Global Streets is a 12-partner national network that co-creates & presents international outdoor arts events with communities living and working in places which are underserved by the arts. We are focused on working with local people to deliver free, spectacular international productions which lift people’s spirits and bring communities together.
AN IMPACT REVIEW 2015-2021
Our partners use their growing knowledge of international outdoor arts to identify “permeable” productions which enable local people to engage and feel invested in their neighbourhoods, high streets and town centres. Fully integrated audience development, supported by live and online participation, forges connections across diverse communities, and as a result Global Streets productions resonate powerfully with local aspirations and stories. Global Streets partners are working with communities (including eight Arts Council England Priority Places) in Birmingham, Doncaster, Gloucester, Hull, Leicester, Liverpool, Luton, Nuneaton & Bedworth, Slough, Barking & Dagenham, Woolwich, Hounslow and Newham.
Drawing on seven years of delivering Global Streets in collaboration with communities across England, we have built up an evidence base to demonstrate the impact of Global Streets on people in places, through adaptation and collaboration. These four areas of impact are driven by these principles: Placing audiences at the heart of creative decision-making and connecting communities of people to think differently about where they live and work Transforming town centres and high streets for local communities with free, quality, international cultural activities Adapting creatively to global, national and local challenges to pioneer responsive cultural activities and ways of working Fostering collaboration between partners and enabling new local connections with stakeholders to produce ambitious international cultural activities Our 12 partners are committed to these principles, which determine where, how, and what locallyrooted internationally-connected cultural activities we produce. Over these pages we want to share with you just some of the impacts that Global Streets has achieved on people and in places over the last years.
LOCALLY-ROOTED, INTERNATIONALLY-CONNECTED festival.org/global-streets/ #GlobalStreets
GLOBAL STREETS: OUR IMPACT ON PEOPLE Global Streets places audiences at the heart of creative decision-making and connects communities of people to think differently about where they live and work.
THE VIGIL
by Joanne Leighton/WLDN (Australia/Belgium)
LOVELY TO WATCH OVER THE CITY THAT HAS LOOKED AFTER ME SINCE I ARRIVED HERE 50 YEARS AGO.
CAN YOU IMAGINE, ME, GETTING INVOLVED IN THE ARTS? NOW I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF IT! Woolwich participant
Transforming how people feel about themselves Global Streets transforms how people feel about themselves and their communities. Our free, high-quality events and activities help people feel happier, healthier, and more purposeful. Before coming here I always thought life is so difficult for me and I’m not for this world. Now, today in this place I thought about every things. Life is short. I should be good person and be kind. I fell, I can fly now. I think everybody need come here and think about where are their life. Asylum seeker and participant in The Hull Vigil
People at all stages of their lives enjoy engaging with Global Streets activity in their communities, and they want to experience more.
ARKA
by Teatr Ósmega Dnia (Poland)
92% 93%
Participant in The Hull Vigil
of audiences have enjoyed Global Streets events would like to see more Global Streets events in the future
Co-creating with UK communities and international artists Global Streets brokers collaborations between international artists and local communities in some of England’s most culturally underserved towns and cities. Without Global Streets, many of these communities would not have access to any cultural activity in the places where they live and work.
Audience engagement and participation are built into the DNA of Global Streets: Locally-invested partner organisations ensure that an understanding of the needs and aspirations of local communities inform how, what and where Global Streets activity takes place. In 2019, 120 local people worked with Jeanefer Jean-Charles and artists from the French company Transe Express to integrate their performance of Cristal Palace with locally-rooted Caribbean, West African, Nepalese and Mauritian dance styles, turning Woolwich’s town square into a giant community ballroom.
Bringing international work here is so significant for our city. We don’t stumble across artwork in the same way as you might in other cities.
Cristal Palace felt absolutely of and about Woolwich, local people performing alongside international artists in the heart of the town. Together we were able to make a version of an international show that could only have happened in Woolwich.
Emma-Jane Benning, Co-Artistic Director of Strike A Light in Gloucester
Toby Smith, Associate Director at FESTIVAL.ORG
THE INVASION
by LJUD (Slovenia)
PEREGRINUS
by Teatr KTO (Poland)
Eastern European productions connecting with Eastern European residents in Doncaster, Hounslow, Leicester and Birmingham (2016-19)
730 residents of Hull keep watch over their city, capturing and sharing their thoughts before, during and after their vigil (2021-22)
Connecting communities of people By engaging with Global Streets’ international productions in their local high streets and parks, people feel more connected to the world beyond their community. People who engage with Global Streets’ work feel more positively invested in the life of their community, with 79% of audience members reporting that Global Streets events give them pride in their local area. Global Streets supports partners in selecting productions that are relevant to their local communities, whether this is connecting Eastern-European
productions with Eastern-European communities in Doncaster and Hounslow, encouraging audiences to reflect on their European identity, or working with Becontree residents in Barking and Dagenham to illuminate their Estate on its 100th anniversary.
