CONFIRMATION that York is regarded as Britain's centre of museum and attraction designers comes today with the announcement that the city is to host the 28th annual AIM (Association of Independent Museums) conference.

The three-day event at the Yorkshire Museum, from May 5, is sponsored by The Continuum Group - the industry leader in the design, build and operation of museums and visitor attractions - whose head office is in the city.

The national AIM conference is aimed at the independent museums and heritage industry from across the UK.

Main speaker will be Dominic Tweddle, chief executive of The Continuum Group, which owns and runs three of its own visitor attractions - the Real Mary King's Close in Edinburgh, the Oxford Story and the Canterbury Tales - will be the conference main sponsor.

John Walker, from York Archaeological Trust, will speak about the aftermath of Jorvik's success and Michael Jolly, former chief executive of the Tussauds Group will speak at the Annual AIM Dinner at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall on General Election night, May 5.

Roger Hornshaw, AIM administrator, said: "The AIM conference moves to a different region each year and we are really excited about being in York this year. We hope that the many museums in the area will take this opportunity to attend the conference."

Updated: 11:27 Tuesday, April 26, 2005