About

Who We Are

Rosy Naylor, Founder & Artistic Director
Alice Mainstone, Producer
Maddie Lennon, Programme Assistant

Board members:
Genevieve Fay (chair), Jenny Martin, Frazer McNaughton, Jude Nixon, Kirsty Paton, Iman Tajik

Festival organising committee:
Jon Davey, Jenny Martin, Jude Nixon, Karl Stern

Office:
146 Duddingston Road West
Edinburgh EH16 4AP

Enquiries:
General info@artwalkprojects.co.uk
Art Walk Weekends weekends@artwalkprojects.co.uk

Image:In the Round (Emily Nicholl, as part of our 2025 Arcade programme)

Art Walk Projects is an artist-led organisation founded in Portobello, a coastal suburb of Edinburgh, delivering programmes that reposition the relationship between artist, audience and community. We work collaboratively with artists and communities to create experimental, ambitious environmental focussed art projects, embedded in place and local ecologies across north east Edinburgh.

From 2026 our annual festival, Art Walk Porty, is changing to Art Walk Weekends continuing annually in September, and we introduce a new environmental coastal biennial arts festival FORECAST, to commence from May 2027.

Art Walk Weekends (5-6 + 12-13 September 2026) centres around an open exhibition of Portobello’s local creative community, arranged around four walking routes of the local neighbourhood. Artists exhibit works in homes, shops, studios and community spaces over the two weekends. Artists are invited to apply through our website from 2-31 March.

FORECAST will take place during May 2027 and will focus on environmental art focussing on Edinburgh’s coast, with multi arts outcomes coming through our year-round residencies and ongoing artist projects. A new round of residencies The Held Sea is due to be announced in April 2026 with opportunities for further open call commissions later in the year.

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Our Mission:

To produce site responsive public realm art projects, artist residencies, exhibitions and events embedded within communities of North East Edinburgh, that widen access to art, focussing on environmental oriented new art and coastal futures.

Our Values:

Transform –

We want to push boundaries that extend the experience of art for all who encounter it. We want art to serve as a catalyst that transforms lives, places and ways of thinking.

Embrace –

We celebrate the many identities of Scotland and commit to giving voice to a broad audience and community base. Deeply rooted in our work is the providing of meaningful engagement to those from all backgrounds, embedding diversities, inclusion and accessibility across every aspect of our programme and organisation.

Participate –

We believe in art as a collaborative act of care, that experiments with the way artists work with audiences and participants; one grounded in cultural exchange, participatory practice and embedded in place.

Nurture –

We recognise the importance of enabling valuable, supportive structures for artists to work within, that allow for slowly responsive projects, emphasising under-represented practices and practitioners.

Innovate –

Strong, compelling work we believe is founded through the capacity to look outwith, and challenge existing ways of working. We strive to make connections across localities, with Edinburgh’s coast serving as a portal to other UK coastal communities.

Art Walk Projects is funded by Creative Scotland’s Multi Year Fund (2025-28), the National Lottery Community Fund and City of Edinburgh Council Event Fund.