Sensoria 2026

Sensoria returns to Sheffield from 22 to 25 October, its 19th edition. It's the city's festival of film, music and digital media, and it's not a standard music festival: it programmes site-specific venues and locations, regularly presents live soundtracks and scores to film, and has staged a drive-in cinema, a screening in an outdoor pool in Hathersage and gigs in disused department stores. This year's theme is Plantasia, centred on biodiversity and partly inspired by the 50th anniversary of the cult Moog synth album Plantasia.

That theme runs through a programme spread across the city. Air Giants plays on the 22nd and 25th, while In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats and Colonised Marshland and WARPVISION (18) both run on the 22nd. INTERTWINING stretches from the 23rd to the 25th, and TEKKONKINKREET (12) comes on the 23rd. That same day brings The Magic City: Birmingham according to Sun Ra, and PLAID + NikNak runs across the 23rd and 24th. The 24th is a busy one: SynthFest UK 2026, Ember Collective, Plantasia Collective, and Turntablism and Tapes all happen then. My Shoes For The Blacks closes things out on the 25th.

There's also SensoriaPro on 23 October, an informal industry day for composers, filmmakers, publishers, supervisors, games developers and festival organisers, with direct access to international buyers and speed mentoring. The panel features Jim Ghedi, Kieran Crosby, Aaron May and David Ridley, alongside Adiescar Chase and Antony Genn, with guest panelists Nainita Desai and Siân Rogers. The festival's patrons include Nitin Sawhney, Julien Temple and Martyn Ware.

It's spread across various venues in Sheffield: the Cole Store (the former John Lewis building), the Drama Studio at The University of Sheffield, the Creative Lounge at Showroom Workstation, The Samuel Worth Chapel, Alder Bar, Hangr Warehouse, Trafalgar Warehouse and Studio 1 at Site Gallery. Delegate passes start from £36 plus booking fee, with concessionary, affiliate and discounted Yorkshire Business passes available.