Arts by the Sea 2026: Elemental takes Bournemouth

Bournemouth's biggest free arts festival is back for its sixteenth edition, and this time it's leaning into the elements. Arts by the Sea takes over the town centre on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September, with the theme ELEMENTAL — a nod to the forces that tie us to each other and the natural world, from electricity to earth and water. It's free for all ages, which is the best part, so you can wander in and out without spending a penny.

The festival centres on Bournemouth Gardens and the town centre, specifically Pier Approach, the Lower Gardens and the seafront. The Lower Gardens, Grade II listed and running from the pier back towards town, are the heart of it all, with the Central and Upper Gardens adding a pergola, a war memorial and a Giant Redwood to the mix. Expect large-scale art installations, outdoor spectacles, live music, dance, circus, street theatre and participatory experiences, with headline shows leaning on aerialists, light projections and immersive soundscapes. There's also a Green Hub in the gardens, where local organisations run interactive activities around growing greener, and a clear thread of inclusive art, with performances and installations built for everyone to get involved in.

This year's Artist in Residence is Rhea Hanlon, a Bournemouth multidisciplinary artist who works as Lost Lines. She's putting her hand to the brochure cover, a new site-specific artwork and a series of community workshops, blending digital, traditional and large-scale public art. The Associate Artist scheme has also brought some local talent to the bill: Bombay Dance Club brings Bollywood dance to the crowds, while Sona and Shweta have built a new performance around the ELEMENTAL theme. It's the kind of line-up that rewards a slow stroll rather than a set plan.

If you can't make the main weekend, the festival actually starts earlier with its Bitesized days, which take the arts into the neighbourhoods: West Howe on Saturday 6 September, Bourne Valley on Sunday 7, and Townsend on Saturday 12, a new addition for 2026. And it doesn't end when the gardens pack up. The Arts by the Sea Fringe runs from Sunday 27 September right through to Sunday 11 October, the second edition after a pilot in 2025, and it spreads across independent venues in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, put together with the South Coast's independent live music curators, We Broke Free. Between the main weekend, the neighbourhood days and the Fringe, there's a lot of it to work around.

For the practical side, the festival is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, part-funded and delivered by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, which has been receiving more than £150,000 a year to support it since 2023. It first launched back in 2011, so it's well into its stride now. The gardens themselves are worth a visit even when there's no festival on, with a bandstand, a Hedgehog Kiosk, a Street Food Corner and an aviary, and the pier at Pier Approach stays open from 9am to 11pm every day. For the full programme and any last-minute changes, the official website is the place to check before you head down.