THE COLOUR OF TIME
by Compagnie Artonik (France)
Without doubt, Global Streets has allowed us to get to know and understand Polish outdoor work and to programme that to welcome new audiences. Jan Lennox, Director of Watermans Arts Centre for Hounslow
A Holi-inspired immersive spectacle bringing diverse audiences together in Luton, Doncaster, Hounslow, Newham and Barking and Dagenham (2015)
GLOBAL STREETS: OUR IMPACT IN PLACE Global Streets transforms town centres and high streets for local communities with free, quality, international cultural activities.
Changing perceptions of high streets and town centres Global Streets invites people to change the way they feel about where they live and work, and imagine how their town or city can thrive. From envisioning lost buildings in Liverpool’s boroughs and inventing a new monument for Birmingham’s Chinatown, to establishing a creative republic on Slough’s high street, Global Streets’ creative programming reimagines the potential of England’s high streets and communities.
I LIKE HOW IT WAS A NEW WAY TO GET PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THE FESTIVAL, AND ALSO TO THINK ABOUT HULL IN A WAY THAT THEY MIGHT NEVER HAVE BEFORE. Hull participant
Reaching underserved communities in underserved places Global Streets enables partners to connect with people in their local communities, improving access to a broad range of cultural opportunities for people where they live and work. More than 600,000 people have directly engaged with Global Streets activities since 2015. It’s important that we provide activity to our communities that is free, accessible and visible. This is not about driving new ticket sales, it’s about opening up our programming to new audiences. Deborah Rees, Director at Cast in Doncaster
CRISTAL PALACE
by Compagnie Transe Express (France)
Through targeted engagement with partners across England, two-thirds of Global Streets partners are working in Arts Council England Priority Places and are supporting people to experience and engage with cultural activity where access has historically been limited. Through locally-relevant programming and audience development strategies tailored to each partner, Global Streets partners are able to deepen engagement with diverse local audiences by responding to local needs.
In 2020 alone, more than a quarter of audiences were new to Global Streets and/or the presenting organisation.
31%
of Global Streets audiences are from non-White British backgrounds
80%
of Global Streets audiences are low or mid-arts engagers (compared to 50% for national performing arts audiences)
Audience Member from Doncaster
SHARING THE LIGHT by DUNDU (Germany)
LOST CASTLES & CHINESE ARCH by Olivier Grossetête (France)
by Compagnie L’Homme Debout (France)
PARTICIPATING IN RISE! HAS BEEN UNBELIEVABLY REWARDING. I’VE LEARNT SO MUCH ABOUT MY COMMUNITY AND HAVE A GREATER APPRECIATION OF THE AMAZING WORK THAT HAPPENS RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE. Participant in Rise! in Woolwich
Through Global Streets, we are able to begin to animate town centres and public spaces with high quality international outdoor arts, for audiences and communities who might never have had the opportunity to enjoy and participate in great art. Jane Hytch, Chief Executive at Imagineer Productions in Coventry
70%
It’s a great way of sharing culture with a really diverse audience, it really brought the community together.
RISE
of audiences say that Global Streets events have changed their expectations of how British high streets and public spaces can bring people together
Our high streets and spaces are completely different from anywhere else. What’s different about Global Streets is that you can take their projects and really make them fit Luton. Furhaad Ahmed, Events Producer at Revoluton Arts in Luton
Reinventing Woolwich town centre as a ballroom for all its communities (2019)
Working with residents on Barking and Dagenham’s Becontree Estate to celebrate its 100th anniversary
Reimagining lost and missing monuments in Birmingham and Liverpool (2018)
Expressing new, locally-imagined narratives of place with puppetry, parade and community participation in Woolwich, Luton, Doncaster and Hull (2018-19)
GLOBAL STREETS: OUR IMPACT THROUGH ADAPTATION Global Streets adapts creatively to global, national and local challenges to pioneer responsive cultural activities and ways of working.
