As we have already said, Didsbury Arts Festival is changing.

And we've been speaking to loads of people about it! We spoke to hundreds of people at Didsbury Festival and at Didsbury Pride this summer (see our posts on the website about these), and have had lots of thoughts and suggestions shared on the website (keep them coming!). We're also working closely with leading community arts organisation Get It Done, and bringing them into conversation with our friends and partners across Didsbury, and the neighbouring areas of Burnage, Old Moat and Merseybank.

The board of the Didsbury Arts Festival has also changed a lot too, with a number of founder members retiring after many years' service, and new voices arriving, bringing with them new beliefs about what art is, what its impact can be, and who and what it is for.

And of course, the world is changing, and with it the priorities for how arts funding is distributed, which audiences, groups and professional artists should benefit so that exciting new art can really change lives.

So we've done a lot of talking, but there is still a lot more to do. We want to talk to all of our great sponsors, venues and partners in the area, and to all the artists, supporters and volunteers who are so key to the festival's success. But above all, we want to make sure that no one in the area is excluded from the chance to participate, to show off their creativity and to enjoy the range of contemporary creative practices, amateur and professional, that the festival celebrates.

This is why we have decided to hold back the next festival until June 2026.

We are looking to start a number of longer-term projects in the coming months (see forthcoming updates on the website), as well as to bring together a new steering group of people drawn from across the area, so that we are in the best place possible to make sure the next Didsbury Arts Festival is the best it can be.

So do get in touch if you want to join in the planning, or have anything that might usefully add to the preparations.

See you soon!


The Didsbury Arts Festival team.