Outdoor Spectacles

Please see the bottom of this page to follow links to outdoor spectacles that I have produced…

Celebrating the Diversity of Outdoor Arts

Outdoor Arts is a relatively newly defined type of work that not only appears in streets, parks and squares but can also be presented on rooftops, on rivers, across cities, towns and villages, in festivals in fields and festivals in High Streets, on top of barges, on the sides of buildings, in the middle of bridges, bouncing on trampolines, hanging from trapezes or cranes… and so on. Basically it’s art that takes place away from traditional venues, in the public realm and (usually) out of doors.

In the past it may have been called ‘street theatre’ and often it includes that type of performance but of course it’s not always on the street. And then there’s ‘street art’ but that’s usually something else again – such as grafitti art.

Outdoor Arts include many different art forms such as theatre, contemporary dance, music, traditional dance, puppetry, comedy, pyrotechnics, visual art, digital art and plenty of circus. It can appear in public processions, carnivals and melas, as well as at small local festivals, in shopping centres and in front of major cultural institutions. Employing professional artists from across the globe and across the disciplines, it can also include public participation – from a cast of hundreds or perhaps just one.

I was honoured to be a director of the national strategic organisation, Outdoor Arts UK, for many years. We celebrated the amazing work, talent and achievements of the individuals and organisations working in this most accessible of art forms and as a board we ensured this fact was recognised by the Arts Council of England.