Festival of Chichester unveils thrilling programme for 2025

Festival of Chichester chairman Phil Hewitt said: “We are thrilled with the programme which has come together for this year, a wonderful range of events from walks to talks, from theatre to art and community events. At the heart of all of them is the wonderful array of talents we have got in and around Chichester.”

There will be more than 130 festival events between June 14-July 20. From April 5, you access the full brochure online at www.festivalofchichester.co.uk or in physical form from The Novium, Chichester’s museum, opposite the Library on Tower Street.

Phil added: “And as ever, we are hugely grateful to Chichester City Council for the financial support which makes all of it possible. The City Council have been behind us from the moment we dreamt up a new festival for Chichester in the autumn of 2012, and ever since their generosity and encouragement have been central to all that we do.

“We are also delighted to welcome a new principal sponsor to the Festival of Chichester this year, Edward Cooke Family Law, especially as Edward has been a performer in the past at our festivals. He knows exactly what our Festival of Chichester is all about – and it is fantastic to welcome him for 2025 as our principal sponsor. We are also extremely grateful to the Chichester Observer for all the space and encouragement they give us. Big thanks too to our Festival president Kate Mosse and our Festival patron Dame Patricia Routledge. It’s great to know that they are with us every step of the way.

“Organising the Festival we have got a small committee of dedicated and energetic souls, each vital to the cause. It has been a pleasure to work with them.”

Festival of Chichester co-ordinator Mark Elliott is similarly delighted with the results: “It’s going to be a big one, this year. The Festival of Chichester is a five-week smorgasbord of over 130 independently organised events across a wide range of genres and not at all the same as the Chichester Festival Theatre much as we work well together.

“Indeed this year we have done more than ever to work with several of Chichester’s great institutions This is particularly evident with the Festival launch (Sunday, June 15, from 11am) which – uniquely – coincides with the Cathedral’s Trinity Sunday celebrations, part of the major Chichester 950 events that commemorate the cathedral’s venerable age. Also having a birthday this year is the New Park Centre (NPC), founded 50 years ago in a 19th-century former school building. We’re delighted that New Park is running its own mini-festival within ours, showcasing the remarkable range of different activities that the centre hosts.

“Another special aspect of the 2025 Festival of Chichester is a second sub-festival organised by the Childrens Bookfest charity (www.childrensbookfest.com) which aims to encourage a love of reading amongst young people. They have come up with four superb events featuring well-known children’s authors and are also hosting a conversation with one of the biggest names to come to Chichester this year – broadcaster, cleric, writer and former pop-star the Rev Richard Coles.

“A famous performer to return to Chichester is celebrated actor and playwright Steven Berkoff. Last year he read from Byron. This year he’ll be turning to excerpts from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein as part of a music-and-words evening by the South Downs Poetry Festival.”

Mark added: “There is a particularly rich seam of events with an ecological theme, thanks particularly to the Chichester Tree Wardens and Transition Chichester, along with several fascinating community discussions looking at aspects of how longer-term vision could improve the city.”

Musically the Festival is broader than ever. “It’s unfair to even try to pick favourites amongst such a marvellous selection. There’s such a range of talent and it’s impossible to compare, say, the thrilling violin virtuosity of Bogdan Varcarescu with the equally mesmerising boundary-breaking experience of Samana or the east-meets-west piano creativity of Mahya Mahmooni. You could brush up your playing in an all-levels-welcome Cello Day. Or spend part of the solstice with a meditative Sound Bath.”

As for theatre, back again is the rollicking fun of plays from New Theatre Productions in the beautiful Pergola open-air theatre, “a magical way to spend an evening with a picnic in the lovely West Dean Gardens. There’s also the much-requested return of the ever-popular Klezmer/Balkan group She’Koyokh – doubly fun for the opportunity of enjoying them in the country grounds of Lordington House.”

Art also features strongly in the programme: “This year several artists have worked together to put on a weekend that as mirrors in miniature the fabulous Open Studios event that comes earlier in the season.

“One of the features of the Festival each year is the inclusion of various walks and other tours. This year, there’s the added bonus of several boat-based options through Chichester Harbour Conservancy with departures from Itchenor. Most imaginative of these is the option for artists to take a sunset sketching tour. All in all the festival offers more than ever a remarkable range of events.

Tickets are available online: www.thenovium.org/boxoffice. Email: [email protected]. Box office: 01243 816525. In person: The Novium, Tower Street. For phone and in-person bookings the box office is open Tuesday to Friday 10am-4.30pm and Saturday 10am-5pm. Also open summer Sundays 10am-4pm starting June 8. Closed Mondays except bank holidays

The festival committee is: Phil Hewitt (chairman), Simon O'Hea, Mark Elliott, Vicki Meddows-Smith, Anne Scicluna, Edward Dowler, and Jen Cordero.