Bloomsbury Festival returns for a 3 day festival in 2025, and plans a month long celebration marking 20 years of the festival in 2026
> BROWSE THE EVENT LISTINGS HERE
“Bloomsbury Festival captures the diversity of bright minds connected to these few streets of London, from the past to the present day” Guardian
Bloomsbury Festival will return this October for a weekend festival curated with the theme The Paths We Tread. The weekend festival for 2025 has been planned ahead of the 20 year anniversary in 2026 which will be marked with a month-long celebration and the biggest festival Bloomsbury has produced to date. The annual festival of theatre, music, art, literature, science and family events takes place across Bloomsbury and Camden’s streets, parks, museums and galleries in an annual celebration of local community and culture. Events are free and ticketed with prices between £3 and £25.
The 2025 programme has been curated with the theme The Paths We Tread, inspired by the festival’s heritage research, unearthing stories about the history of the streets of St Giles, Seven Dials and Bloomsbury, linking the contemporary festival to characters and street life of the past. The 2025 programme focuses on Bloomsbury’s New Wave talent, an annual programme which showcases artists, musicians and theatre-makers emerging into their professional careers.
The festival will open with a free launch event, Songs And Ballads Singing Showcase (16 October), led by singers from Bloomsbury and beyond for a joyful and powerful sharing of songs highlighting the history of the streets of Bloomsbury and St Giles, and the global cultures of communities who live there now.
Exhibitions running over the weekend include an outdoor exhibition by Michael Craig-Martin, the Russell Square Sculpture Commission presented by the Commissioners of Russell Square in partnership with the Festival, The Bedford Estates and Gagosian and the New Wave prize-winning artist Beth McAlester presenting artwork featuring life in Northern Ireland for the ‘ceasefire’ babies who have grown up since the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement. Additionally, artist Dryden Goodwin’s Quicken explores drawing as a means to re-animate the presence of individuals from St Giles’ notorious past, realised as a series of etched metal plates installed among the throng of contemporary St Giles streets and The Streets Of Bloomsbury and St Giles, features contemporary artistic responses to historic artworks and street songs, and depicting new interpretations of local life as lived in past centuries in the area. Quicken and The Streets of Bloomsbury and St Giles are presented as part of the Strange Doings in London heritage project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
A programme of nine New Wave music concerts platforming emerging music talent includes Tuning Dimensions (18 October), a polyphonic singing exploration of Mediterranean traditions, J.A.M. String Collective (19 October), a contemporary jazz string trio exploring themes of the Climate Crisis and Dùthchas (19 October), solo flute works reflecting upon the journey of a Scottish emigrant during the Highland Clearances.
In dance, An Evening With Okan-Maya & Toussaint (18 October) at The Place, artists and choreographers Ella Mesma and Akeim Toussaint Buck present a vibrant evening inspired by their new dance theatre show with performances, workshops and conversations unfolding across different spaces.
The New Wave programme of theatre includes:
- Up In The Mango Trees (17 & 18 October) a play following a young disabled woman living on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia who is encouraged to run for the prestigious title of Carnival Queen.
- Cancelling Patji (17 & 18 October) a one act play investigating cancel culture, restorative justice, and intergenerational memory through Korean folklore and ritual.
- See It. Say It. Sorted. The Musical! (17 & 18 October) a new original musical about one bag, five strangers and a train station full of secrets.
- 8-Bit Dream (19 October) a time- travelling, absurdist comedy about life, performed by the Macready Theatre Young Actors Company.
- Facility 111: A Government Experiment (19 October) a surreal audio play performed live in complete darkness, guiding the audience through visualising images of interconnected cities made of glass and sand.
Family events include Holborn Library’s Meet Maisie Chan (18 October), author of award winning children’s books such as Danny Chung Does Not Do Maths; and Crossing The Alps With An Elephant: The Paths Of William Brockedon (18 October) with art and science activites around the amazing life of William Brockedon: explorer, artist and pharmacological inventor.
The full programme including theatre, music, literature, art and science events can be viewed here.
Festival Director Rosemary Richards said, “2025’s weekend festival is a busy programme with around 50 events over three days Celebrating Creativity in Bloomsbury. We are delighted to be presenting some of London’s brightest new talent alongside local partner events and the culmination of our year long heritage project Strange Doings in London, and we must thank all our partners, venues, artists and local businesses for enabling yet another great collection of culture and events.”