Here is your #OutdoorArts roundup – find out what’s happening over the next few weeks!

Prescot | 11-13 Aug | Serious Nonsense Festival transforms Prescot Town Centre into a chaotic festival of fun! Don’t miss Mr Lear and the Rocket by Walk the Plank featuring Imaginarium Theatre, Cheapskate Catering by Vamos Theatre, Box and The Crow House by Circo Rum Ba Ba, Got Your Nose By Tin Arts, Kit and Caboodle by Thingumajig Theatre, and the Phileas Fogg Victorian Hot Air Balloonists.

Thoresby Park | 11-13 Aug | Gloworm Festival is a 5-time Uk Festival award-nominated, family-friendly festival that brings music, art and entertainment to the heart of Sherwood Forest. Festival goers are invited to come and play in a warm and welcoming environment, inspiring the imaginations of children big and small with a wealth of entertainment including puppet shows from HandMade Theatre.

Newcastle | 11-13 Aug | NOVUM – Newcastle Summer Festival – is a brand-new multi-artform event transforming the Civic Centre and surrounding gardens into a cultural playground, where audiences can make, explore and engage with art, music, performances and installations. Don’t miss Olivier Grossetête’s Monumental Construction and Destruction – made by the people for the people.

London | 11-20 Aug | King’s Cross Summer Sounds is one of London’s most inclusive free music festivals. Catch live concerts every evening from 6.30-8.30pm and from 1-6pm on Family Sundays. Don’t miss Step Hop House, Ceilidh Jam and The Maypole Workshop by Folk Dance Remixed, ARCADE by Casson & Friends, and performances from Simple Cypher.

Andover | 11-25 Aug | Four Fun Fridays brings performances and interactive work to the streets of Andover every Friday in August!

Kensington & Chelsea | Aug | Kensington & Chelsea Festival is a multi-arts festival born out of a desire to lift spirits by celebrating culture and creativity, including creative experiments enabling audiences to see artists bringing new ideas to life:

  • 12 Aug | Black Victorians by Jeanefer Jean-Charles MBE explores a complex, but often forgotten black presence in pre-Windrush Britain.
  • 12-13 Aug | Grasshoppers by Circus Katoen is a reproduction of the resilience and vulnerability of nature and the role that we as humans play in it.
  • 12-13 Aug | Lungs of Our City by 2Faced Dance is a dance theatre work for our times… Three male performers inhabit a futuristic space where wanderers of a desolate world come together to breathe in our polluted cities.
  • 13 Aug | Tape That! by Hands Down Circus is a playful exploration of the world we live in; when challenges present themselves, just how many problems can be fixed with a few rolls of duct tape?
  • 19-20 Aug | CastAway by Highly Sprung is a stunning outdoor aerial theatre performance that explores the impact of today’s throwaway society.
  • 19-20 Aug | Captive by Motionhouse is an exciting blend of dance, acrobatics and aerial work inside a large cage.
  • 19-20 Aug | Knot by Motionhouse sees two male dancers using extreme physicality, complex lifts and contact choreography to explore the many facets of human relationships through physical expression.

Worthing | Aug & Sep | Spin Out Festival features a range of mesmerising open-air performances from the best and most exciting theatre, circus, street arts, music and dance performers:

  • 12 Aug | Kevin Tickle’s Dogs! by Dizzy O’Dare is an hilarious observation of the interesting relationship between human and dog, the silly situations we put ourselves in and the immense love we have for them.
  • 19 Aug | PUBLIC by Ockham’s Razor incorporates acrobatics, parkour and dance as they move through the architecture of the streets, lifting each other over and around walls, stairs, obstacles – dancing with the fabric of the world.

Hounslow | 12 Aug | ANHAD at Bell Square London is an exciting outdoor multi-arts festival of exceptional, cutting-edge contemporary work by South Asian artists based in the UK.

Manchester | 12-13 Aug | Manchester Caribbean Carnival is an annual festival that brings the Caribbean flavour and revelry to the city. This year’s carnival holds special significance as it commemorates 75 years since the arrival of the Windrush generation – don’t miss the procession making its way through the crowds with steel bands, floats with DJs, dance troupes with carnival queens and princesses, elaborate costumes and folklore characters.

Nottingham | 12-13 Aug | The Hare and The Moon by The Fabularium is coming to Nottingham thanks to Lakeside Arts. With music, puppets and songs, come to hear the story of Leapa the fearless Arctic Hare as they save the realm from a villainous beast; bring the light back to the day and make the night sky glow!

