Between Saturday 13th June and Sunday 20th July 2026 around 125 independently-organised events across many genres come together under the Festival of Chichester banner, offering five rich and varied weeks of arts and community fun.
Our brochure listing this summer’s programme can be downloaded from the festival’s homepage or found in printed form from the Novium Museum (opposite Chichester Library on Tower Street) as well as from numerous businesses and venues in and around the city.
For fuller details of each event along with links for ticket bookings, check out our website.
Some festival events
As ever, festival events will be packed with local talent as well as some big names from further afield. With many dozens of options, it’s impossible to give more than the merest taster of what’s on offer, but as ever the range is vast.
Amongst over 50 musical events are genres from jazz to country, folk-rock, psychedelia and even a chance to hear Jon Pickard play a 23-string harp guitar. Embark on a transcontinental ‘journey’ with the Chichester Symphony Orchestra; join an enticing Mozart recital from renowned pianist Young-Choon Park, and hear Handel’s Samson performed by Portsmouth Choral Union with The Consort of Twelve. There’s outdoor theatre at West Dean and Othello from the Lord Chamberlain’s Men in Paradise.
At least four events combine music with poetry or creative writing, while a vast range of fascinating talks and workshops include subjects from yoga to Sussex Women to the secrets of writing fiction.
The first weekend sees our official launch as part of the Cathedral’s now-annual SussexFest, and several other community celebrations join us this year including the ever-popular Chichester Gala, BookFest YA’s events for inspiring literary teenagers, a Priory Park mini-festival and several events aimed at encouraging debate and action on civic improvement and vision.
The festival features several art exhibitions and is a great opportunity to explore the city further with a range of guided tours, whether uncovering history, learning about the trees in the parks or the textiles in the cathedral. There are also a vast range of boat trips around Chichester harbour staring from Itchenor.
Whatever your interests are, there’s likely to be more than enough to keep you entertained for five fascinating weeks.
Our supporters
Festival events are each independently organised coming together under the Festival of Chichester banner, which itself is run by an entirely voluntary committee. To keep things rolling, we are hugely grateful to Chichester City Council for financial support and encouragement since the festival’s inception in the autumn of 2012. Many thanks too to Chichester District Council which helped us with a major behind-the-scenes revamp of our website this year. And enormous thanks to all of our sponsors and advertisers, notably Edward Cooke Family Law, our principal sponsor again this year. We remain extremely grateful for the enduring support over many years to the Chichester Observer, to our Festival president Kate Mosse, and to the memory of our much-beloved Festival patron Dame Patricia Routledge who passed away last October.
Mark Elliott – Coordinator
