Kate Mosse, President of the Festival of Chichester, hailed the unique qualities that set the Festival of Chichester apart from other town and city festivals at the launch of the 2026 programme.
“It is a festival that represents and celebrates all the people who make art, however you define that,” she explained. “It’s not about saying a famous orchestra, a famous writer or a famous actor coming to your event in the Assembly Rooms. It’s about saying that those people, those of us who are lucky enough to make our living doing that, are just the same as every single person in Chichester who plays an instrument, who takes a guided tour around the walls or talks about the ghosts, who paints something. It’s about saying that we are part of a much bigger story.”
Speaking to an audience of supporters, friends, local dignitaries and event organisers in the Assembly Room in the Chichester Council House on 30th April, the Festival President remembered the origins of the festival in 2012:
“It was raining and cold and slippery and damp outside when a group of people led by Phil (Hewitt, festival chairman) and various other people on the City Council came together to talk about what made Chi special, and whether it was possible to have a festival that would run for a month and would be different.”
That shared spirit, which remains at the heart of the festival, was particularly praised by the President:
“We have global international superstar organisations in Chichester. We have the Festival Theatre, we have Pallant House Gallery, we have Fishbourne Roman Palace, we have all of those things, but we also have a quantity of what we might call amateur artists, who are as good as any of those professionals. And the goal of our festival was to put everybody in the same shared space. To shine that spotlight on the makers, whoever they were, and for a month to encourage people to our wonderful city, and to provide entertainment for those of us who love Chichester.”
These sentiments were echoed by the High Sheriff of West Sussex, Gary Shipton, who opened proceedings by praising the volunteer spirit essential to the festival:
“What makes this festival so special is that it is entirely voluntary,” he said. “The joy of the Festival of Chichester is not only that it is organised voluntarily; all of you represent voluntary groups and organisations who come together for this glorious month.”
The President’s belief that 2026 represents “One of the strongest programmes yet” was picked up by the chairman.
“It’s a fabulously strong programme that we’ve got tonight for this summer,” Phil told the audience. Remembering the late and much-missed patron of the festival, Dame Patricia Routledge, Phil recalled her words to the festival in 2025: “The arts are the soul of the nation.”
Dame Patricia was “so supportive, so encouraging,” continued Phil. “She always summed [the festival] up so brilliantly. I think as time slips by, we realise just what a great privilege it was to have known her and to have had her as our Festival Patron. She was brilliant, and we will miss her, but the best way of missing her is to channel that affection for her into this year’s programme.”
Tickets for the Festival of Chichester 2026 are available now. All events can be found at festivalofchichester.co.uk.
Photos by Jakub Bors / Clever Photographer