Nottingham | 15 Aug-3 Sep | The Festival of the Moon is ready launch Newbury into space with 100 moon-themed events – including Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon.

Shropshire | 17-20 Aug | Camp Bestival Shropshire is all about spending exciting times together with your loved ones and a host of like-minded families, playing, dancing, relaxing and exploring in the glorious outdoors. Don’t miss Farmyard Circus, Koo Koo Kanga Roo, Old Time Sailors Club, Mr Wilson’s Second Liners, The Cuban Brothers, The Baghdaddies, Cirque Bijou, Circus Raj, Jitterbug Circus, and Thingumajig Theatre.

Brecon Beacons | 17-20 Aug | At Green Man Festival you will tumble through ten wild lands of laughs, literature, art, science, mischief and music. Don’t miss Ramshacklicious, Hijinx, Nomo, Chloe Loftus & Rodney Bell, Kitsch & Sync, Those Two Idiots, The Fiery Jack Family, Miss B., No Sleep Dance Theatre, George H. Wale, The Edith Morris Folk Ensemble, and Circus Funksters.

Cheshire | 18-20 Aug | Just So is an intimate and imaginative outdoor adventure like no other and the best family festival in the UK. Don’t miss The Magic Lantern, Hallomai Dance, Circle of Two, Hands Down Circus, Sonia Sabri Company, Ghetto Fabulous, Thingumajig Theatre, Beeja Dance, Gary ‘Gacko’ Bridgens, Pif-Paf Theatre, and Eye of Newt.

Oxford | 19 Aug | Dancin’ Oxford is set to host the CODE World Permiere at Summer Dance Festival. CODE is an original physical theatre/dance work by Justice in Motion, exploring the growing levels of child exploitation across regional UK by criminal gangs based in large cities.

Belfast | 19-27 Aug | Belfast Mela will be awash with colour, culture and creativity as the city transforms into a wonderland of world music, dance, and art – including outdoor performances of Mughal Miniatures by Sonia Sabri Company. 

Nottingham | 20 Aug | Nottingham Carnival is a high energy, vibrant event for all the community, with live performances, a carnival parade, music tents, workshops, stalls, funfair and more. Don’t miss the parade at 2pm!

Leicester | 20 Aug | Leicester Belgrave Mela Festival invites the whole of the UK to experience a glittering mix of live music, dance, food, fashion arts and culture. Don’t miss Rajvita, the giant Rajasthani Puppet as well as performances from Nupur Arts Dance Academy.

France | 23-26 Aug | This year Aurillac International Street Theatre Festival focuses on creation in public space and offering a wide variety of artistic forms that are created inside, outside, in situ, in urban or natural spaces.

Kettering | 24-27 Aug | Green Belt Festival invites you to their 50th anniversary festival, for a weekend of music, comedy, craft, theatre, dance, food, spirituality, talks, provocation and more. Don’t miss Stan’s Café, Pif-Paf Theatre and Spitz & Co.

Northamptonshire | 24-28 Aug | Shambala Festival offers a thousand chances to participate, whether you’re after escapism, brain food or just tears-running-down-your-legs hilarity. Don’t miss Thingumajig Theatre,  Tallulah Swirls Puppet Theatre, Sara Blackburn, Many Hands Circus, Baubo Theatre and Pyrite Creative.

Stoke on Trent | 25-26 Aug | The Big Feast is BACK for 2023! Run by Appetite, this is a free, outdoor event where art and artists pop up in streets and buildings within the City Centre. Don’t miss Joli Vyann, Gobbledegook Theatre, Trigger, Fatts Project, Sonia Sabri Company, Miss High Leg Kick, Thingumajig Theatre, 16rpm and Upswing.

London | 25 Aug-10 Sep | GDIF 2023 will bring together UK and international artists in a programme of ground-breaking outdoor theatre, performance, art, dance and circus in iconic public spaces across London. OAUK will be there with a Funding Focus event, Artist Pitching AND a networking event in partnership with Without Walls.

Netherlands | 25-27 Aug | Spoffin is the international street arts festival in Amersfoort in the Netherlands full of theatre, dance, circus and music. Don’t miss Daryl & Co and Mimbre and Joe Garbett Dance.

Warwickshire | 25-27 Aug | Camper Calling is the friendliest family festival in town with non-stop fun festival vibes all weekend. Don’t miss Handmade Theatre, Ras King Bobo, Panic Family Circus, The Actual Reality Arcade, Professor Pumpernickel and more!

The cut off for this roundup is Friday 25th August. But don’t worry – we will have an EPIC bank holiday weekend roundup for you next time!