Welcome to Stevenage Festival!

Message from Ron Walker Chairman, Stevenage Festival.

Newsflash! Stevenage Festival AGM is on the 10th November at 7:30pm - see further down the page for details.

Our programme at the Gordon Craig Theatre has now been completed so sadly you missed it! If you want to have a look at what went on click on Main programme to view the page.

Rock in the Park took place as part of Stevenage Day 2023 on Sunday 11 June.
To view the programme of Bands/times etc visit the RITP23 page.

The fringe programme details can be found here. As ever follow our Facebook page to keep up with the latest developments on all things Stevenage Festival.

Picture of Poppy display

Some of the Festival team were involved with the poppy memorial asssociated with Lister Hospital and Stevenage Arts. This was to remember those who had died from COVID. For more details about the event and images click on Poppies.

What is Stevenage festival?

Stevenage Festival has been taking place since 1994 (click here to view a pdf of the 1994 programme) and provides a showcase for all the exciting talent that we have right here on our doorsteps in the Stevenage area. It takes place every two years and involves something like two thousand local performers and artists of all descriptions. The core of the Festival is a series of performances in our very own Gordon Craig Theatre and we also have a vibrant fringe of smaller events taking place around the town. Lots of our performances feature young people taking their first steps in an activity that they love - please come along and support them. Who knows, some of them may go on to great things - and you saw them here first. Whether you are into fine art, poetry, photography, theatre, dance, books or music, from classical concerts to Rock in the Park, there's something in the Festival for you. If you'd like to see the sort of thing that we have done in the past then take a look at our history pages.

The past three years have been difficult for all performing arts events and a full Festival was not possible in 2021. But we focused on what we could do rather than what we couldn't, and brought together a range of virtual events for 2021 and further catch up events in 2022. There were various online talks and lectures; there was a major song project for young people and we also had our first online Photography competition (run in conjunction with Stevenage Photographic Society) - If you'd like to view the best of the photos then click here for the Adult category and here for the Under 18s category.

If you are a local arts group and would like to get involved then please get in touch (email details at the foot of the page). We'd also be pleased to hear from any local businesses or other organisations who would like to be part of this creative initiative that helps make Stevenage a better place to live and work.

I would like to thank all the people who make the Festival possible - all the local groups and individuals who work so hard to put on performances and events and the audiences who come to support them; our patrons for their support; Stevenage Arts Guild, which keeps the arts on the agenda all year round; Hertfordshire Music Service; local councillors who have squeezed funds for us out of their locality budgets; the Gordon Craig Theatre and my committee of volunteers who work tirelessly to make the whole thing happen.

Artistic and cultural activity is vital for wellbeing and for community building - we look forward to playing our part in restoring and enhancing these activities for the people in our town.

Stevenage Festival Organisation

Festivals like this take a long time to plan.

Planning for 2025: We are holding a general meeting to discuss the 2025 and future Festivals at the Gordon Craig Theatre (in the Lewis Silkin Room, which is on the upper floor) on Friday 10 November 2023 at 7:30pm. Anyone who would like to be involved in the Festival is welcome to attend. Please email info@stevenage-festival.co.uk to receive further information.

If you are a local arts group and want to know more or would like to be involved then please contact us at the "Info" email address at the foot of this page.

If you have any questions, or want to provide feedback about events, please feel free to contact us at either of the email addresses at the foot of this page. Your feedback is always appreciated.

The Festival is grateful to the following patrons for their support:

The Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire,
Martha Lytton-Cobbold, Rebecca Hughes,
Councillor Richard Henry, Councillor Simon Speller,
Marie Joy Taylor, Ellen Terry May Craig,
Helen Craig, Vicki Michelle
and Giles Terera.

Need Help? If this is your first time on this new version of our site please visit our Help page to explain the changes made to the site.


Stevenage Festival

Click below to view our Facebook page or on the Follow button below to follow the Facebook page.

If you find that the Facebook messages don't appear above then clear your web browser cache and then reload this page. This may well solve the problem.




Stevenage Festival

You can find us on our Facebook page or email us using the email link on this page.

Page Last updated: 22 October 2023

For general queries - info@stevenage-festival.co.uk

For website problems - webmaster@stevenage-festival.co.uk