Creative Producer, Liz Pugh and Senior Marketing and Communications Officer, Tanica Powell recently attended this conference: a day full of inspiring talks, conversations and debate with makers of outdoor arts, programmers, producers and bookers. This year’s conference spotlighted equity and how it has been put into action in the conference’s host city, Stoke-on-Trent; and saw a particularly powerful speech and call to action from Susan Clarke who leads Stoke Creates.
Liz said this of the day: “I was reminded that the work we all do to build, and rebuild, communities is vital. We who work in the outdoor arts sector
– work in public space, with stubborn optimism at the heart of our practice
– place artists alongside residents and young people and elders as architects of Joy
– offer hope through making art
– organise amazing free festivals in our towns and cities
– make gorgeous events that celebrate place and bring humans together.
Our work – as the artists and companies and producers and organisers – brings art into our streets and parks and civic spaces, for everyone to enjoy for free. We make the culture and talents of Britain’s wonderfully diverse communities visible in so many joyful ways.
I look forward, with some of that stubborn optimism I mentioned, to increased investment in the outdoor arts sector by private and public sector partners in the next ten years – we are good for the nation’s health, we offer training for the imagination, and we create ties that bind people together in a world that wants to breed hatred and division.”
