Antony Gormley, the artist behind the Angel of the North, was back in the region today to launch a major art project.

Dubbed the Arena project, it will see Mr Gormley mentor five up and coming artists, who in turn will work with 60 A Level art students to produce five pieces of public art.

The project was officially launched yesterday at the Baltic arts centre in Gateshead. But details and exact locations of the where the art works will go are yet to be announced, as negotiations are still ongoing with the owners of the proposed sites.

Antony Gormley said he was looking forward to working with the five artists. "This is something I have never done before but I'm already surprised and delighted by the range of ideas generated by the artists," he said.

The £224,000 Arena project is being part-funded by a £116,790 education award from NESTA, the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, to North-East charity, the Samling Foundation. It is one of the biggest grants NESTA has ever given out to a charity.

Lord David Puttnam, chairman of NESTA, said: "NESTA is delighted to be supporting this exciting public art and education initiative.

"It's tremendous to attract a world-renowned artist such as Antony Gormley to mentor this new generation of artists."

Additional funding has come from The Northern Rock Foundation, Northern Arts, The Samling Foundation and the five councils of Newcastle, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

Bosses at the Baltic have pledged organisational support to the project.

The five commissioned artists taking part are Runa Islam, Wolfgang Weileder, Carl von Weiler, Louise K Wilson and Tom Woolford.