Welcome to the 2024 Swaledale Festival!

Festival dates: Saturday 25 May to Saturday 8 June
Full programme available in January
Friends two-week priority booking period opens 09:00 Monday 26 February
General booking opens 09:00 Monday 11 March

Swaledale Festival returns in 2024 with a broad selection of the finest musicians and artists from Yorkshire, elsewhere in the country and around the world. There will be a large number of hands-on events such as workshops, walks and craft demonstrations, with a focus on participation, landscape and climate change.

Our ‘Wandering Minstrels’ programme of work with young and disadvantaged people continues to grow. In addition to our concerts and projects in schools and care homes, we are taking eleven world-class musicians into a prison for the first time, to inspire and improve the lives of prisoners and staff. 

Some young Wandering Minstrels are going international for the first time too: around 45 Richmond School students will travel to Germany to give a joint concert with pupils at Bammental School, whose orchestra has performed in previous Festivals. This is an exciting cultural exchange which we are keen to build.

It is with great pleasure that we introduce our first ever Festival Patrons: Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason and Ronnie Archer-Morgan, our 2022 and 2023 Reeth Lecturers, who made such a fine impression on everyone who heard them. It’s an honour to welcome them both to our team.

We look forward to seeing you at the Festival!

Malcolm Creese - Artistic Director