What Are Outdoor Arts?

Outdoor Arts Sector Briefing Document

The Outdoor Arts Sector Briefing Document explores what exactly Outdoor Arts is. The document discusses the people, art forms, activities and audiences which make up Outdoor Arts; our sector’s super powers; the current challenges we face and our proposed solutions.

Outdoor Arts are supremely versatile and will pop up pretty much anywhere they can. And more often than not they’re free.

Outdoor Arts includes many different art forms including theatre, contemporary dance, music, traditional dance, puppetry, comedy, pyrotechnics, visual art, digital art and lots and lots of circus. Outdoor Arts crop up in public processions, enormous carnivals and huge melas, as well as at small local festivals, in shopping centres and in front of major cultural institutions.

We are very international, with some great companies from around the world visiting our shores and our own work playing an increasingly prominent global role. There’s often mass participation, so sometimes you’ll see a cast of hundreds or sometimes a cast of just one.

In the last twenty years, Outdoor Arts in the UK has developed into a distinct sector, growing from its roots in community arts movements, street arts, carnival, agitprop and radical theatre, which go back to the 1960s.

Now, Outdoor Arts has firmly established itself through some nation-defining moments, ever-increasing artistic standards and an ongoing cooperative network. With our incredibly diverse audiences, our work is increasingly being recognised for the role it plays in social cohesion, place-making and community building. But we tend to love them simply for the joy they bring.

Subverting the Rational: The Rebellious Rise of UK Outdoor Arts

Read the OAUK Director’s blog on how Outdoor Arts rose to prominence in the UK, from the 1960s to present day.

Festival & performance listingsView all listings

GDIF 2026

Aug 21, 2026 – Sep 6, 2026

“One of the best free festivals in the UK” (The Guardian), Greenwich+Docklands International Festival returns this

Location: London

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Leeds West Indian Carnival

Aug 31, 2026 – Aug 31, 2026

MONDAY 31st AUGUST 2026 POTTERNEWTON PARK HAREHILLS LANE, LEEDS, LS7 4HA One of the UK’s Biggest

Location: Leeds

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Out of the Ordinary Festival

Aug 29, 2026 – Aug 30, 2026

The streets of Cambridge will once again be abuzz with live performances and incredible artists as

Location: Cambridge

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