Full programme revealed as Derby Festé prepares to bring free world-class arts to the city’s streets

The full programme of events for Derby Festé has been officially unveiled, revealing an action-packed schedule of free, family-friendly outdoor dance, aerial circus, and interactive street theatre taking place across the city centre.

The line-up for Saturday 26 September offers something for audiences of all ages, featuring leading UK, international, and East Midlands artists set to perform at Derby Market Place, Cathedral Green, Derby Market Hall, The Spot and Osnabruck Square. This year, the programme once again extends into the evening with the return of Festé After Dark.

The programme features too many fantastic performances to list, but some of the highlights include:

• Gorilla Circus – A.I.Thentic: a thrilling, 20-metre-high aerial spectacle blending circus, dance, and drama to question society’s evolving relationship with artificial intelligence.
• Linden Dance Company – CAGED: Co-presented with Fabric, this explosive outdoor dance spectacle takes place inside, around, and above a towering 3m birdcage. Visceral and visually arresting, CAGED explores the search for human connection in an increasingly disconnected world.
• 2Faced Dance Company – Before It’s Gone: Co-presented with Fabric, this playful, high-energy dance piece invites audiences to rethink their relationship with the natural world through themes of creativity, hope, and climate action.
• Shyam Dattani and Mira Salat – Garbh: Garbh (womb) is an innovative, in-the-round, outdoor dance work that reimagines ancient Gujarati Folk Dance ‘Garba’, giving voice to this underrepresented ancestral form through contemporary choreography.
• Wild Giants – Big Dog Buddy: Don’t miss Buddy, the loveable puppy who just wants to play and maybe cause a little mischief, whose cheerful owner, Granny Bea, is doing her best to take Buddy for a walk!

Alongside the static performances, festival-goers can encounter sky-high trumpet players performing above the crowd, majestic peacocks and dancing hippos throughout the day. The action starts at 11:30am, going into the evening with Festé After Dark headliner Gorilla Circus, who will perform at Cathedral Green at 7:30pm.

Councillor Gurkiran Kaur, Cabinet Member for City Centre, Culture and Tourism at Derby City Council, said:

“We are thrilled to share the full programme for Derby Festé 2026. This year’s line-up offers incredible variety – from thought-provoking, high-flying aerial shows to playful walkabout street theatre. Because these world-class performances are completely free to attend, everyone in our community can access and enjoy the vibrant creative talent filling our city centre.

“It’s fantastic that Festé After Dark will be returning this year – it promises to be an unforgettable evening as Gorilla Circus takes to the skies above Cathedral Green.”

The fun continues throughout the day and beyond, with partners across the city putting on a range of events, including exhibitions and workshops at venues including Artcore, Museum of Making, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Pickford’s House and QUAD. Derby Market Hall will host a Banks Mill takeover with local artists and makers selling their work, alongside drop-in, hands-on creative workshops.

The Festé programme designed to be accessible to audience members with additional needs, with many performances completely non-verbal and British Sign Language interpreters available throughout the day. All main performance locations are wheelchair accessible and there is a Changing Places toilet inside Derby Market Hall.

Derby Festé is proudly presented by Derby City Council with project grant support from Arts Council England National Lottery funding, and supported by Fabric, Without Walls, Cathedral Quarter Derby, and Derby Theatre.

Full programme details, performance schedules, locations and accessibility information are available on the official Derby Festé website, plus Facebook and Instagram. Printed guides will also be available in the lead up to – and on – the day.