Comprising thousands of digital portraits, contributed by people from 190 countries across the globe … [this] 10-storey high flag is designed to send a clear message to world leaders with the power to affect decisions about climate change: that the eyes of the world are upon them.
AMAZING IDEA DURING A PANDEMIC. EVERYONE GOT TO EXPERIENCE IT, WITHOUT NEEDING MONEY OR ACCESS TO A GALLERY.
Dan Acher, artist creator of We Are Watching
Barking and Dagenham audience member
Adapting to Covid-19 Building collective knowledge and adapting best practice, Global Streets partners imaginatively adjusted to the challenges of Covid-19, sustaining international working, responding to changing Government guidelines, and constantly recalibrating planning, delivery, data collection and evaluation. What Covid-19 has done is to make us think more broadly about the work we present. There is an opportunity for us to take the lead now and use outdoor arts to bring communities into the arts. Graham Callister, Director of Festivals at Birmingham Hippodrome
Partners identified projects by international artists that could be delivered year-round in Covid-safe, socially-distanced formats, without the immediate need for international travel. In 2020 alone, this activity reached tens of thousands of people in person and hundreds of thousands of people online. As the 2020/21 lockdowns were lifted, Global Streets partners in Liverpool, Birmingham and Barking and Dagenham curated safely presentable interactive light installations, providing muchneeded moments of connection for thousands of people.
80
%
of audiences say that Global Streets events have offered them welcome relief from Covid-19
Catalysed by the pandemic, Global Streets programming continues to embrace broader audiences through a revitalised offer of digital elements alongside live experiences.
NEIGHBORHOOD
by Sergey Kim (USA)
LIGHT A WISH
by OGE Groupe (Israel)
Responding to Covid-19, our decision to move all of our direct audience interaction onto digital platforms has also created a richer data set that is allowing us to shape our visitor experience for coming festivals. Robin Kemp, Head of Creative Development at Culture Liverpool
Responding to the challenge of the climate emergency Global Streets partners are responding to the growing urgency of climate change with headline programming that feeds the national conversation about environmental responsibility. Global Streets hosted the UK premiere of Daniel Acher’s We Are Watching installation in Greenwich, Hounslow and Doncaster, before it reached Scotland in time for COP26.
LIGHT PIANO 2.0 XL
by Kleurbleur (The Netherlands)
Curating tourable and safely presentable interactive light installations in Liverpool around the 2020/21 lockdowns
Partners have acted quickly to develop ‘smart’ touring models to minimise a range of environmental impacts, from airmiles to fuel consumption to touring footprints. This commitment is informing the development of the Global Streets operating model to address environmental responsibility.
GLOBAL RAINBOW
by Yvette Mattern (USA)
IT WAS LOVELY TO SEE SOME ART – WE’VE BEEN STARVED OF IT. ESPECIALLY GREAT TO SEE IT FROM HOME. I ENJOYED HEARING NEIGHBOURS AND PEOPLE IN THE STREET EXCLAIMING WITH JOY WHEN THEY SPOTTED THE #BRUMRAINBOW. Audience Member from Birmingham responding to Global Rainbow
Tackling the realities of Brexit Global Streets partners have built up expert, first-hand knowledge of the most effective ways of continuing to collaborate with international artists and companies, both post-Brexit and within and beyond the pandemic. Global Streets has successfully negotiated new immigration and trade legislation in order to welcome 17 artists and companies to 11 towns and cities in 2021. At this moment it is so difficult to maintain links internationally, but we have shown it is possible. Mikey Martins, Artistic Director and Chief Executive at Freedom Festival in Hull
In hosting international work, Global Streets is making a significant and valuable contribution towards strengthening the UK’s global reputation as a key market for outdoor arts.
Connecting with thousands of local people during the 2020/21 lockdowns by illuminating the skies above Birmingham and Barking and Dagenham
WE ARE WATCHING
JOYOUS URBAN MESS
Programming that engages audiences with climate change, touring to Greenwich, Hounslow, Doncaster and beyond in as sustainable a way as possible (2021)
Working together to bring European artists to the UK for the first time beyond Brexit, animating streets in Leicester, Birmingham and Coventry (2021)
by Daniel Acher (Switzerland)
by Les Vernisseurs (France)
GLOBAL STREETS: OUR IMPACT THROUGH COLLABORATION
GLOBAL STREETS: WHAT COMES NEXT
Global Streets fosters collaboration between partners and enables new local connections with stakeholders to produce ambitious international cultural activities. GLOBAL STREETS IS DISTINCTIVE IN BEING LARGE ENOUGH TO HAVE NATIONAL IMPACT AND SMALL ENOUGH TO RETAIN A TRULY COLLABORATIVE SPIRIT. IT’S A RARE NETWORK THAT IS DEEPLY ROOTED IN THE NEEDS OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES WHILE CREATING WORK OF INTERNATIONAL QUALITY. Bird & Gorton, critical friend to Global Streets
Locally-rooted and internationally-connected, Global Streets is committed to continuing to be a beacon for recovery and connection across the country.
