The Great Outdoors – 2nd July 09, Oxford.

A symposium for senior public and private sector managers on outdoor arts

Speakers and panellists include: Jude Kelly - Chair of Culture and Education, London 2012 Helen Marriage - Director, Artichoke Productions Peter Mearns - Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, North West RDA Peter Boyden (Chair) – Formerly Creative Director of the Eden Project, Chair Culture South West Millions of people enjoy outdoor arts every year. They transform public spaces. They engage, inspire and regenerate entire communities. They create access to culture for all. The Cultural Olympiad prioritises making public spaces exciting. Arts Council England South East has responded by strengthening investment in outdoor arts. In 2008 Arts Council England South East awarded £1.5m, 24% of its Grants for the Arts budget to outdoor arts projects. Arts Council England is looking to be a partner in ever more ambitious outdoor commissions and events with all the benefits that they can bring: Examples of the contribution these cultural programmes bring include 'Oxfordshire 2007' trebled its initial public sector investment and events like Brighton Festival which contribute £20m to the economy every year.' The symposium shows how ambitious cultural projects of every scale are achievable in the current economy; how they are conceived and how they are delivered on the front-line. The event features outstanding speakers whose own extraordinary events have stimulated enterprise, encouraged and led to powerful outcomes in community cohesion and planning. Participants will discover how they can support and facilitate their own teams to forge mutually beneficial partnerships, how to access and benefit from working with independent creative producers and how to maximise the impact of a new outdoor arts commission. An event commissioned by Arts Council England South East and presented by Oxford Inspires with Oxford Playhouse and programmed by Simon Chatterton and Bill Gee. For speakers biographies go to www.oxfordinspires.org