK museum services are coming together to share their collections as part of an ambitious new national arts project that explores what it means to be British.

The project titled Imagine a Nation, will see a series of exhibitions and events run until 2012 that mine and combine the rich collections of Tyne & Wear Museums, Tate Britain, Museums Sheffield and Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery.

Enabled by a £1.15m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund the series of exhibitions will show works from British artists around the country – each designed to explore a vision of Britain. It is hoped that by sharing, the museums will be able to reach a combined total audience of over one million people.

Iain Watson, assistant director of Tyne & Wear Museums, said: “Imagine a Nation will allow us to develop our existing audiences as well as build new audiences for the rich art collections held by the partners. We are looking forward to developing the debate around identity and exploring new perspectives on British art and history.”

Norwich Castle will use the combined art collections to show how the family has changed in the last 500 years. © Norwich City Council

As part of the project, Tate Britain will curate a watercolour exhibition, which will include artists such as JMW Turner, John Sell Cotman, Chris Ofili and Tracy Emin.

The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle will curate an exhibition on the life and work of Northumberland born 19th Century artist John Martin.

Museums Sheffield’s Graves Gallery and Millennium Gallery will curate an exhibition called Restless Times, which will explore works of art made during the first half of the 20th century.

Family Values, at Norwich Castle Museum, will use the partners’ collections to show ways the family has been subject to the regional, cultural, ethnic and economic diversity of Britain over the last 500 years.

As part of the Imagine a Nation project, there will also be a series of smaller exhibitions, conferences, outreach work and an interactive website.