Connecting Communities Leveraging new and deeper local partnerships for cultural activity
Sharing learning across the network Strengthening artistic leadership The Global Streets model of collaboration in international outdoor arts
Global Streets provides essential subsidy and in-kind support to animate outdoor spaces across England. It enables partners to advocate to local stakeholders and gather support for outdoor arts, by offering a strong ‘return on investment’ story and financial support for free outdoor arts programming. Arts Council England investment in Global Streets has leveraged in £1.12 million in match-funding since 2015.
gives partners increased confidence to work with new audiences and build new partnerships. Every partner has committed to playing a proactive role in a national network which provides facilitated opportunities for partners to learn from each other. This shared learning, and the wider support of trusted outdoor arts leaders, encourages partners to be bolder in their programming of international work with and for their communities.
Local Authorities value Global Streets as a match-funder and in ensuring we are supported to programme bold, international work.
It is rare to have a network that involves and values its partners within the decision making.
Jan Lennox, Director at Watermans Arts Centre for Hounslow
The ambition and scale of Global Streets productions enables partners to stretch stakeholder and audience expectations of what is possible in terms of local cultural activity. Partners have worked with more than 200 local partners since 2015 to deliver and enhance Global Streets projects, spanning local authorities, national representative bodies, Further and Higher Education, BIDs, LEPs, and partners from the private, voluntary, health and cultural sectors. It helps us to have a conversation with confidence with our local partners. Emma-Jane Benning, Co-Artistic Director at Strike A Light in Gloucester
Robert Snart, Senior Festival and Events Officer at Leicester City Council
We’ve been able to share how we’ve actually managed events and programming in challenging, changing conditions. Having those different experiences from around the country has been hugely valuable. Graham Callister, Director of Festivals at Birmingham Hippodrome
When producing workshops around the world I frequently use Global Streets as an example of how arts events can have a wider impact in the community and how evaluation is connected to learning and continual improvement. Jonathan Goodacre, Senior Consultant at The Audience Agency
Global Streets is led and managed by Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation FESTIVAL.ORG, with both Bradley Hemmings MBE (Artistic Director) and Toby Smith (Associate Director) internationally recognised for their artistic and outdoor arts sector leadership. The combination of FESTIVAL.ORG’s strong track record of creative leadership, rich international networks, and deep understanding of the diverse local context for partners, ensures that the network has confidence in the artistic direction of Global Streets. FESTIVAL.ORG does a very good job of managing the network. There is a DNA of care that weaves through the way it works. Mikey Martins, Artistic Director and Chief Executive at Freedom Festival in Hull
Learning from our consortium colleagues has been a joyous and rich experience, and we are now sharing our knowledge and experience with others. Sarah Wickens, Head of Programme at Creative Barking and Dagenham
Global Streets partners have been invited to share expertise at over 20 meetings and conferences across the UK and in partnership with colleagues in Catalunya, China and South Korea.
Building on seven years of proven impact, Global Streets’ free and uplifting programme of international outdoor arts will continue to reach people in England’s underserved places, making them feel happier, healthier, more connected, more purposeful, and offering them a renewed sense of investment in the places in which they live and work. With diversity and participation embedded at the heart of Global Streets, productions are locally-shaped with communities to express locally-resonant stories.
Recovering from Covid-19 Global Streets’ partners have also proved time and again that they are able to adapt to and overcome local, national and international challenges. As we emerge from the pandemic, at a time when struggling communities now face new uncertainties and economic challenges, Global Streets will connect with struggling communities by offering free and uplifting events that can bring people together across the country.
Levelling Up Aligned with the ambition of Arts Council England’s Let’s Create strategy, Global Streets will deliver against the strategy’s primary outcomes. The programme already works across every region of the UK, and in eight of Arts Council England’s Priority Places. Global Streets will build on this practice to contribute towards Levelling Up initiatives and develop new connections in the areas that need its work the most.