Presented as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, with generous support from partners and funders Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Pride and MAC the No Outsiders Family Festival is an inclusive festival of creative chaos for 2 to 11 year olds and their grown-ups.

From drop-in arts and craft workshops in the public spaces at MAC to walk-about storytellers, circus acts, Queer Superheroes and a DJ on the terrace to bookable performances and workshops in the Outdoor Theatre and spaces inside, No Outsiders Family Festival 2022 is back and bringing a party vibe!

Dr Hannah Phillips, Festival Founder and Producer of No Outsiders Family festival says: “We are thrilled to be working with our partners Birmingham Pride and MAC again for the No Outsiders Family Festival 2022 but this year to also receive the support of Birmingham 2022 Festival and Birmingham City Council through a Creative City Project Grant. This grant has enabled us to bring work into the City from outside Birmingham and work with Birmingham artists to programme more ambitious work for our audiences. It has also enabled us to work with LGBTQIA+ emerging talent enabling some future thinking within this sector for the community.

“We want to create opportunities for families to be creative, make, perform and dance together. Empowering experiences which promote connection and creativity. Queer creativity offers the opportunity to re imagine our world. LGBTQIA+ families / children often feel excluded from a heteronormative world, this is an empowering opportunity for different families to connect.”

Throughout the day Festival goers can book into theatre shows and free workshops including Rogueplay Theatre’s Around the world in 80 Days in MAC’s Outdoor Theatre, with each of the two shows followed by aerial and circus workshops led by RoguePlay. Around the World in 80 Days follows feminist heroine Philly Fogg and her activist friends as the all-female identifying cast venture around the world, riding elephants, rushing through the rainforest and sailing across oceans to learn how to save the planet.

In the Foyle Studio attend a quirky birthday party to remember with Party presented by Half Moon, the UK’s leading small-scale young people’s venue and touring company. Afonso wants to go to his best friend’s birthday party, but where is his invitation – has it been lost in the post, or maybe he wasn’t even invited? When it finally arrives the excitement and nerves become too much to handle. What should he wear? Will they have balloons? Will anyone play with him? And what about the cake? The warmth of a Portuguese summer takes audiences to a place where difference is something to celebrate.

On the outdoor Terrace join trans-identifying emerging circus performers, Clique Culture for Growth their debut production which depicts the cycle of a seed transitioning through stages before reaching its full potential in an interactive performance which puts the audience in the midst of a circus spectacular.

No Outsiders Family Festival favourites Open Theatre, who use nonverbal physical theatre to collaborate with young people with learning disabilities return with a workshop of music and movement; Barbara Nice is back with laughs for all the family and is joined by award-winning dance artist Jaivant Patel who will be showing Barbara some moves; and in preparation for the DISCO on the Terrace, Autin Dance Theatre will be getting everyone in the grove with a disco themed dance workshop.

Deborah Kermode, Chief Executive, Midlands Arts Centre added: “I am incredibly proud that MAC are once-again supporting and providing a base for the No Outsiders Family Festival, a brilliantly inclusive day for all families – everyone is welcome to come along to celebrate and get creative.”

Lydia Harrington, Grants Programme Manager for the Birmingham 2022 Festival said: “One of over 100 community groups across Birmingham that are staging their own festival events and projects as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, the No Outsider Family Festival celebrates inclusivity and creativity in a wonderful and joyful way bringing families together, making creative connections and topping it all off with a disco!”