Charles Huckvale, 10 October 2017 2017 has seen many companies coming into the city to produce work outdoors (Street Theatre/Carnival etc). There are very few practitioners and companies specialising and working in outdoor live arts in the city. Hull Carnival Arts are one of the main leaders in the field, other individuals and companies working in the field weren't present at the discussion today but are operating in the city. Nobody came to the start of the session, so this is what I surmised:

The big question is how do we (those in the outdoor live arts) continue to make outdoor live work happen in the city in 2018 and beyond,

• there are currently no established support networks for outdoor live arts in the city there are no annual events as the Lord Mayors parade has now been re-imagined as a gala event in Queens Gardens

No larger organisation that are actively seeking to champion and develop outdoor live arts produced at a local level. no venue/space or area of the city synonymous with outdoor live art Hull Carnival Arts/Apus Productions and all others in the sector (Upper Level, Hull Samba, Hull International Carnival, Steve Elliot etc) are all small companies/groups/individuals with limited resources, more collaborations are needed to spread and share expertise and work load to make events happen. After writing this down on my own, some other people started to join in the discussion as they watched me write the above notes on the flip-chart. We then discussed other models in other localities in the country were a consistent thriving outdoor arts scene exists, and the following were mentioned…

• Manchester – Walk the Plank and Manchester day parade Preston/North West – Preston Carnival, Global Grooves and Cabassa Arts Calder Valley/Hebden Bridge/Huddersfield – Handmade Parade, Thingamajig Theatre, Huddersfield/Slathwaite - Rag and Bone, Watershed – Impossible, Satellite Arts Liverpool – Brasillica, Liverpool Lantern Company, Global Grooves and Cabassa Arts

Key to all these examples collaboration of several companies to make things happen was seen as the key factor, although suitable premises/workspace and support from the council obviously help!! One person mentioned the possibility of healthy inter-Estate rivalry to encourage local pride in quality local productions akin to the rivalry between samba schools in the Favelas in Brazil but this was not met with universal agreement as a good idea from all in the group. Some city of culture volunteers joined the discussion at this point and those present shared their experiences and feelings on volunteering and being part of outdoor arts events.

• I have been involved in Pride and Flood and enjoyed both Issues with shifts being changed or advertised at the last minute? Some of the Volunteers just like to do the same stuff (The Pod) and not do outdoor event Evenings and weekends are most popular shifts A regular activity once a week suits a lot of volunteers best Mardi Gras activity in Jan/February to break the gloom would be nice Light Nights would be nice At this point some more practitioners joined the discussion and we discussed the following. In particular the support that we would all like to see provided by City Arts/HCC, The Culture Company post 2017 and Creative People and Places once they are up and Running

• Share their New Ideas and show Vision For any events they are planning we need to know well in advance and their timelines Keep Channels of Communication Open An Up to date on-line Clash Diary for event in the city Map of available spaces for events and devising work List of practitioners/Companies/Freelancers Tags: street theatre, Lantern Events, carnival, processions, Carnival, Processions, Parades, Street Theatre, Outdoor Live Arts, Walkabout and Promenade