VISIT
The Festival welcomes local people and visitors from outside the region. Information about the easiest way to visit and buy tickets for AV Festival 14 will be online at the end of this year. The next Festival will take place from 1-31 March 2014.
If you are professional working in contemporary visual art, film, music and sound, you can apply for accreditation to visit the Festival. This will include invitations to our previews and launch events, transport to venues, and ticket discounts. The professional accreditation application process will open in October 2013.
In the meantime if you would like to keep in touch, please sign up to our email list, to receive news updates throughout 2013.
TRAVEL: Getting to the North East
General information about traveling to North East England can be found here:
http://www.newcastlegateshead.com/
http://www.thisismiddlesbrough.com/
Flights
There are two airports for direct domestic and European flights:
Newcastle International Airport: www.newcastleairport.com
Durham Tees Valley Airport: www.durhamteesvalleyairport.com
A Metro train operates between Newcastle International Airport and central Newcastle (7 miles). An Arriva bus service (no.20) operates between Durham Tees Valley Airport and central Middlesbrough (12 miles).
Boats
DFDS Seaways operate a daily ferry service between Amsterdam and Newcastle. www.dfdsseaways.co.uk
Trains
Check National Rail Enquiries for all national and local train timetables. www.nationalrail.co.uk
The following national services run trains to Newcastle and Middlesbrough:
East Coast mainline from London and Scotland: www.eastcoast.co.uk
First TransPennine Express from North West England: www.tpexpress.co.uk
CrossCountry from Penzance to Aberdeen (connecting in Darlington for Middlesbrough): www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk
The following national service runs trains to Sunderland: Grand Central from London: www.grandcentralrail.co.uk
Road
The A1(M) links with Scotland; the M6 links with Scotland and the West of England; and the M1/M6 links with the South. Typical journey times are approximately: 2 hours from Edinburgh, 3 hours from Manchester and 5 hours from London.
TRAVEL: Traveling around the North East
It is easy to travel between the Festival urban centres of Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough.
For Metro and buses in Tyne and Wear: www.nexus.org.uk
For public transport in the whole region: www.traveline.org.uk
Metro
The Tyne and Wear Metro has 60 stations serving Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland. Approximate Metro journey times are 5mins between Newcastle and Gateshead and 30mins between Newcastle and Sunderland.
Trains
Northern Rail runs a direct service connecting Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough approximately once an hour daily: www.northernrail.org. Typical journey time between Sunderland and Middlesbrough is 56mins and between Newcastle and Middlesbrough is 75mins.
More frequent, and often faster, services run from Newcastle to Middlesbrough connecting in Darlington (East Coast Mainline, Arriva Cross-Country or Transpennine Express connecting to Northern Rail).
Road
The approximate journey time between Newcastle and Sunderland is 30mins. Middlesbrough is at the intersection of the A19 and A66, and is within 60mins of Newcastle and 45mins of Sunderland.
