Bupa Great North Run Culture explores the unique partnership between art and sport, using the world's largest-half marathon as a starting point for commissioning exciting, innovative and accessible projects. 

"...linking the worlds of art and sport in an unique and innovative way." www.Culture24.org

Established in 2005 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the world's largest half-marathon, Bupa Great North Run Culture has worked with some of the leading figures from the cultural world, including those based in the North East, each of whom offer an extraordinary insight into sport, art and the Bupa Great North Run. New work has been commissioned by Fiona Banner, Michael Nyman, Jane and Louise Wilson, David Almond, Bill Bryson, Julian Germain, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, Beat Streuli, Graham Dolphin, Neville Campbell, KMA, Sir Peter Blake and Vicki Bennett, among many others. 

We work in partnership with venues and other arts organisations to present and commission our work which encompasses film, photography, dance, drama, new writing and participation projects. Some of our key partners include BALTIC, New Writing North, The Sage Gateshead, Film and Video Umbrella, Seven Stories Centre for Children's Books, Locus+, Live Theatre, Tyneside Cinema, Tyne and Wear Museums and the Cultural Olympiad. 

"If people are still scratching their heads over the Cultural Olympiad, the national programme of arts events designed to pave the way to 2012, then they should take a look at the Bupa Great North Run Cultural Programme. It... shows no sign of exhaustion. In fact, it goes from strength to strength. Film makers, artists, choreographers and writers have responded to the drama and spectacle of the event, adding another dimension to it." The Journal

"...a great example of how you can make meaningful connections between sport and the arts, and over the last few years has done both commissions of the first order (eg Wilson Twins, Michael Nyman) and mass participation arts ‘events’. I think it’s an exemplar for 2012... It’s worth looking through what the Cultural Programme has been up to in recent years – it is a real achievement." Mark Robsinson, former Executive Director of Arts Council England, North East