Without Walls Reveals 10 Artists Selected for 2026 Blueprint Outdoor Arts R&D Programme

Without Walls has announced the 10 artists and companies selected for this year's Blueprint, its dedicated research and development programme for ambitious new outdoor touring work. Projects span theatre, dance, music, sound, aerial performance, circus, walkabout, procession and puppetry. Companies include Graeae, Southpaw, Fuse Theatre, Oluwatosin Omotosho, Avanti Display, Maiya Leeke x Mimbre, Lorna Rees, Salaam Salaam and Akshay Sharma.

Blueprint provides funding that enables artists to have the time and resources to undertake R&D, where they can interrogate their artistic practice, test audience relationships, develop partnerships and take the creative risks that lead to distinctive and boundary pushing work for public space. Since Without Walls launched the programme in 2018, it has supported the development of more than 50 shows, with many going on to become fully realised productions that tour across the UK and internationally, demonstrating the importance and value that R&D has in supporting innovation and strengthening the sector's importance as part of wider arts and culture in the UK.

The Blueprint 2026 cohort reflects the breadth of contemporary outdoor practice, bringing together established practitioners and artists developing work in public space for the first time. They also engage with key questions for the sector, such as environmental responsibility in touring; intimacy and care in public space; disabled-led creativity; cultural representation; community connection; and the dramaturgy of large-scale outdoor encounters.

Through its network of 35 partners, Without Walls offers artists more than financial support - Blueprint creates a framework for dialogue with presenters, producers and festivals, enabling artists to stress-test ideas, understand touring contexts, build relationships and develop work with the potential to reach audiences in streets, parks, high streets, festivals and civic spaces across the UK and beyond.

Ralph Kennedy, Chief Executive, Without Walls, says: "Artistic innovation is critically important to developing arts and culture, and Without Walls is committed to giving artists the time, space and support to take creative risks and test new ideas. This includes supporting artists from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds and different creative disciplines to be able to dream bigger, push the boundaries of their craft and contribute to the future of outdoor arts."

Without Walls Blueprint 2026 projects:

CEMENTED by Lorna Rees Company is a joyful music and sound-led walkabout exploring cement, built environments and the public spaces that bind communities together. Designed for urban settings including high streets, market squares and car parks, the work develops a playful, site-responsive vocabulary through surreal performance, new music and eye-catching costume.

Edge of the Sacred by Akshay Sharma is a playful dance duet in which two men of colour move through touch, rhythm and closeness. The R&D explores how choreography, intimacy and public encounter can gently reframe masculinity and affection in shared civic space.

Made Ready by Avanti Display uses the ambition of carbon neutrality as a creative catalyst for outdoor touring. The project investigates whether a manual and kit could be interpreted by performers across the country or the world, opening up questions of sustainability, replication, authorship, quality and freedom of expression.

Man Down by Fuse Theatre is a raw, high-energy physical theatre work exploring the catastrophic impact of toxic masculinity. Combining visceral movement, Visual Vernacular and live beatboxing, the piece develops a bilingual performance language that asks what happens when masculinity becomes performance and what remains when the mask slips.

She Dreams. She Flies! by Maiya Leeke x Mimbre is a fusion of contemporary dance and aerial circus researching the potential of equipment to reimagine possibility. Shining a disco ball light on the often hidden politics of wheelchair life, the project places disabled perspective, choreographic ambition and aerial practice in dynamic conversation.

The Aunties: House of Masks by Oluwatosin Omotosho is a theatre and dance piece exploring "African aunties", cultural pressure, gossip, secrets, marriage, success and identity. Through movement, comedy, poetry and music, the work develops a public-facing performance language around tradition, expectation, community and the masks people wear to survive them.

The Parade to Futures End by Unseen Between is an immersive procession of giant illuminated creatures, live sound and dance. Emerging like a ritual from another world, the project researches how music, movement, light and participatory gathering can combine to create large-scale outdoor spectacle.

Tommy & Teresa by Southpaw Company is a forbidden love story between a Traveller site and a council estate, told through explosive dance, rap and a caravan that opens into a world of family, culture, conflict and belonging. From the team behind RIDE!, the project reimagines Romeo and Juliet through Gypsy and Traveller voices for a public-space context.

Water Puppet by Graeae Theatre Company is a walkabout work touring to outdoor festivals in 2027. Graeae's extraordinary giant puppet will emerge from the water as a disabled woman whose body has been changed and eroded by the pollution of her natural habitat, bringing disabled-led storytelling, environmental urgency and outdoor puppetry together at scale.

Woven Worlds by Salaam Salaam invites audiences into a landscape of hanging Persian carpets where beatboxing, clowning and breakdance collide. The project explores how Middle Eastern cultural forms can meet contemporary street and performance languages through joy, creativity and connection.

For more information about Blueprint, please visit the Without Walls website.

A Strategy for Joy and Belonging has just been published, setting out measures to strengthen and ensure the long-term sustainability of outdoor arts. To download the strategy, please use this LINK.

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