British Sea Power, Soweto Kinch, Eliza Carthy and The Wayward Band and more for Freedom Festival

Freedom Festival 2016

Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th September 2016
city centre, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, HU1 1TU, England MAP
most events are FREE

Daily capacity: 55,000

Last updated: Wed 31st Aug 2016

British Sea Power, Soweto Kinch, Hot Brown Honey, and Eliza Carthy and The Wayward Band are among the first acts announced for Hull's Freedom Festival, taking place in the city centre from Friday 2nd until Sunday 4th September 2016.

The family-friendly programme includes more than 200 acts across music, dance, comedy, poetry, spoken word, theatre and more.

This year's line-up also includes theatre show White Rabbit Red Rabbit, and Plunge Boom: Created by Ben Faulks (CBeebies’ Mr Bloom), it's a quirky, interactive installation and workshop, inviting festivalgoers of all ages to get kitted out with gloves and trowels for some unusual ‘childcare’ duties.

Outdoor arts experts Wired Aerial will be combining dramatic film and visuals with breath-taking aerial performance, this ‘real life disaster movie’ As the World Tipped confronts the issue of ecological disaster with spectacle, black humour and emotion.

The full list of entertainment so far announced is Actic presents Kiddy Ride Police Patrol, Afla Sackey and Afrik Bawantu, Aswarm presents The Speakers, Aurora Nova presents White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour, Avanti Display presents The Spurting Man, AWA (African Women Arise), Beyond Words, Bramble FM 69.9, British Sea Power, Bud Sugar, Boom Bike, Circa69, Company Chameleon presents Push, Eliza Carthy and the Wayward Band, Errolyn Wallen, Gobbledegook Theatre presents Ear Trumpet, Henrietta Rolla, Hot Brown Honey, Hull Dance Collective, Hull Freedom Chorus, Hull Samba, Hull Strum, Ibibio Sound Machine, Ingoma Nshya, Jesca Hoop, John Hegley, Jon Beney & Freddie Garland, Kamchàtka, Kingston Swing, Lai Di Dai, Le Cirque du Platzak presents Kermiz, Les Commandos Percu and Deabru Beltzak present Danbor Talka (Clash of Drums), Liz Knight, Motionhouse presents Underground, New York Brass Band, Non Applicables, Octopus, Olivier Grossetête presents The People’s Tower, Orkestra Del Sol, Pif-Paf presents Flycycle and Submercycle, Plunge Boom presents The Allotment and The Vegetable Nanny Make & Take Workshop, Portmanteau, Ragroof Players presents Happy Feet, Ramshackalicious Theatre Company presents Mother Says, Ray Lee presents Chorus, Refix Project, Rene Alvarez and his Cuban Combination, Sarah Yaseen, The Science Lab, Sideshow Illusions/ Shimmer Tree, Soft Wax at the Museum of Club Culture, Sound Mirrors, Soweto Kinch, Speak Out, Super Hallo presents Knol d’Amour, Swoolish Garage presents Vespaqua and Vespaudio, Teatr Biuro PodróÅ¼y presents Silence, The Abstract Orchestra, The Dream Engine presents Heliosphere, The Flying Buttresses presents Hodman Dodmanott and Sally Forth, The Science Lab, The Vagaband, The Venus Bushfires, Voices of the Revolution, Voiver, Wandering Orquestra, Wired Aerial presents As the World Tipped, and more to be announced!

Many events will be free. Tickets for ticketed events will be available here when the full programme is confirmed.

Freedom Festival is Hull’s premier cultural event and the city is already looking ahead to 2017 when it becomes the City of Culture.

Mikey Martins, chief executive and artistic director, Freedom Festival Arts Trust said, "We’ve brought together a vastly eclectic programme, which is very family-friendly while pushing boundaries in exploring and expressing freedom as a concept. It aims to get audiences talking and challenging and celebrating, and there truly is something in the programme for everyone."

discuss this news on the Festival Forums