The Arts Council England NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) outcomes are largely positive for the outdoor arts sector.

While we would have been pleased to see even more companies make it into the portfolio, there are some good additions and, importantly, many retentions – with a fair number of funding uplifts. This is tempered by a few significant losses.

It is good to see our sector recognised in the form of increased investment. We estimate that, at the end of the 22/23 extension period, there was around £13 million invested in NPOs working in outdoor arts; with the announcement today, we believe this has increased to an estimated £19 million. This suggests that there has been a 42% increase in companies involved in outdoor arts.

The overall percentage of NPO funding for outdoor arts is low – we estimate around 7.5% of the total fund. In the Let’s Create document, it is interesting to note that 11 out of 21 photographs feature outdoor arts events; given the visual prominence of our sector as the go-to image for ACE funding, it would be good to see this percentage rise even further in the future.

It is important to note that the bulk of the OAUK membership and the sector are small companies, individuals and freelancers, so while not directly in receipt of these funds, the outcomes impact the whole sector in terms of opportunities. And for this analysis, we are including companies which have a large part of their work in outdoor arts.

We are pleased to see the arrival of Gorilla Circus, Trigger, Unlimited, Blackpool Illuminations, Festival of Thrift, Humanhood, Culture House Grimsby, Just Us Dance, Deaf Explorer, Southpaw, Certain Blacks and Wild Rumpus into the 2023-26 portfolio.

Artistic companies retained within the portfolio include Akademi, Kinetika, TIN Arts*, Bureau of Silly Ideas*, Sonia Sabri Company*, Tangled Feet*, Wildworks, Talking Birds, Stopgap*, Shademakers*, Mimbre, Emergency Exit Arts, IOU Theatre, Nutkhut*, Ockham’s Razor, Global Grooves*, Mind the Gap*, Upswing* and Motionhouse (* = uplift).

Festivals and producers which remain NPOs include the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Artichoke, Without Walls, Crying Out Loud*, Hull Freedom Festival, Applause Rural Touring*, Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, Cohesion Plus*, SO Festival Skegness (Magna Vitae)*, Derby Festé (Déda), East Midlands Caribbean Carnival Arts Network*, Great Yarmouth Out There Festival (Seachange)*, Inside Out Dorset (Activate)*, Newbury 101 Outdoor Arts (Corn Exchange)* and Stockton International Riverside Festival (* = uplift).

We are particularly sorry that Winchester Hat Fair has had its funding removed – it is an important backbone of our touring sector and the longest-running outdoor arts festival in the country.

We’re also very sad to see that 2Faced Dance has lost its funding after a strong post-pandemic season and the producers of the innovative All in the Mind Festival, Fluid Motion, have lost their funding too. Internationally renowned Kaleider are another sad loss to the sector.

There are others, but these are the ones which have issued public statements; we also know of several new applications that were not successful. The OAUK membership is very broad and by no means limited to ACE NPOs so we will continue to support so many organisations and individuals who work outdoors in so many different funding jigsaws.

This is always a difficult day, and we send best wishes to everyone involved in the process from all the applicants (whatever the outcome) to our colleagues at Arts Council England for what is undoubtedly the most challenging part of their work. Onwards.

Angus and David

RETAINED ACE NPOs with UPLIFT >

  • Applause Rural Touring
  • Bureau of Silly Ideas
  • Cohesion Plus, Kent
  • Corn Exchange Newbury (101 Outdoor Arts)
  • Crying Out Loud
  • Diverse City
  • East Midlands Caribbean Carnival Arts Network
  • Global Grooves
  • Luton Carnival Arts
  • Magna Vitae
  • Metro-Boulot-Dodo
  • Mind the Gap
  • Nutkhut
  • Shademakers Carnival Club
  • Sonia Sabri Company
  • Stopgap Dance
  • Tangled Feet
  • The New Carnival Company
  • Seachange Trust (Out There Festival)
  • TIN Arts
  • Upswing

RETAINED ACE NPOs >

  • Circomedia
  • Activate Performing Arts (Inside Out Festival)
  • Akademi
  • Artichoke
  • ArtReach, Leicester (Journeys Festival)
  • Artsreach, Dorset
  • BCP Council (Bournemouth Arts by the Sea)
  • B-Arts, Stoke
  • Common Wealth
  • Continental Drifts
  • Déda (Derby Festé)
  • Eden Arts
  • Emergency Exit Arts
  • Freedom Festival, Hull
  • Greenwich+Docklands Festivals (GDIF / Global Streets)
  • Home Live Art
  • IOU Theatre
  • Kinetika Bloco
  • Kinetika
  • Mahogany Carnival Arts
  • Milton Keynes International Festival (The Stables)
  • Mimbre
  • Motionhouse
  • NoFit State Circus
  • Norfolk & Norwich Festival
  • Ockham’s Razor
  • OutdoorArtsUK
  • Oxford Contemporary Music
  • Slung Low Limited
  • Stan’s Cafe
  • Stockton International Riverside Festival
  • Talking Birds Theatre
  • Travaux Sauvages (Wildworks)
  • Vamos Theatre
  • Walk The Plank
  • Without Walls

NEW NPOs >

  • Arts Outburst
  • Back to Ours, Hull
  • Blackpool Illuminations
  • Certain Blacks (Ensemble Festival)
  • Deaf Explorer
  • Festival of Thrift
  • Festival of Making
  • First Light Festival
  • FRONTLINEdance
  • Godiva Awakes (Imagineer Productions)
  • Gorilla Circus
  • Humanhood
  • Inspirate, Leicester
  • Just Us Dance
  • Milton Keynes Islamic Arts Heritage & Culture Organisation (City of Codes and Light Festival)
  • Nupur Arts Dance Academy
  • Seeta Patel Dance
  • Southpaw Dance
  • The Culture House, Grimsby (Festival of the Sea)
  • Trigger
  • Tropical Isles Carnival Arts
  • We are Unlimited
  • Wild Rumpus