There are now less than two weeks to explore a popular outdoor art trail.
The SmileyWorld® Art Trail sees 15 bright and brilliant giant sculptures, based on human emotions, located across North Tyneside’s town centres and coast.
The event will finish after the Easter bank holiday weekend on Tuesday 2 April, before heading to London’s Battersea Power Station.
Around 20,000 visitors have already experienced the trail, using an app or printed map to find a range of instantly recognisable emotions, located in North Shields, Forest Hall, Killingworth, Tynemouth, Cullercoats, Wallsend and Whitley Bay. Designed to get people talking about their own emotions, they include admiration, calmness, anxiety, sadness, excitement, joy and pride.
Fifteen creatives were tasked with interpreting and responding to each one and their work can be found on the reverse of the sculptures.
The trail was created through a collaboration between The Smiley Company® and creative producers Wild in Art.
It is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund with the North of Tyne Combined Authority as the lead authority. The award was from an allocation specifically dedicated to culture, creative and tourism projects.
The event followed in the footsteps of Morph’s Epic Art Adventure in 2022 which saw around 60,000 people take part, and The Snowman™ and The Snowdog trail during the winter of 2020. Both trails premiered in North Tyneside providing a boost to the local economy before going on to towns and cities around the UK.
The Smiley Company’s goal is to spread positivity through smiles, to make the world a happier, kinder place. Throughout the last five decades, all of its collaborations, partnerships and experiences have promoted this ethos, and as the Smiley team looks ahead to the next 50 years and beyond, they're constantly finding ways to show people how to smile back at the world.
The SmileyWorld® Art Trail runs until 2 April in support of St Oswald’s Hospice. The app is available for iPhone and Android phones from the app store.
Visitors can download and print a map at home while a limited supply of souvenir maps are available from Customer First Centres.
For further information see www.visitnorthtyneside.com.