PROGRAMMES: Outdoor Arts Development Scheme
START and SUSTAIN: Outdoor Arts Development Scheme
Supporting artists in Lincolnshire
The Outdoor Arts Development Scheme (OADS) is a year long programme from SO Festival.
It supports early career artists based in, or connected to, Lincolnshire to create work for outdoor and public spaces. This includes streets, parks and coastal locations.
OADS helps artists develop ideas, grow their practice and connect with audiences, while strengthening the county’s cultural landscape.
A Year-Long Opportunity for Emerging Lincolnshire Artists
Are you ready to take your creativity outdoors?
What is OADS?
A tailored development programme for emerging artists working in outdoor arts.
Artists receive personalised support to build skills, test ideas and create work for public spaces.
Outdoor arts include theatre, dance, music, circus, visual art and participatory work.
Each artist receives a flexible package of support:
• Mentorship
• Producing support
• Match-funded development
• Training and workshops
• Industry visits
• Outdoor Arts UK membership
• Opportunities to present work
• Connections with festivals across Lincolnshire
Why it matters
OADS supports artists and communities across the county to.
• Develop high-quality creative work
• Increase access to arts in public spaces
• Build skills and opportunities
• Strengthen Lincolnshire’s place in outdoor arts
• Connects people with creative experiences
Be a part of SO Festival
OADS is part of SO Festival’s year round work supporting artists and communities through collaboration, participation and creative development.
Introducing the OADS cohort of Supported Artists for 2026/2027
Mishap Theatre
Clowning and physical comedy
Mishap Theatre is a Lincoln based company specialising in clowning and physical comedy. Their work finds humour in everyday situations, transforming ordinary moments into playful, accessible performances for both family and adult audiences.
Using movement, sound and audience interaction, they create engaging outdoor work designed for both rural and urban spaces. Their recent walkabout piece, The Hairy Hikers, explores companionship and storytelling through humour and shared experiences.
Tom Cat Flowz and Firefly
Aerial performance, flow arts and outdoor spectacle
Lauren Williams and Andy Biddulph are Lincolnshire-based artists who combine aerial performance, juggling, flow arts and fire performance.
Together they create visually striking outdoor work that connects with audiences beyond language. Their collaborative practice focuses on accessibility, blending physical skill with bold, engaging performance.
Through OADS, they are developing larger scale outdoor pieces that expand their shared practice and reach wider audiences.
H and ME Creations
Participatory art and community creativity
H and ME Creations is a Lincolnshire-based practice led by Sarah Everatt.
Sarah delivers inclusive, hands-on workshops that support creativity, confidence and wellbeing. With a background in healthcare and lived experience of disability, her work focuses on making creativity accessible to all.
Through OADS, she is developing outdoor, participatory experiences that bring communities together in shared public spaces.
Our first OADS cohort of Supported Artists for 2025/2026
Barmpot Theatre are an award-winning theatre company based in Lincolnshire. They believe every child in the UK deserves equal access to the arts and culture. Over 10 years they have built a reputation for taking high-quality family theatre to rural communities, performing in both theatres and non-traditional spaces. Their signature style combines physical performance, puppetry and original music, with accessibility at its heart. We are passionate about telling untold Lincolnshire stories, and contributing to the development of Lincolnshire’s cultural ecology.
As part of SO Festival’s Outdoor Arts Development scheme, we hope to gain more knowledge around creating performances for outdoor settings, working in protected landscapes, and developing a new outdoor performance installation for family audiences.
Link to the Barmpot Theatre website.
Read about Jane’s trip to Passage Festival
Samuel is an actor, performer, and puppeteer based in North East Lincolnshire. He studied Drama and Theatre at the University of Lincoln and graduated with a First Class Degree. Alongside his career as an actor, Samuel has built his skills as a puppeteer. Samuel is a founding member of Kazbah Theatre, puppeteering and co-creating performances with fellow Kazbah puppeteers. His work to date with Kazbah has been predominantly for outdoor festivals and family events in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.
Samuel is delighted to be a SO Festival Supported Artist. He hopes to build on his current skills as a puppeteer and performer in outdoor performance, to learn about different companies and practitioners and creating his own outdoor work.
Ryan Gilmartin is Lincolnshire born and bred and loves making work for and about the people of Lincolnshire.
His projects bring meaningful experiences into everyday places where people already gather, such as cafes, shops and pubs, with the aim of breaking down barriers to engagement with the arts.
As an award-winning artist (including four Arts Council England grants) he uses creative projects to help people see, and act on, the good in themselves and in each other.
Each of his projects helps people ask themselves three big questions:
- Who am I?
- Where am I?
- Where do I belong?
He would like the Outdoor Arts Scheme to stretch his practice further and explore making work that can be fully outdoors and pop-up and participatory in nature. He aims to explore a few outdoor ideas that mix theatre, visual art and installation, work that is more ‘guerrilla’ and pop-up in nature.
If you’re interested in taking part in one of our programmes, projects or opportunities
please email sofestival@mvtlc.org
