About
Festival Stoke is a collaborative of creative people who have chosen to work together to make arts activities and events happen in the city of Stoke-on-Trent.
Our aim is to ‘bring great art into everyday places’ through commissioning artists and performers to create works of arts which are easily available and accessible to people in ordinary and everyday places.
We want to brighten up the streets and spaces of Stoke-on-Trent with artworks that are uplifting and help people to feel more positive about the place where they live, work and spend leisure time. Through working with both experienced and emerging artists we seek to encourage a wider appreciation and enjoyment of creative arts throughout the town and city.
Within the team are experienced artists and event organisers, and we are fortunate to work with lots of skilled and clever artists and performers from the city and from further afield too.
Our aim is to ‘bring great art into everyday places’ through commissioning artists and performers to create works of arts which are easily available and accessible to people in ordinary and everyday places.
We want to brighten up the streets and spaces of Stoke-on-Trent with artworks that are uplifting and help people to feel more positive about the place where they live, work and spend leisure time. Through working with both experienced and emerging artists we seek to encourage a wider appreciation and enjoyment of creative arts throughout the town and city.
Within the team are experienced artists and event organisers, and we are fortunate to work with lots of skilled and clever artists and performers from the city and from further afield too.
Our Story
Festival Stoke is now established as a creative arts organisation, and it has evolved from the grass roots community in Stoke. Some years ago, a community group decided that they wanted their community events to involve more ‘arty stuff’ and came up with the idea of organising ‘London Road Festival’. They connected with a well-known local arts group, B-arts to help them to deliver the first of what became an annual music and arts festival in the town of Stoke.
After four really successful London Road Festivals, through which the arts content grew and the team took on organising the arts events themselves, the existing team decided to take a break and rethink what the festival should be. Out of that process, and through conversations with other local artists and arts organisations, Festival Stoke was born. Letting in the Light a long-established arts organisation had been working with the festival since 2014 and decided to move into Stoke, take on the Festival Art Stop identity for their venue and are at the heart of the new team and festival artist Adam Pryce got on board too bringing his appealing and bright designs.
So a new collaborative of creative people was formed, and others have come on board since. Together we want to make fun, clever and uplifting art events happen in the city – events which people can easily connect with and enjoy in everyday places and spaces.
After four really successful London Road Festivals, through which the arts content grew and the team took on organising the arts events themselves, the existing team decided to take a break and rethink what the festival should be. Out of that process, and through conversations with other local artists and arts organisations, Festival Stoke was born. Letting in the Light a long-established arts organisation had been working with the festival since 2014 and decided to move into Stoke, take on the Festival Art Stop identity for their venue and are at the heart of the new team and festival artist Adam Pryce got on board too bringing his appealing and bright designs.
So a new collaborative of creative people was formed, and others have come on board since. Together we want to make fun, clever and uplifting art events happen in the city – events which people can easily connect with and enjoy in everyday places and spaces.