The Spark Festival 2026
A co-created children’s arts festival featuring performances, workshops, activities, and takeover events across Leicester.
The Mega Bosses of Spark
The Mega Bosses on why they chose peace, equity and play is part of Spark Festival 2026
Peace, Equity and Play matter to us because they make the world better. Peace helps everyone feel safe and looked after. Equity means everyone gets a fair chance to join in and share their ideas. Play makes life fun and helps our imaginations grow. These values are important for Spark Festival 2026 because the festival is all about coming together, having fun and showing how we can help make the world kinder and fairer.
World-class arts for over twenty years
Every two years we co-create The Spark Festival for children, families, and those working in the children’s arts sector. The festival’s packed programme has been delighting children in school halls, libraries, and other community venues for more than twenty years.
Children as artists and audiences
As The Spark Festival, children are more than just audiences. They get to use their imagination, work with professional artists, and ‘take over’ some of Leicester’s well known cultural venues to put on events for the general public too!
And our young Mega-Bosses meet regularly to co-create the festival with us. They tell us what we should be doing, when we should be doing it, and how we can make Spark Festival the best!
The Spark Festival at your school
We present an additional programme of events that is exclusively for school venues. It includes live music, dance, and theatre for children aged 3-13. The programme of events will be published on our website during the festival. Before then, you can join our newsletter below to be the first to know about opportunities for schools.
