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Out There Arts is thrilled to announce the return of the Out There International Festival of Circus & Outdoor Arts, taking place 28–30 May 2026, transforming streets, parks and waterfronts across Great Yarmouth into a vibrant arena of international performance, spectacle and community celebration.

Recognised as one of the UK’s leading festivals of circus and outdoor arts, Out There Festival brings together thousands of residents and visitors each year, shaped by an artistic programme celebrated for its vibrancy, innovation and accessibility. Audiences regularly exceed 60,000 people, with particularly strong attendance from families and festival-loyal locals.

A Free Festival for Everyone

Out There Festival is rooted in the belief that world-class culture should be accessible to all. Families remain at the heart of the event, with data showing strong repeat attendance and some of the highest family engagement levels in the outdoor arts sector. The festival’s open-access nature continues to create meaningful shared experiences across Great Yarmouth’s diverse communities.

Show highlights:

Margarida Montenÿ – BLUE
Immerse yourself in a thrilling aerial performance where you lay down underneath the spectacle, an arms reach away from danger. Interdisciplinary artist Margarida Monteny combs aerial acrobatics into physical landscape, with the observer at the core.

Pau Palaus – Embolic
Travel through thought and emotion and find real, genuine escapism with Embolic, a circus show brought to life by internationally acclaimed and award winning Director and Clown Pau Palaus.

FÜLÜ – LIVE
Embrace your animalistic side to tell stories of the wild spirit through music, voice and movement. A combination of brass and electronic instrumentals, the band offers a lush sound universe by weaving a link between contemporary jazz, the percussive trance of carnivals and the mesmerizing rhythms of techno club.

The Ice House: A Reborn Cultural Landmark

This year’s festival also shines a spotlight on the newly redeveloped Ice House, one of Great Yarmouth’s most significant historic buildings. Originally built to support the town’s thriving fishing and ice industries, the Ice House has been transformed into a unique creative and performance venue-and will host two intimate, ticketed shows during the festival.

Show highlights:

Humo y Pulvo – I Dreamt I Had Hairy Teeth
In a strange, surreal world, two women confront their inner beast, the one they have learned to keep quiet but which still weighs on them. An acrobatic and visual performance constructed as a journey of thought that moves forward and backward

Opposable Thumb Theatre – Don Quixote (is a very big book)
Don Quixote (is a very big book) blends laugh-out-loud moments with mad reflections on the joys and indignities of both real and fictional life. A new one-man show follows the crazed delusions of Don Quixote with his own struggle against reality. Subversive puppetry, clowning, mask work, mime and physical theatre combine in a surreal journey you could laugh or cry to.

The redevelopment forms part of Out There Arts’ wider vision to create an international hub for circus training, creation and community cultural activity, supporting year-round opportunities for local residents and artists.

A Festival That Reflects Its People and Its Place

Great Yarmouth’s cultural identity, community spirit and rich heritage sit at the core of the festival’s ethos. With the borough’s strong tourism economy and diverse local communities, the festival continues to play a pivotal role in strengthening pride, belonging and cultural visibility across the town.

From large-scale outdoor spectacles to intimate community moments, this year’s programme has been designed to welcome first-time attenders, returning festival families, adventurous arts-goers and visitors discovering Great Yarmouth anew.

A Taste of What’s to Come