Open Call: Join the Creative Development Network

The Creative Development Network (CDN) is designed for art organisations, festivals, venues, local authorities, independent producers, programmers, who are interested in expanding, developing, or strengthening their offer in outdoor arts. It provides opportunities for peer learning, sharing of resources and knowledge, networking, and connecting with other creatives across the country.

Alongside a series of meetings, workshops, and other professional development opportunities, the CDN programme is driven by the needs and interests of the group, with partners working collaboratively to share ideas, resources and skills.

Partners in the Creative Development Network have access to a range of benefits, including:

• Four CDN network meetings (two in person and two online), one of which taking place in conjunction with a festival visit to one of the Artistic Directorate festivals.
• Access to financial support for travel expenses to attend one of the two in-person meetings.
• Access to a range of professional development activities including workshops, training events and online monthly partners drop-in sessions. These cover a range of topics such as programming, audience engagement, access, diversity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and other relevant sectoral topics.
• One-to-one sessions with the Without Walls team each year.
• Additional light-touch contact with the Without Walls team throughout the year, with a dedicated point of contact to help partners make the most of the opportunities available through Without Walls, sharing information, offering advice and brokering connections.
• Opportunities to meet with other Without Walls festival partners, staff and Board members at informal networking events throughout the year, to share opportunities, ask questions and develop connections.
• Access to Without Walls digital resources, including toolkits, guides, and publications.
• Regular updates about shows in development and opportunities to attend artist sharings via a regular CDN newsletter and a dedicated partner area on the Without Walls website.
• Profiling your organisation as partners on the Without Walls website, and use of the Without Walls logo in communication and marketing materials.

There is a growing appetite for outdoor arts events across the country of many different forms, styles and scales, from large scale festivals to programmes that run throughout the year light nights, pop-up community events, and celebrations such as Carnivals, Melas or Diwali. Without Walls has supported a range of these events over the past 15 years and wishes to continue to diversify its partner networks even more with its next round of CDN Open Call.

Without Walls appreciates the mutual benefits of a diverse membership, and in this spirit it especially welcomes expressions of interest from organisations based in England who may:

• Identify as being Global Majority-led, including, but not limited to, Melas and Carnivals;
• Identify as being Deaf, disabled, neurodivergent, or learning disabled-led;
• Experience other barriers to engaging with Outdoor Arts, including identifying as LGBTQIA+-led, female- or non-binary-led, or being from a low socio-economic background / working class.

The 2025-26 cohort will be made up of some returning partners who were in the network in 2024, and some new members. You can find a list of partners here.

Without Walls is committed to ensuring that all our processes and events are as accessible as possible.

Our guidance materials are available in a range of formats (including easy read and large print). If you have any specific access requirements, we will do our best to support you. Please get in touch with Sara Riccardi on [email protected] providing an outline of your requirements, or call on 0161 843 5270.

We accept audio or video format for some of the longer questions in the Expression of Interest Form, if that suits you better.

For further discussion about the Open Call, please contact Sara Riccardi, Project Manager, at [email protected]

We understand that the outlined criteria may not work for all organisations, especially voluntary-led community events, and we are happy to discuss any adjustments to accommodate specific needs within reason.