Happy October!
As we look ahead to 2026, we’ve been thinking carefully about the kinds of conditions that allow ambitious, international, artist-led work to thrive. The past year has highlighted both the fragility and the possibility of our sector, and it feels important to be clear about what we want to see more of — and what we hope to move away from — as we continue to develop our work.
In the year ahead, we want to see more sustainable working practices embedded across the sector, built on realistic timelines, fairer fees, and a genuine commitment to care. We want more international exchange that is generous and humane, allowing artists and producers to collaborate across borders without the constant pressure for speed or certainty. We hope for more space for new voices and new forms, particularly for artists whose work sits between disciplines, cultures, and geographies. Outdoor and site-responsive work continues to be a powerful connector, so we want more visibility, commissioning, and support for outdoor arts, enabling this work to reach wider communities. And we want to see more courage around big, complex projects, recognising that ambitious international work is rarely linear, but deeply worth sustaining.
At the same time, there are things we hope to see less of. Less pressure to deliver at all costs, where urgency overrides care and feasibility. Less fragility in international partnerships, with fewer bureaucratic barriers and more stable structures for cross-border collaboration. Less inequity in who gets to make and present work, and fewer obstacles for Global Majority artists, disabled practitioners, working-class producers, and those outside major centres. Less short-termism, with fewer one-off initiatives that disappear before they have time to grow. And importantly, less stigma around projects that don’t go to plan, acknowledging that delay, recalibration, and uncertainty are part of meaningful creative practice — not signs of failure.
Summer Highlights: What’s Been Happening
Ensemble 84
Image by Keith Pattison
Our journey with Ensemble 84 has certainly progressed positively in this last 12 months. Their debut production in May, a bold reimagining of Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children translated by Lee Hall and created with South Africa’s Isango Ensemble has met with 4-star reviews across the board. Great coverage across Radio and TV too. Audiences and critics alike have been moved by the production’s scale and urgency, which shines a light on timeless questions of resilience, survival, and the costs of conflict. We’re thrilled that Mother Courage tours to Newcastle in October — Book your tickets here. More dates to come.
Alongside Mother Courage, Ensemble 84 also presented Pits, People and Players, a production rooted in place and community, telling stories of resilience and collective memory. Sold out audiences shared in a story of Horden - the home and roots of this new company.
Future Cargo
Image by Hello Content
This summer also marked a new chapter for Future Cargo - a large scale outdoor arts work which undertook a Mediterranean tour that brought its unique form of outdoor spectacle to thousands of people across Europe. The work’s combination of large-scale visual theatre and intimate, headphone-based experience created encounters that were at once expansive and personal. From harbourside settings to city plazas, audiences leaned in, watched, listened, and became part of something bigger - a fleeting community created through performance.
Fields of Tender
Image by Krsto Vulović
We are thrilled to announce that we have been successful in securing funding to bring Dalija Acin Thelander’s extraordinary work to the UK for the very first time. Fields of Tender is an immersive dance experience created for Deaf and Disabled children under 5. Tender, playful, and deeply sensory, the work opens up a rare and precious space for children and their families to experience performance on their own terms.
This October, Fields of Tender will tour across the UK, offering communities a chance to engage with work that expands our ideas of who performance is for, and what it can achieve. The first performances will be in Bath - Book your tickets here.
Looking Ahead: Autumn Recommendations
Even as we reflect on a summer of activity, we are also looking firmly to the future. On the horizon are two major international projects, both of which we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks. One will launch in December, the other in the New Year, and both are set to be transformative - extending our networks, building new collaborations, and opening up fresh opportunities for artists and audiences alike.These projects reflect our core belief: that the arts have a unique role to play in bridging divides, sparking dialogue, and offering joy and hope in times of uncertainty.
As the nights draw in, here are a few things we’re looking forward to this coming season – ideas to inspire, provoke, and comfort:
Sea of Words – Kingsley Ng and Stephanie Cheung (October 2025)
Open for just nine days this October, this immersive and reflective experience is part of Our Sanctuary: Ocean of Voices – a seven-month, community-led arts project produced by Crying Out Loud and 432 Nomads. It is also presented as part of In Our Words – Portsmouth’s 2025 celebration of literature and storytelling, led by Portsmouth Creates.
Bradford City of Culture - Finale Event
Bradford’s year as UK City of Culture will draw to a close with Brighter Still, a spectacular community-driven finale taking place in Myrtle Park on 20 & 21 December — timed to coincide with the winter solstice. Hundreds of local residents of all ages will join dancers, poets, choirs, and performers in an open-air production created by Emily Lim and Dan Canham. It’s designed as a joyful, reflective gathering — a celebration of where Bradford has been and a symbolic looking-forward to what comes next — and tickets will be just £2 (free for under-16s and over-65s)
IETM Focus (Leeds, 21–25 October)
Bradford will also host the IETM Focus meeting (22–24 Oct) — an international gathering of artists, programmers and cultural professionals. A rare space that offers a chance to exchange ideas on inclusion, sustainability and cross-border collaboration, with a spirit of connection and global dialogue.
