platform11+ » Emergency Exit Arts

EMERGENCY EXIT ARTS
London | United Kingdom

Emergency Exit Arts (EEA) is the UK’s leading light in creating visual and performing arts in public outdoor spaces.

The company has a national and international reputation for creating unforgettable celebratory events that engage communities and stimulate cultural development. EEA redefines non-conventional theatre in public spaces and delivers accessible performance across multi-language and cultural barriers: from touring shows to youth participation our work is out on the streets in full public view.

From our base at Rothbury Hall, on the Greenwich peninsular in East Greenwich, London we work with a large team of creative multi disciplinary specialists, giving us the ability to deliver on every aspect of a participation project, outdoor production or event. Since 1980 EEA has pioneered culturally diverse outdoor performance and street music, pyrotechnic theatre, engagement with hard to reach communities through outdoor work and the inventive design and construction of large-scale live animations.

Through this experience the company has been able to take a key role in the development of Outdoor Arts, particularly supporting emerging artists and recently coordinating a mentoring scheme for Deaf and disabled artists who wish to engage with outdoor work. EEA is also commissioned to devise and mount one-off events for a wide variety of clients in the UK and abroad. Clients include local authorities, festival promoters, the business sector, arts centres, schools, colleges, community groups, environmental, tourism and regeneration agencies.

The scale of EEA’s impact and public benefit is huge. In an average year we:

work with up to 100 clients / partners with over 100 artists, musicians and technicians.

involve over 100,000 participants in 500 workshops, over 60% of which are with children and young people,

perform and run up to 90 events in the UK and in Europe

are viewed by an estimated audience of over 900,000

Platform 11+ highlights 2011

In January we were thrilled to be one of the companies that was selected by Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation, acknowledging our strong international profile, leadership and the development of young talent. Platform 11+ was recognized as one of the key strengths of EEA’s work programme.

February saw us working closely with our partner in Oulu, Finland to create ‘Beginning’ – Alex Evans directed and Patrick Bullock designed both the show and an exhibition with local schools. Co-written by Arji Manuelpillai, co-produced by Andrew Siddall, and with a youth exchange managed by Chloe Osborne, this was an extraordinary learning experience for all the team.

In April we confirmed our relationship with a great school George Green and sent head of drama Claire Gordon to Portugal for an inspiring weekend with other partner teachers. Some of her students joined us in May for a youth event built around ‘Beginning’ performing in London, and we ran an open competition to appoint a new young writer to our team through a Platform 11+ Award.

The annual encounter in Dresden in June was an amazing opportunity for creative exchange with Andrew Siddall leading on a youth engagement project with Chloe Osborne and educationalists from other partners. Simultaneous planning for next years mammoth coproduction and tour kept the excitement of the year ahead ticking for the whole team.

We are now busy planning for a combination of youth engagement, youth exchange, professional performance, new writing and installation events for 2012.