Festival Focus is our professional development opportunity which offers Outdoor Arts professionals the chance to attend festivals as part of a small cohort.

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You’ll get the opportunity to meet festival organisers and artists as well as attend networking events where OAUK will make introductions and facilitate conversations. You’ll have individual professional development time with OAUK, be a part of a diverse cohort of fellow arts professionals and, of course, you’ll be seeing lots of shows!

Festival Focus is for artists, producers, programmers, funders, or local authority staff who are committed to working or supporting the Outdoor Arts sector. We welcome applications from a cross-section of career levels.

Join OAUK for exclusive member-only bursaries and no admin fee!

Festival Focus 2025

This year, we’re attending two events: An Indian Summer in Leicester and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.

An Indian Summer, Leicester

Fri 4 Jul – Sun 6 Jul

In Leicester, we’ll see how Inspirate use Outdoor Arts as part of a multimedia arts festival to serve their audience and how they work alongside indoor venues to boost their programmes offer.

UK City of Culture, Bradford 2025

Fri 25 Jul – Sun 27 Jul

In Bradford, we’ll see a variety of new commissions with a chance to network with the artists, meet the team behind Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture and understand how they’re using Outdoor Arts to help deliver a vibrant year of activity across the district.

Image credits: An Indian Summer 2024, produced by Inspirate, and Les Girafes by Compagnie Off, Bradford 2025, captured by Andy Benge (Aug 2024)

Cost and Bursary Places

Each selected individual is expected to cover own travel, accommodation and subsistence costs on a self-funded basis. There will be no additional charges to OAUK members, but a £45 administrative fee applies to non-members.

Bursary places are available to OAUK members, which will help cover accommodation, as well as £200 towards travel and subsistence. We will prioritise the allocation of bursary places to individuals who are freelance, and/or have historically faced disadvantage due to ethnicity, disability, socio-economic status and/or other protected characteristics.

Attendees applying for a Self-Funded basis are welcome to join both cohorts. Those applying for a bursary place will only receive a bursary to join one of the two cohorts. If you receive a bursary and would like to be part of the second cohort, you will need to join on a self-funded basis.

Join OAUK for access to bursaries, no admin fees and other benefits including members newsletters, outdoor arts resources, free webinars and invitations to contribute to sector advocacy.

Accessibility

We are dedicated to ensuring our services are accessible to everyone. We encourage you to contact us to discuss any specific access requirements you may have, and we will do our best to accommodate them. We are happy to discuss adjustments related to physical access, communication, and other support needs. For clarity, please note that childcare is not a service we provide or provide support for. Please contact David@outdoorartsuk.org to discuss your individual needs.

How to Apply

Please apply for Festival Focus using the online application form by end of day Sun 18 May 2025. You are welcome to apply to join both cohorts or just one.

If you’d like to submit an application via alternate means, please let us know. This might be via a video responding to the questions, or via audio file. If you would prefer to review a list of all of our questions before completing the online survey, you can request a PDF copy by emailing info@outdoorartsuk.org

If you have any queries, please contact David: david@outdoorartsuk.org

Deadline: End of Day 18 May 2025

Previous Festival Focus Cohorts Say…

“The [Festival Focus] programme achieved a great balance in a range performances, talks Q&A and reflections. I valued this mix and found each part built on and supported the others.”

“I have made new connections and relationships. The experience has given me the opportunity to reflect on my practise and consider the next steps in my professional and creative growth.”

“I learnt a lot about some of the theory behind performance work, how to understand what good quality looks like, and something about all the different types of work available.”

“Thank you for offering this opportunity to learn more about the outdoor arts industry. It was a well-planned and well-executed weekend.”

“Listening to the festival organisers speaking about their programming decisions was very interesting. It was also really good chatting to the delegates about how they work, and what they are producing.”

Join OAUK

Join OAUK to become part of the Outdoor Arts community – with Festival Focus bursaries and discounts, regular news updates, access to friendly support and resources, opportunities to develop skills and invitations to contribute to sector advocacy.

Join OAUK