Step 4 on 19th July confirmed
Out To Perform
Uplifting the nation by unlocking the potential for more outside performances during the pandemic
©PA Owen Humphries/Gosforth Park
Farewell: mission accomplished
16th July 2021
from Stuart Barr, CEO
To all our supporters and partners over the past year...
With the great news that the Westminster government finally allowed England to enter Step 4 as from 19th July (with the other home nations following similar paths), our work has come to an end: the outdoor performing arts can return to 100% capacity without any mandatory mitigations.
Last Autumn, we set out to try to uplift the nation by unlocking the potential for more outdoor performance opportunities where the air is Covid Safer by lobbying government.
From our successful launch campaign to Save Carol Singing that legalised carol singing and brought joy to millions over Christmas, to our lobbying successes in getting the government to understand the needs of the small-scale outdoor theatre and music sector, Out To Perform have been here to help uplift the nation and provide more opportunities for artistes to earn. Read more on our lobbying campaigns below.
It's been a ghastly time for nearly everyone involved in the performing arts, with personal and organisational financial losses that will cast a shadow for many years to come. We salute their fortitude, and wish everyone a rosier future.
From the start, Out To Perform was a philanthropic exercise to help unlock others' enjoyment and livelihoods. We may not have got all we wanted at the time, it cost us a great deal of time, money and personal sacrifices, but the road to a brighter future is now clear.
The time has now come for the nation to focus not just on our physical health, but also our mental and social welfare – and the performing arts are a key part of the national recovery. Now let's all work to make that performing arts renaissance happen: audiences, producers, creatives, performers and technicians alike. Your country depends upon you.
Stuart Barr, CEO, Out To Perform
Our Campaign History
Join the conversation now
About Us
The pandemic has ripped through the entire vertical of the sector, from organisations through to freelancers. Much of the sector relies upon venues where social distancing makes it impossible to make work economically. Even after a vaccine is introduced, we estimate it will take 12-18 months before social distancing measures can be removed. We're here to find medium-term solutions.
Mission
To unleash new performance opportunities outdoors across the sector by lobbying for safe regulatory easement, creating partnerships and helping artistes to earn
Vision
A changed national narrative, whereby we accept that the best way for the performing arts to survive over the next 6-18 months is by focusing on an outside-first mentality
Impact
More performances will happen, more people will experience the thrill of live performance, more artists will be able to earn income from their livelihood
©Lloyd Winters / English National Opera
What we do
Lobby
Remove unnecessary regulation and champion the "Right To Perform"
Bring together landowners/hospitality sector to create economic synergy with performing arts organisations and artistes
Partner
©Busk in london
Advise venues, producers and artistes on how to make the most of the new opportunities
Advise
We're here for the entire industry
The performing arts is an eco-system – helping one part helps everyone else
©Mark Allen / London Symphony Orchestra
Venues, Producers & Organisations
We represent venues, producers and organisations to help change the landscape to enable them to make the most of the opportunities by performing outside.
Landowners, Restaurants & PubCos
We believe there's great potential for synergy between the performing arts and landowners and businesses – and we want to help you create the partnerships that generates value and creates jobs for both sides.
© Farrukh
Artistes & Freelancers
Every individual has the ability to motivate others and inspire true change. Join us on our mission to change the national narrative, to enable more work to be created for the tens of thousands of artistes and freelancers throughout the performing arts. Whether you're a musician, actor, dancer, circus artiste or other performer, we're all in the same boat. But we also don't want to forget that the army of freelancers behind the artiste which the audience doesn't see, but whose future livelihood is also at stake.
Who we are
Stuart Barr, CEO
Stuart spent 20 years in the music industry as an international conductor and singing expert. He was musical director to Dame Shirley Bassey for 6 years, was chair of the London Youth Choir and a former President of the British Voice Association. After an MBA at Cambridge 4 years ago, he founded nSpireMe to develop AI technology to make children's practice more effective and fun; and more recently Parcel.Love to send delicious hand-made cakes, biscuits & photo greetings cards to friends and family during the lockdown.
Kate Jones, Partnerships
Kate Jones is a producer, project manager and consultant who has worked across the public, private and broadcast sectors. With many years experience in the cultural and creative industries, Kate has worked with clients in both the public and corporate worlds to deliver public facing activations, strategies, campaigns and events. For the last five years, Kate has held the role of Programme Director for Busk in London, a non-profit making programme supported by the Mayor of London that creates, curates and manages high quality, busking style performances for private landowners, property developers and corporate organisations.
Madelaine Bennett, Publicist
Want to join our team? Drop us a a brief message outlining why you'd like to join the team.
Advisory Group
includes:
Declan Costello, Consultant ENT Surgeon
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, CEO UK Music
Zoë Curnow, Exec Director, The Minack Theatre
Louis Hartshorn, Theatre Producer
Contact
For Press Enquiries, please call 07973 379147 in the first instance.
or email outtoperform@stuartbarr.net