Bev Adams Arts

I create & produce art outdoors & with communities... since 1990

I create excellent outdoor arts productions, inclusive festivals and community events with an emphasis on social purpose, diversity and community participation.

My projects engage people from all walks of life, helping them to connect with each other and to explore the worlds in which they live.

I work throughout the UK and internationally on a project basis with local authorities, arts organisations, festivals, communities and individual artists offering my skills as a director, producer, performer, educator, researcher and consultant.

BEV ADAMS ARTS As Bev Adams Arts, my work includes the creation of my own work, most recently, Gaia and Maia, a street performance using puppetry to explore our care for the planet, as a puppeteer for THE HERDS by The Walk Productions, and a lockdown table puppetry project called Covid Conversations, From 2018 to 2027 I was Director of Holmfirth Arts Festival.  Other freelance projects include Outdoor Arts Mentor for Bradford Producing Hub,  Visioning facilitator for Morley Arts Festival, event management for Doncaster Festival for Right Up Our Street and outdoor events consultant/project manager for Wakefield Council.

PhD RESEARCH I am presently undertaking PhD Research into street theatre puppetry and how it might effectively communicate a climate change message.  The practice for which is Gaia and Maia (2026), mentioned above and the fieldwork for which was working as a puppeteer with THE HERDS (2025). THE HERDS is  a public art and climate action event, From April to August 2025, life-size puppet animals travelled a 20,000km route from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle, symbolising their flight from climate disaster.

EDGELANDS ARTS As Co-Director of Edgelands Arts, recent projects include Director of Old Goole Gala Heirtage Parade (2017), Director The Magic Paintbrush using live and shadow puppetry for a tour of libraries and community centres (2023 and 2025), LuminArt Light Puppets (2023), Director and Producer of Selby 950 Parade (White Rose Art Event Award) (2019), a number of community projects for Wakefield Council (Historic England) and Kirklees Council Libraries

FACELESS ARTS (1990-2017) As founding Artistic Director of Faceless Arts, my track record includes over 30 professional and community co-created outdoor arts productions in the UK and internationally,  countless community projects plus Festival Direction of Pontefract Liquorice Festival 2000-2008, a summer programme for  Trinity Walk Shopping Centre, Wakefield, Barnsley Goes French Festival and DN Festival in Doncaster in 2016.

BACKGROUND I grew up in South Africa and trained at the University of Leeds Bretton Hall Wakefield, Middlesex University London and the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts (Gitis) in Moscow.  I am a PhD candidate ad hold a  post-graduate Masters degree in Performance, Culture & Context, also from the University of Leeds. 

TEACHING I have taught Managing Festivals and Events, Socially Engaged Performance, Intercultural Storytelling in Applied Theatre Settings, Processes of Performance and Outdoor Performance at Leeds University as well as outdoor puppetry skills to students and practitioners from across the EU in Turkey and Slovenia.

I hosted a talk with Sarah Loader, Producer with THE HERDS as part of Nottingham Puppet Festival (2026) and presented EFETSA (European Federation for Education and Training in Street Arts) (2021) on Constructed Moments of Conviviality in Outdoor Arts for 

MEMBERSHIPS

I am a founder member of the European Federation of Education and Training in Street Arts (EFETSA) and was a Board Member of OutdoorArtsUK (OAUK) from 2010 and 2018, sitting as Chair between 2016 and 2018. I was the coordinator of the National Association of Street Arts (NASA) from 2006-2012. I have spoken at national and international conferences on community-engaged outdoor arts practice, published numerous project books as well a series of essays INQUEST: Outdoor Arts in Practice.