Deb Mullins

A Pioneer in Outdoor Arts for over 40 years

Creative Director, Producer and Arts Consultant

Deb Mullins has an extensive and distinguished career in outdoor and participatory arts. Her career spans five decades and as one of the founder members (1980) – now member for life – and Artistic Director of Emergency Exit Arts; she was responsible for building the organisation’s outstanding reputation for unforgettable outdoor performances, parades and spectacular events across the UK and Europe.

As a pioneer of outdoor arts for over 30 years, Deb has extensive experience of working with a broad range of artists using most art forms and she has directed and produced:  carnivals and lantern processions,  community engagement programmes, spectacle with fire and pyrotechnics, installations and street theatre, festivals and place-making events.

She is a former Chair of OutdoorArtsUK and is a Board member of Scarabeus Aerial Theatre. She is also a Director of Creative Force CIC based in East Sussex.

As a freelance director, producer and arts consultant Deb is currently enjoying new collaborations with national and international arts organisations including:

• Producer with Creative Barking and Dagenham (CPP), overseeing a raft of community engagement projects for Bridge, an outdoor experience created by Imagineer Productions in 2021.
• Curator for Hackney Carnival At Home 2020 for the LB Hackney, supporting and advising carnival organisations in video content for Carnival online. Deb also co-wrote the Spirit of Hackney Carnival web pages with Manuela Benini based on archive research and interviews with carnival artists. In 2021 she is delivering a Hackney Carnival community engagement and public art project across the borough.
• Guest Artistic Director for Unwrapped ’20, Shining a Light, a celebration of rebirth and renewal in South Dublin. This changed from being a live event to an online winter festival featuring films, spoken word, songs, music and animation with visual art installations created by over 300 participants that were displayed in the windows of public venues. Deb will be working again with the Unwrapped Consortium in 2021 and 2022.
• Producer of Safe, a youth arts programme and film of site-specific work in Newhaven for Creative Force, 2021.
• Artist training and advisor to Coventry’s Carnival of Lights 2019 with Remarkable Productions and Coventry City of Culture Trust 2019.
• Women in Mela Panel member for the Mela Partnership with Nutkhut.
• Producer and co-director of Is That the Way To Do It? and El Cuento de la Amistad for Invisible Needs, using languages, puppetry, songs, video and online resources 2019 – 2021.
• Evaluator and artist mentor for Whatever the Weather (2019) and Dance 21 (2021), countywide arts and health programmes delivered by Arts Partnership Surrey (APS).
• Mentor and advisor for Theatre Practice Students at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Deb is also an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance.