The Line Art Walk is London’s first dedicated public art walk. It connects the natural and built environments of East London through an outdoor exhibition programme that allows everyone to explore art, nature and heritage for free. The Line’s route runs between Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and The O2 and connects three of London’s most disadvantaged boroughs – Newham, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich – which have some of the capital’s poorest health outcomes and lowest levels of cultural engagement, and whose communities have suffered disproportionately from the impacts of Covid-19. There is an urgent need for The Line’s programmes that support local communities to recover from the pandemic – connecting local people with culture in the urban landscape.
The charity was established by Megan Piper and the late regeneration expert Clive Dutton OBE. Local support and engagement with other grassroots organisations were key to the development of The Line and continue to be fundamental to its success. The Line currently includes works by sixteen artists. The majority of these are loans from artists, galleries and private collections but the programme also highlights a number of pre-existing works along the route, including Antony Gormley’s Quantum Cloud.
In 2020, The Line celebrated its fifth anniversary with the extension of its route into Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the launch of a new website and, for the first time, site-specific projects, commissions and cultural collaborations. The Line was awarded a Special Mention in the 2020 ULI Europe Awards for Excellence and has recently been listed in Condé Nast Traveller’s Best Walks in London. The Line has a digital guide on Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app.
The Charity's fundraising and programming focuses around the following five strands:
