Alan Richardson on the power of outdoor arts: ‘It’s about audiences interacting with one another’
Outdoor arts are facing difficult new challenges as the availability of public spaces continues to be squeezed. Isy Santini talks to the director of Surge Festival as it attempts to open up Glasgow’s streets and people’s minds
‘Children are very good at playing and adults are rubbish at it.’ Surge Festival director Alan Richardson laughs as he looks ahead to Scotland’s biggest outdoor arts festival, now in its 16th year. ‘But this is an invitation for people to come along and play.’ For two weekends across July and August, the streets of Glasgow will be transformed into a dynamic performance space, where any corner could be host to jaw-dropping circus acts and thought-provoking physical theatre.
Aside from fostering play, the festival also has an important role in aiding Surge’s other work. As an organisation, it’s dedicated to developing outdoor arts, physical theatre and circus across Scotland. ‘From our perspective, the main aim of the festival is to provide opportunities for Scottish-based artists to present new outdoor arts work,’ explains Richardson. ‘You never quite know what you’re going to get because all the shows are brand new. That’s also one of the policies: all the work we put on is either brand new or hasn’t been seen in Scotland before.’ Since the festival’s inception, the percentage of Scottish acts in its programme has risen from around 10% to 50%. And in the last few years, the Four Nations Bursary for early-career artists from the UK and Ireland has been introduced.
While Surge nurtures Scottish talent, the festival brings together cutting-edge works from around the world, including Catalonia and Indonesia. Though this year’s festival doesn’t have an official theme, Richardson says that positivity runs throughout the programme. ‘Due to the current situation that we find ourselves in politically and culturally, we’ve concentrated a lot on hope and joy. There are a couple of stark warnings in there, but largely it’s a lot of meditative and gentle work about community cohesion.’ He points to a number of exciting shows such as the six-part dance work Alih which explores change in all its forms. ‘It’s a sort of interaction with the audience around what change looks like; if change is good and what change is bad.’ Other highlights include Domte, a contemporary circus piece about collaboration in the face of domination, and MDR, a clown show all about crime and blame.
As Surge has continued to grow, new challenges have emerged for street theatre and outdoor arts beyond the ever-present Glasgow threat of bad weather. The erosion of public spaces has been the biggest problem in recent years. ‘A lot of the spaces that were available to perform in have now been taken over by private companies,’ Richardson says. ‘And they have very specific things that they would like to see put on in their spaces, which are generally not that imaginative or challenging.’
Despite these roadblocks, he has faith in the power of outdoor arts to foster community. ‘It’s a collective activity. It’s about audiences interacting with one another.’ For him, outdoor arts are uniquely situated to do this because of the diverse audiences they’re able to attract: ‘A lot of people won’t step over the threshold of a theatre because they don’t think it’s for them.’ By utilising public spaces, traditional barriers to theatre are removed, allowing new audiences to be moved and transported.
Surge Festival is part of Glasgow’s Merchant City Festival and takes place in various venues on Friday 24–Sunday 26 July and Saturday 1 & Sunday 2 August.
4 More To See at Glasgow Festival
As well as Surge, the Glasgow Festival pulls together a number of events which bring the city to life round about this time of year on an annual basis. Such as Merchant City Festival (various venues, Friday 24 July–Sunday 2 August) which has a number of glittering attractions like the Hip Replacement Disco, the Women Of The Windrush opera, a stage curated by Hen Hoose, Scottish Alternative Music Awards presenting Vlure, and performances by rising jazz stars Rachel Duns (pictured below) and Laura Oghagbon.
Glasgow Mela (Kelvingrove Park, Sunday 5 July) brings us vibrant sights and sounds across two stages, kicking off at noon and featuring the likes of Dance Ihayami who put on a feast of contemporary and traditional movement, classically trained vocalist Reya Kundu, and sarangi maestro Ustad Satwinderpal Singh. Promoting art, heritage and culture, Jhankar Beats (Woodside Hall, Sunday 19 July) head up an afternoon of music and dance, and Celebrating The Design Journey: Commonwealth Games Medals (Glasgow School Of Art, Friday 10 July–Saturday 8 August) is an immersive exhibition which features materials from the GSA collection and offers an insight into the medal-making process.