Join Articulation for a morning of discussion and debate during Surge Festival 2025. We’ll share learning and explore our common ambitions and visions for Outdoor Arts, Circus and Spectacle in Scotland.
Date | Friday 18 July |
Time | 10am-12.30pm |
Location | The Social Hub, Merchant City, Glasgow |
Tickets | Free |

Outdoor Arts, Circus & Spectacle – Ambitions for the sector & a manifesto for Scotland
We invite you for a morning of discussion and debate, where we’ll share learning and explore our common ambitions and visions for Outdoor Arts, Circus and Spectacle in Scotland.
Articulation is completing a review of these sectors across Scotland, the UK and Ireland with a research team from Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. At our Summer Gathering we’ll be sharing our findings and asking about your vision for the future of Outdoor Arts, Circus and Spectacle in Scotland.
Come and help us agree the next steps for these artforms and help create a manifesto for Outdoor Arts, Circus and Spectacle in Scotland. This animated morning will include opportunities for networking and lunch . Summer Gathering attendees will also get free tickets to Follow Me by Be Flat, a Surge Festival show that will take place immediately after the event.
We’d be delighted if you can join our Summer Gathering – book your place here.
Speakers
Sarah Longfield
Sarah Longfield is a Creative Business Coach, Facilitator and Producer based in Glasgow. After 12 years as Artistic Director of Toonspeak Young People’s Theatre, she now works with a wide range of creatives, arts organisations and creative entrepreneurs, shifting mindsets so people can plan and take action effectively. She is also a proud alopecian, bald and bold. Head over to www.sarahlongfield.co.uk for more creativity, useful planning tips and chat about living with a visible difference.
Kathryn Welch
Kathryn Welch (she/her) is Co-Director of Culture Counts, the network for the arts, heritage and creative industries in Scotland. With an accompanying freelance portfolio that specialises in community arts and social change, Kathryn brings experience from culture-sector roles including Programme Lead for Creative Scotland’s Culture Collective, Interim Director for Creative Lives, and Operations Director for Macrobert Arts Centre, as well as freelance projects with Arts Council England, British Council, Arts and Humanities Research Council and Create Ireland. www.culturecounts.scot and www.kathrynwelch.co.uk
Jideofor Muotone
My name is Jideofor Muotune. I’m a multi-platform story teller. I tell stories using projected animated performances, interactive public displays, sound installations and augmented reality. Recently I’ve been exploring the boundaries of immersive theatrical storytelling outdoors which is why I have joined the Articulation Arts network. My creative practice has its roots at the intersection of technology and ‘traditional’ arts, starting as it did with me using computers to make music on the label Soma Records at which I was both a founding artist and director. The brutal murder of George Floyd forced me to establish theafrowegian.org as a platform to tell stories that I was passionate about. My approach is always accessible, inclusive and multi-generation in a bid to create strong emotional connections with diverse audiences.
Lorenzo Mele
Lorenzo Mele is a Senior Arts Producer with Glasgow Life, the charity that manages Cultural and Sporting assets and venues for Glasgow City Council. Between 2012 and 2024 he coordinated the producing and delivery of the Merchant City Festival alongside other arts projects across the city with the wider Glasgow Life Arts and Music team. Prior to working for Glasgow Life, he was a theatre director, running 7:84 Theatre Company touring across Scotland, and developing queer performance work with new writers.
Luke Winter
Luke Winter is an artist who likes to make outdoor spaces more playful. He is a maker, storyteller and visual artist. He runs Story Wagon, a touring storytelling venue and has recently installed a series of interactive sculptures on the Isle of Bute. He lives in Scotland.
Rachel Blanche
Rachel is a Senior Lecturer in Arts Management and Cultural Policy at Queen Margaret University. Her research centres on cultural policy, participation and community arts and concepts of placemaking.
Follow Me by Be Flat
Location | Ramshorn Graveyard |
Date | 1pm, Friday 18 July |
Duration | 50 minutes |
The two acrobats of Be Flat have prepared a unique tour of Glasgow for a select group of followers. The streets of the city, the facades of the buildings and the cobblestones below are transformed into an urban circus piste. Follow Me is not only a performance to be watched, but also a playful collective journey through public space. So, turn off your mobile phones, tighten your shoelaces, and let’s go!
Attendees must stay for the duration of the show (duration 50 minutes)
Travel Bursaries
In addition to free entry to the Summer Gathering, Articulation members will be able to access travel bursaries for the event (up to £50). Bursaries will be available on a first come, first served basis by contacting us via: admin@articulation.scot. To find out more about becoming a member of Articulation, please visit: articulation.scot/join
BSL Introduction to Articulation Summer Gathering 2025
Summer Gathering 2025
10am-12.30pm | Friday 18 July | The Social Hub, Glasgow