Warrington Arts Festival unveils its awe-inspiring summer programme

An alien invasion, a life-sized knitted house and a nostalgic nod to iconic nightclub Mr Smiths are among the eclectic highlights for the return of Warrington Arts Festival this July.

The vibrant annual event, hosted by arts charity Culture Warrington, has revealed its full programme for a summer town centre takeover with a series of performances and installations coming to a variety of venues and pop-up spaces over nine days.

Led by a dedicated team and powered up by a substantial funding boost, Warrington Arts Festival underwent a substantial relaunch in 2024 to make it more accessible, far reaching and community-centred.

This year’s follow-up, between 18 and 26 July, will once again be focusing on largescale, free and family-friendly attractions that aim to break down barriers to the arts and bring people of all ages and backgrounds together.

In that spirit, Family Garden Party will be returning to Queens Gardens by popular demand – packed with live music, performances and hands-on activities over two days on 19 and 20 July.

Highlights at this weekend of garden-themed fun include Do What Ya Mama Told Yah, a feast of a show that fuses family, food history and slapstick performance in a mum and daughter collaboration, and some astonishing acrobatics from Farm Yard Circus who will be juggling everything from hay bales to an old tractor tyre.

Elsewhere, the Meadow Sprites – Japanese-style bunraku puppets – will be flying and flitting about as they bring tales of their woodland habitat, and Cusan Theatre will present The Seedkeepers, a carnival-esque celebration of stories about the importance of the many women of the world who protect the seeds and grains of their homeland.

In the same weekend, an internationally respected creative director, whose work has included projects for the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant, is coming to Golden Square.

British-Caribbean choreographer Jeanefer-Jean Charles MBE will grace the stage to present Patois to tell a globe-trotting story of culture, lost languages, longing and belonging through the language of dance.

Meanwhile, renowned outdoor theatre specialists, The Dream Engine, will be hovering over the town to bring a flying saucer and aliens to Warrington. The mysterious, spectacular and otherworldly Starsaucer will be providing a fitting festival finale to Bank Park on 26 July as seemingly weightless figures start to emerge from a UFO amid blinking lights and a haze of smoke.

This final weekend in the festival will also see a host of colourful and mesmerising pop-up performances including the acclaimed Brazen Brass Band and Batida Rio, a samba drumming and carnival group based in Warrington.

Dance-circus company, Motionhouse, will join the spectacle too using gravity-defying performance techniques and dynamic choreography to create an ‘urban forest’ in a show that has already wowed some 100,000 people all over the UK and beyond.

Then for something truly unique and bespoke for Warrington, don’t miss Grandma’s House at Parr Hall which can be explored for most of the festival run between 20 and 26 July. Using digitally-hacked knitting machines and with the help of the community, Chapelford artist Marie Jones has been creating a replica of her grandma Margaret’s house in Great Sankey.

Floating down from the rigging at Parr Hall and knitted in neon green and white acrylic yarn, Marie invites visitors to walk through the rooms used most by her grandma. In planning since April 2024 and painstakingly built to scale over six months, the house is not only an act of devotion and labour, but aims to be a material reflection of contemporary domestic life.

Marie is also behind Any, Body, Home – a group exhibition bringing together works by a diverse roster of local, national and international female artists – again exploring the theme of 'home' from a female perspective – both literally and figuratively. It will be at Warrington Museum throughout the duration of the festival.

Then, for a touch of nostalgia, Mr Smiths will be making a comeback in From Mr Smiths, With Love. Led by Warrington dance artist Stacey Atkinson in collaboration with dance theatre specialists Night People and a community cast, the performance will revel in the real stories, classic tracks and unforgettable energy the now vanished nightclub was renowned for. To get the weekend started on 18 July, Time Square will be transformed into one giant, open-air dancefloor for a celebration of togetherness found under flashing lights.

Lauren Banks, Programme Producer, said: “We were delighted to relaunch Warrington Arts Festival in 2024 with one of our most ambitious programmes yet. But I think this year’s event has the potential to be even more exciting thanks to the incredible people we’ve been collaborating with.

“We’ve been working hard behind-the-scenes on a fantastic series of attractions and installations which are the result year-long project of work. Many of them are also truly bespoke to Warrington like From Mr Smiths, With Love and Marie Jones’ Grandma’s House which has been especially made for the festival.

“We want to break down barriers to the arts and that is why most of the events are free so we really hope the festival sparks joy, brings the community together and inspires.”

Warrington Arts Festival’s 2025 programme is part of a dynamic vision for the annual event following a funding boost the organisers received from Arts Council England, Warrington BID and Warrington Borough Council last year.

The festival’s goal is to celebrate Warrington through arts, culture, people and place. As part of the project, a Young Producers Programme has been launched to provide pathways for young people to access the creative industries, and Culture Warrington’s current cohort are again involved with the event.

This year, they are hosting a short film showcase at Cineworld Warrington called Made By Me for budding directors, aged between 16 and 25. From heartfelt documentaries and experimental films to quirky animations and music videos, this mini film fest will be packed with energy, honesty, imagination and the voice of a new generation.

Leah Biddle, Cultural Director for Culture Warrington, added: “We’re so excited to finally share our plans for Warrington Arts Festival 2025 which we’ve put our heart and soul into. 

“Drawing on the success of last year’s event, the festival has been made possible thanks to our ongoing engagement with the Warrington community and its growing hub creatives that we’re passionate about nurturing and supporting.

“With an overall theme of ‘home’ – and what that means to people in all senses – we’re proud that the festival brings internationally acclaimed work to Warrington, which is presented side-by-side with the amazing projects our artists and young people in the area have been leading on. We can’t wait to celebrate with you all in July.”

Warrington Arts Festival takes place between 18 and 26 July. For more information, tickets and the full programme, visit warringtonartsfestival.org