Mark your calendars: we’re back this September 2026. After the success of our first edition in 2025, Chelsea Arts Festival returns for a second year, cementing our place as an annual fixture on London’s cultural scene.
This year we’re once again bringing a plethora of artists, performers, thinkers and storytellers to Chelsea’s streets, with names including Bernardine Evaristo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Bella Freud, Susie Cave, Nish Kumar, Katherine Rundell and plenty more.
With even more names to come, 2026 is shaping up to be bigger and better than ever, not least thanks to our new partnership with Create, the UK’s leading charity for transforming lives through art. Here’s everything you need to know about Chelsea Arts Festival 2026.
What Is It?
Chelsea Arts Festival is an annual cultural festival spanning literature, music, art, film, food and more. Expect literary salons, author panels, workshops, film screenings and debates on the pertinent issues of today, all backdropped by Chelsea’s historic streets and captivating venues.
As much a celebration of the arts as it is the local community, our line-up of ticketed events is accompanied by free al fresco performances across Chelsea’s leafy squares and streets.
We launched in September 2025 and are now an annual fixture in the calendar. Chelsea Arts Festival is a collaboration between Country & Town House’s Events division and Cadogan, Chelsea’s family-owned property managers, investors and developers.
“Chelsea has long been a beacon of creativity, the haunt of artists, radicals, painters and poets, drawing iconic characters and stories from Oscar Wilde to Bram Stoker, James Bond to James McNeill Whistler, JMW Turner, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles to Vivienne Westwood and Mary Quant,” said Cadogan’s CEO Hugh Seaborn at last year’s launch. “We look forward to seeing the festival ignite the neighbourhood with further artistic energy, providing an inspiring and accessible programme of events for residents and visitors alike.”
We’re also pleased to reveal our new charity partner for 2026: Create, a London-based charity that reduces isolation, enhances wellbeing and empowers lives through the arts. “As a charity that works to bring the power of the creative arts to those who need it most, we are delighted that Create has been selected as the official charity partner of Chelsea Arts Festival,” says Create’s CEO Nicky Goulder MBE. “The ethos of the event couldn’t be closer to our own: a festival that brings a broad variety of artforms to life for everyone taking part, placing community, accessibility, quality and sustainability at the centre. At Create, we strongly believe that people need to create, and that everyone deserves access to creativity. We are excited to be working with Chelsea Arts Festival to continue to make that vision a reality.”
Who’s On The Line-Up?
Susie Cave, Bella Freud, Bernardine Evaristo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nish Kumar, Katherine Rundell and Mishal Husain are just a selection of the names on our 2026 bill.
They’ll be joined by John Pawson CBE, Jacqueline Crooks, Joelle Taylor, Professor Daisy Fancourt, Rambert, Emma Gannon and Lucas Jones. As in 2025, expect a line-up of talks and discussions, live performances and entertainment across music, art, comedy, poetry, literature, theatre, cinema and more.
This will all be accented by “A Night of T/Reason“, our blow-out celebration of 50 years of punk, featuring renowned writer Chris Salewicz, designer and DJ Edie Ashley, fashion pioneer Lloyd Johnson, founder of the Fashion School Caroline Gration, founder of the Rock n Roll Public Library Lauren Jones and award-winning filmmaker Celeste Bell, alongside intimate portraits from the punk era by photographer Jane Ashley. “Chelsea has long been a mecca for creativity and countercultural movements, repeatedly attracting artists, writers, musicians and cultural provocateurs who have shaped the spirit of their times,” says festival curator Tessa Clarfelt. “Where better to celebrate 50 years of punk than the place where it all began?”
Allie Esiri, Michelle de Swarte, Johno Verity and Jonnie Fielding complete our 2026 line-up, so far. To be the first to hear about new events, sign up to our newsletter at chelseaartsfestival.com
When & Where
Chelsea Arts Festival runs from 16 to 20 September 2026 across Chelsea, including the iconic venues Cadogan Hall and the Saatchi Gallery, plus a new venue for 2026: The Trafalgar, the first new pub on the King’s Road to open in more than 100 years.
Outside, our free performances will take place in Duke of York Square, Sloane Square and along the King’s Road.
How To Get Tickets
Tickets for the Chelsea Arts Festival are on sale now. Tickets are sold per event.
To register to receive the news first via email, sign up at chelseaartsfestival.com
