Stroud Arts Festival turns 80 with a new anthem premiere on 18 October, a community concert at £8.50, Ballet Cymru and a Christmas opera. Dates and prices.

Stroud Arts Festival is 80 this year, and most of its anniversary programme is still to come. The centrepiece is the world premiere of a Stroud Arts Anthem on Sunday 18 October, played by the Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra at St Laurence Church. The night before, a community concert in the same church costs £8.50, and under-18s go free.

The festival was founded in 1946 by Margaret and Netlam Bigg, according to the charity’s own history. It calls itself one of the UK’s longest-running arts festivals. The full 2026 programme is on the festival’s events listing.

What is still to come

The opening concert, cellist Raphael Wallfisch with pianist Simon Callaghan, was on Saturday 3 October. These are the dates left, with the prices the festival lists.

Date Event Venue Adult Under-18
Until Sat 10 Oct, 10am to 4pm Art in Motion exhibition The Yard Gallery not listed not listed
Fri 9 to Sun 11 Oct Play On Stroud theatre festival Lansdown Hall, Cotswold Playhouse see festival site see festival site
Sat 10 Oct, 7.30pm Capriol Chamber Orchestra with Clare Hammond Holy Trinity Church £15 £5
Thu 15 to Sat 24 Oct, 10am to 4pm Years in the Making exhibition Lansdown Hall and Gallery not listed not listed
Thu 15 to Sat 17 Oct Dobunni Poetry Festival venues across town see festival site see festival site
Sat 17 Oct, 6pm 80 Years in the Making: community celebration St Laurence Church £8.50 free
Sun 18 Oct, 5pm Stroud Arts Anthem premiere St Laurence Church £10 £5
Sat 24 Oct, 7.30pm Sleeping Beauty, Ballet Cymru Cotswold Playhouse £20 £5
Wed 25 to Sat 28 Nov, 7.30pm Orgreave, a new play by John Salter Cotswold Playhouse £16 not listed
Fri 11 Dec, 7pm A Christmas Carol, Opera Holland Park St Laurence Church £26.50 £5

Doors open half an hour before each concert. Ticket links are on each event’s page.

The anthem and the anniversary concert

The anthem’s event page says the piece was commissioned to mark the 80th anniversary of “Stroud’s oldest festival”. It was written by Jonathan Trim.

The festival says water flowing through the Five Valleys runs through the whole work. It shares a “river” motif with an earlier orchestral commission, “Heart of the Five Valleys”, from 2004. The festival has also increased its subsidy for the concert, which brings the adult price down to £10.

The community celebration on Saturday 17 October brings in local performers. The bill includes:

  • a light installation by ShadowWorks
  • the Stroud Scouts
  • the Acapellies and the Minpins
  • poetry by Anthony Burton
  • drama by Philip Douch

Two new festivals under the same banner

The 80th programme also backs two festivals running for the first time.

Play On Stroud is a theatre weekend from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 October at Lansdown Hall and the Cotswold Playhouse. Its listings include:

  • Pinocchio, a puppet show for ages 4 and up, at 11am and 1.30pm on Saturday 10 October
  • Krapp’s Last Tape, directed by Stockard Channing and starring David Westhead, on Saturday at 8pm
  • Six of the Best, six short plays by local writers, on Sunday at 2pm
  • Niamh Cusack in conversation with Rachel Joyce on Sunday at 5pm

The Dobunni Poetry Festival bills itself as Stroud’s first dedicated poetry festival. Its own site gives the dates as 15 to 17 October, with over 20 events. The arts festival’s listing gives 16 and 17 October, so check the poetry festival’s programme before you plan around the Thursday. Venues include Lansdown Hall, the Museum in the Park, Holy Trinity Church and the Yard Gallery.

Two free-to-browse exhibitions

Art in Motion is at the Yard Gallery until Saturday 10 October. Members of the Stroud Artists Cooperative made the paintings and sketches live at this year’s festival events.

Years in the Making, curated by Clare Hines, follows at Lansdown Hall and Gallery from 15 to 24 October. It brings together past Stroud artists, working artists, art teachers and emerging talent.

Neither exhibition page lists an entry charge.

Where the money goes

The festival is a registered charity, number 1182255. It says it uses ticket income to give small grants and sponsorship to other arts groups in the district. It names the Stroud Book Festival and Hidden Notes as two festivals that started with its funding.

What it means for you

  • For families: the community celebration on 17 October is free for under-18s, and Pinocchio at Play On Stroud is aimed at children from 4.
  • For the cheapest night out: the anniversary concert at £8.50 and the anthem premiere at £10 are the lowest adult prices in the programme.
  • Book soon for the ballet: Sleeping Beauty on 24 October is a one-night show at the Cotswold Playhouse.
  • For more to do this month, see our What’s On in Stroud and Stroud Halloween pages.