The season explored the intersections of art, landscape, and movement, combining exhibitions, workshops, talks, and participatory walks across Northumberland and the wider region.

A key highlight was the Art-Walking Weekend at Highgreen, Tarset, on 13–14 July 2013. The weekend brought together around 150 visitors, with 140 bookings for participatory walks led by artists and collaborators for whom walking is central to their practice. The weekend opened with a celebratory party featuring music by the Tarset Ceilidh Band and Tarset Song Reivers, setting the tone for an engaging and communal atmosphere.

During the weekend, artists led creative walks, talks, and workshops, demonstrating how walking can inspire artistic response and reflection. Participants were encouraged to engage with the landscape with heightened awareness, observing wildlife, natural forms, and human interventions while exploring their own relationship to place. The weekend illustrated how walking with intention can become both a practice of artistic creation and a meaningful mode of connecting with the environment and local community.

The programme included a major touring exhibition, WALK ON, which opened at the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland on 1 June, and a symposium, ON WALKING, hosted by the University of Sunderland from 28–29 June. An exhibition of Mike Collier’s work, The Resilience of the Wild, was shown at Customs House, South Shields from 8 June to 21 July. In addition, a series of satellite venues—including Wallington Hall (National Trust), Kielder Castle, and Berwick Gymnasium—presented specially commissioned artists’ projects, all exploring the creative and experiential dimensions of walking.

Funding for the season was provided through the Rural Development Programme for England, jointly funded by Defra and the European Union, alongside support from Arts Council England. Additional backing came from Art Circuit Touring Exhibitions, WALK, Highgreen Estate, and Artangel.