15-21 June 2026

Ten years in, the Fitzrovia Arts Festival has become something rather remarkable: a whole neighbourhood, in the heart of one of the world's great cities, coming together each year to make and share art with everyone.

 

This tenth edition looks both forward and back. Fitzrovia has long been a haven for artists, writers and performers, from Benjamin Britten and Virginia Woolf to George Bernard Shaw and Sidney Bechet and that creative spirit still runs through its streets. The programme draws on the many acclaimed artists who live and work in the area today, while celebrating the figures and places that shaped it.

 

Some of those stories are very close to home. An Ecology of Mercy, a new work of poetry, movement and music, gathers the archival voices of former staff and patients of the Middlesex Hospital, a much loved institution that cared for this community for generations before its closure and, to the sadness of many, its demolition. The work is performed in the Fitzrovia Chapel, all that now remains of the hospital, a small and beautiful survivor that keeps its memory tenderly alive. The Man from the Sleepy Lagoon, a piece for actor and orchestra written by Fitzrovian Sue Blundell and an audience favourite since our very first festival, brings to life the composer Eric Coates and the surprising tale behind one of England's best-loved tunes.

 

With concerts both classical and jazz, exhibitions, poetry readings, talks, walks and performances, the Festival remains a joyful celebration of the cultural continuity and community spirit of this unique London 'village'. And thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, every event is free.