By Jane Crawshaw of Barmpot Theatre and SO Festival OADS participant
From 30th July – 1st August 2025 I attended PASSAGE festival with the SO Festival team, as part of my participation in the Outdoor Arts Development Scheme (OADS). It was incredibly beneficial to be able to go on an international go-and-see trip as part of the OADS. SO Festival is Lincolnshire’s leading international festival, and this was one of the main reasons for me applying to be a supported artist on the OADS this year, so I think it is important that international trips and networking opportunities are included in this programme.
One of the main draws for me to attend PASSAGE was due to the ecologically themed programming, and the possibility to see the outcome of the Green Streets of Europe project. I am currently developing an outdoor performance installation for families with eco themes, and I’m
aiming to present some R&D showings of this work next year. It was really beneficial to see the diversity of R&D content produced at PASSAGE as part of Green Streets of Europe programme, to give me a marker to work from next year.
There were also some pieces of work being produced at PASSAGE which I would not have had the opportunity to see in the UK, such as “Resisting Extinction” by BodyCartography, which was a 2.5hr experiential, durational performance in a Forest. I had also struggled to find any performance installations at festival’s in the UK which were similar to the structure of the piece I would like to make. So I was delighted to see “Manual of Adaptation to the Planet” in the PASSAGE programme, which finally sounded similar to the ideas I would like to develop. Seeing these pieces in person, reminded me of my early interest in experiential work at the start of my career (I wrote my dissertation on this topic at university), and this is something I would love to bring into my practice as a maker.
Attending the festival was also a very important networking opportunity for me. As part of the SO Festival delegation, I was invited to the VIP festival launch, could eat at the Kulture Haus with the other artists and the festival team, and was introduced to influential festival programmers and funders as an equal. From the connections I made as a freelance artist at PASSAGE festival, there have already arisen a couple of work and funding opportunities, which I am excited to pursue. If this is the experience and outcome for just one artist, I can only imagine the amazing opportunities that could come from taking all the supported artists to PASSAGE festival in the future.
