Outdoor arts is fast proving that it engages a more diverse, representative and wide ranging audience than other art form sectors. Yet it sits in the hands of more economically strong European cities and arts organisations, with the available resources to sustain larger scale outdoor arts provision.

The European Outdoor Arts Academy (EOAA) is made up of a partnership of small European Capital of Culture (ECoC) candidate and host cities from six European countries and a one small city in the UK with ambitions to be a cultural powerhouse.

Together through this project the partnership is looking to draw out models of how they can democratise the cultural expertise of outdoor arts spectacle by capacity building their local creative talent.

EOAA will develop and deliver five ‘Schools of Spectacle’ events that end with five public facing outdoor arts events, equipping up to 125 creative practitioners from seven European countries with the skills and experience needed to build their international careers and strengthen the outdoor arts sector in small cities that have cultural excellence at their heart.

Further, by testing this model across four European cities that span the four corners of Europe, the EOAA partnership will gain an understanding of the potential for outdoor arts to develop audiences through participation, celebration and spectacle across a diverse set of cultures, and resource challenges.

These findings will be disseminated into a paper to the ECoC network, outdoor arts and wider culture sector. And the partnership will use their new learning and talent base to grow sustainable culture of outdoor arts between their cities.