Creative Times

Festival Consortium Successfully raises standards for UK Outdoor arts towards 2012

Published 14.11.08

• Cohesive approach brings a new platform for national touring and an
  unparalleled opportunity for British artists
  9 dynamic British companies and artists commissioned and supported in 2008 x.trax Manchester success
  A strengthened sector towards 2012
  New partnerships with local authorities to be sought

Without Walls is a consortium of 7 of the UK's most significant street arts festivals: x.trax Manchester; Winchester Hat Fair; The Bristol Do; Brighton Festival; Norfolk and Norwich Festival; Greenwich + Docklands International Festival; Stockton International Riverside Festival.

A pioneering and compelling organisation, Without Walls is a new model for the strategic presentation and development of outdoor performance in the UK, successfully helping to strengthen both the landscape and profile of the festival arts sector.

With Arts Council England support, the consortium has created a touring platform to provide an unparalleled opportunity for new and emerging British Street Arts. A total of 9 dynamic companies and artists (details below) have been commissioned and supported by Without Walls to perform across the 7 member festivals in 2008.

This multiple platform opportunity is helping to build career paths for British artists, launching some of the best work from the UK onto the world stage and raising the bar in the sector through innovative collaboration and investment in new talent and ideas.

Working together, the Without Walls festivals, including x.trax Manchester, are increasing cohesion for the street arts sector, helping to develop the British arts economy and to promote the best of British culture overseas. By creating a more secure environment in which new work can flourish and be developed the partnership is strengthening the street arts sector towards 2012.

Manchester’s x.trax hosted 8 of the carefully selected Without Walls commissioned companies this summer. Considered to be the UK’s most important international showcase festival, x.trax has welcomed over 2000 delegates from 36 countries since 1997, with 76% of performing artists going on to receive further national and international bookings.

“Without Walls has made a terrific impact on the company; it was a crucial opportunity to take such a new piece of work to lots of festivals in one season and it is wonderful to be playing to such large and appreciative audiences. We are reaching more people than we typically do in venues.” Tim Tubbs, Without Walls commission 2008

Outdoor arts are now being recognized for their ability to encourage change, to engage and bring together communities and to shape a sense of place and identity. Outdoor arts are uniquely democratic: free, accessible and suited equally to both distinct and shared cultural expression. Through building closer working relationships with local authorities, Without Walls has the capacity to develop sustainable partnerships and help put outdoor work at the centre of our national cultural life.

Next year as we enter the four years of the Cultural Olympiad the Without Walls consortium are looking to extend the partnership to include selected local authorities and other partners to work with on specific commissions and presentations that will provide participating cities local engagement, a sense of being part of a national project and international profile.

In the context of the 2012 Olympics, organisers of major events will have every opportunity to call on artists based in this country to deliver iconic, transformational moments.

The chair of Without Walls is Bradley Hemmings, the director of Greenwich + Docklands International Festival. He says: “We currently have an incredible opportunity for UK street arts. Since 2007 we have been working to raise the standards and quality of street performance in this country, and recent Arts Council England investment is supporting pioneering new work and emerging artists and initiating a new era of creative growth. The winners will be both audiences and artists. The revitalised circuit of festivals across England is now well placed to meet the exciting challenges of 2012 and the Cultural Olympiad.”

Michael Eakin, Executive Director of Arts Council England, North West said "Without Walls is a brilliant example of leaders in a sector coming together to create something which is greater than a sum of all of its parts and which couldn't have happened without them working jointly in this way"

Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.