STOP PRESS!

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Message from Festival Committee

We will be holding our usual post-Festival open general meeting on Sunday 18 January 2026 at 3pm in the Ellen Terry Suite at the Theatre and you are all very welcome to attend. An agenda, draft set of minutes from 2023 General Meeting and draft Profit and Loss account for 2025 are attached via links to the files (clck on the link to view/download selected file).

Sadly, after many years of providing a showcase for talented people from the Town to perform at their own Theatre, we find that we cannot reasonably continue with the Festival in its present form and are proposing to wind up the charity (we have an obligation to do this if it does not appear financially sustainable) and transfer remaining funds to the Stevenage Arts Guild, to support future performance opportunities.

Artistically the Festival is as brilliant as it ever was, and we have no shortage of people wanting to perform. However, along with many other arts bodies in the current climate, we have the following problems:-

  • Rising costs and compliance burden
  • Falling income and poor ticket sales
  • Volunteer fatigue – the officers of the Festival have done the job for many years and will be standing down
  • Shrinking reserves – we are solvent, but made a significant loss in 2025 which cannot be repeated

We are open to hearing views on this proposal and ideas on how the legacy and spirit of the Festival might be carried forward into the future. Bear in mind however that we would need to be very clear on who would organise and undertake any different or new projects.

I should add that this in no way affects the Rock in the Park event, which is now fully incorporated into Stevenage Day and is the responsibility of Stevenage Borough Council

We look forward to seeing you in January. Do pass on this information and invitation to anyone else who might be interested.

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Welcome to Stevenage Festival!

Message from Ron Walker Chairman, Stevenage Festival.

Stevenage Festival 2025 Festival is now over but you can still see what we did in June 2025 (click on the Whatson link at the top of this page to visit the page and see the whole programme). The printed programme can also be downloaded here.

As ever, follow our Facebook page to keep up with the latest developments on all things Stevenage Festival.

Rock in the Park took place as part of Stevenage Day 2025 on Sunday 8 June.
To view the programme of Bands/times etc visit the RITP25 page.

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.

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 2027: We will be holding our usual post-Festival open general meeting on Sunday 18 January 2026 at 3pm in the Ellen Terry Suite at the Theatre and you are all very welcome to attend. For full details see stop press at the head of this page but please email info@stevenage-festival.co.uk to be put on our mailing list for updates.

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 Kelly,
Councillor Richard Henry and Councillor Simon Speller

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

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Stevenage Festival

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