Maria, Marketing Lead
Three of the SO Festival Team attended the two-day Outdoor Arts UK Conference in Cambridge this week. The Conference brings together the UK outdoor arts community for learning, collaboration, discussions, and networking across the sector.
There were lots of opportunities to learn about developments in the sector via panel discussions, speeches, and forums. Clare Farrell, an artist and convener of The Humanity Project and co‑founder of Extinction Rebellion, delivered the keynote speech, helping frame the conference and explore how positive social action can emerge in uncertain times, and how art can shift perspectives and bring people together. The conference marked the launch of ‘Wherever You Are, Whoever You Are, The Arts Are Yours’, a sector strategy developed to outline a shared vision and practical pathways for a stronger, more resilient future for outdoor arts. There was also a wide range of talks as part of the Open Forum, including Kieran Spiers, SO Festival’s Creative Producer, discussing ‘Supported and Empowered: How do we shape Artist Development in the Outdoor Sector?’ As a marketer, I particularly enjoyed ‘Using AI to analyse Outdoor Arts Audiences’, by James McPherson from Artizani/Edge Hill University.
There were ample opportunities for us to discover and learn about artists that might be a good fit for future festivals, by attending the afternoon of pitches, walking around the festival marketplace and of course through the networking opportunities.
There were also so many networking opportunities to meet and build relationships with our peers across the sector. My personal favourite was the fun ‘Self-Guided Networking Game’, where we were set a list of things to find around Cambridge as a team, including re-enacting a scene from a film that was filmed in Cambridge.
We were really fortunate that the conference took place in the beautiful setting of Cambridge’s Guildhall and Corn Exchange, in the beautiful, historic centre of Cambridge.
A very busy, information-dense, but fun two days at the conference!
