This project has been developed by the country’s most strategically significant street arts festivals with the aim of helping to develop and strengthen the landscape of outdoor performance in the UK. The festivals (X.trax Manchester, Greenwich & Docklands International Festival, The Brighton Festival, Norfolk and Norwich Festival, Hat Fair Winchester, Stockton International Riverside Festival, The Bristol Do and the new member in 2009 Lakes Alive Cumbria all share a commitment to working collaboratively to achieve a greater degree of sustainability for their respective festivals and the sector in general.

By coming together to present and develop work from a new and emerging generation of street artists, the festivals aim to create a more secure environment within which new work can flourish and new audiences can be developed. At the same time the festivals seek to raise the profile of the wider street arts sector in the UK by curating a platform of exceptional new work which will be presented at each of the festivals.

‘This is a ground-breaking opportunity for UK street arts. Without Walls has been working to raise the standards and quality of street performance in this country, and this investment will support pioneering new work, emerging artists and initiate a new era of creative growth.’
Bradley Hemmings, Without Walls Chair.

The eight member festivals are:

Lakes Alive www.lakesalive.org/
Norfolk and Norwich Festival www.nnfestival.org.uk
Brighton Festival - www.brightonfestival.org
X.trax, Manchester – www.xtrax.org.uk
Greenwich + Docklands International Festival London - www.festival.org
Winchester Hat Fair - www.hatfair.co.uk
Stockton International Riverside Festival - www.sirf.co.uk
The Bristol Do www.thebristoldo.com

Without Walls increases capacity and potential to develop sustainable partnerships with local authorities and other partners in the public realm.  Ideas for new models of local authority partnership are shaping future opportunties for artists and seeding innovative collaborations.

Read the Without Walls impact study 2008

To find out more about Without Walls or contact us please email info@withoutwalls.uk.com