Nicola Lawton shares her experience of attending Circostrada’s Fresh Street – a symposia with keynote speakers, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities.
I was extremely lucky to be the recipient of a Creative Scotland bursary to attend Fresh Street Festival 2025. Professional development opportunities are not something that come my way very often as a producer, so I decided to throw my hat in the ring when the opportunity arose.
I’ve never been to Great Yarmouth before, and this was my first time attending Fresh Street a festival and sector conference organised by Circostrada and Out There Arts. I had no idea what to expect but each morning we’d be attending the Hippodrome for some presentations, talks and panel discussions. The afternoons were spent browsing the Out There Festival brochure which kicked off on the Thursday to attend performances in and around Great Yarmouth. Being a producer, I had of course had a look in advance and plugged my calendar full of all the performances that looked inspiring but it’s always nice to get a feel for somewhere when you arrive in a new place and take a chance on something that you perhaps wouldn’t normally be drawn to.
I was blown away by the Hippodrome, our main venue for the week, an old purpose build circus building from the early 1900’s still be run as a working circus today after being lovingly restored by the Jay family. It was great to see a stunning building still being used for its original purpose and great to have a dedicated space for circus performance in the UK, we need more of those in my opinion!
My main take-aways from attending this festival were that we need to be having more conversations as a sector in Scotland about what we need and advocating for that as much as we can. It was inspiring to see the spaces that Out There Arts had taken on and transformed into purpose-built rehearsal and performance spaces for outdoor arts and circus as well as how they integrate everything they do with the community that they inhabit. My performance highlights include Joli Vyann, Many Hands Circus, Daughters of the Dust, Vaiven Circo, Big Wolf Company & Gorilla Circus, go check them out on socials!
About Nicola Lawton
I’m a Glasgow based performer and producer and I sit on the board for Articulation. I have over a decade of experience in cabaret, street performance and circus and I’m a strong advocate for safe practices across our industry in all the wonderful art forms it encompasses.
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