Estuary Festival

13/04/2026

10/04/2026

09/04/2026

Open call to create on a Thames Sailing Barge

Artist Ben Judd is offering a rare opportunity to create a new artwork, performance, talk or workshop using a camera obscura projection on an historic Thames Sailing Barge in June and July 2026.

Audience members will encounter a projected image of the barge and sea while they are below deck on Thames Sailing Barge Raybel. How will you use the unique combination of the camera obscura and the boat to tell a story, project real-life images, entertain the audience, or reflect on coastal locations in Essex and Kent?

Artist Ben Judd is looking for people in or near these coastal regions to stage a short one-off event (performance, workshop, talk, etc) with a small audience.

The event must use the barge and camera obscura as a central experience and could explore, through the viewing process, themes such as closeness and distance, belonging and not belonging, inclusion and exclusion.

The barge will be travelling to:
🌊24-25 June: Queenborough
🌊27-28 June: Canvey
🌊30 June - 1 July: Thorpe Bay
🌊3-6 July: Burnham
🌊8-11 July: Whitstable
🌊13-14 July: Oare Creek

🔗See link in bio to access the application form

📅Deadline for applications: 30 April 2026

If you have any questions: [email protected]

This project is in partnership with Raybel charters, Ideas Test and Metal Southend

Image 1 description: a photograph taken from below the deck of a sailing vessel, the background is dark and woman's face is visible above deck, her eyes are closed and there is a blue sky and part of the rigging shown behind her. Photograph by Sophia Nasif

Image 2 description: a photograph of Thames Sailing Barge Raybel moored at Benfleet Yacht Club for Estuary 2025. It is high tide and the sails are down. Photograph by Lorenza Peragine

06/02/2026

💫 Commissioning opportunity for socially-engaged artists! 💫

We are seeking 5 socially engaged artists to work closely with coastal communities, helping turn local conversations about future challenges into meaningful artworks that inform research, policy, and public understanding.

This is a call-out for artists to take part in the ARISE Engagement Intervention, a research programme linked to Estuary Festival and funded by UK Research & Innovation (UKRI).

The project uses art and community engagement to help coastal communities better understand and respond to long-term challenges such as climate change, coastal erosion, inequality, and changing local economies.

What are we looking for?

🌊 5 artists or artist collectives
🌊 Artists should have experience in socially engaged, participatory, or community-based practice
🌊 Open to artists able to work in the selected coastal communities in South East and East England

What are the 5 commissions?

There are five separate commissions:
1. St Osyth, Essex
2. Eastchurch, Kent
3. Heacham, Norfolk
4. Bawdsey, Suffolk
5. One overarching artwork that connects ideas from all four locations

Each of the four location-based artists will work closely with the community in that location.

📅Apply by Sunday 8 March 2026, 11pm 📅

🔗 Please read the full artist brief and how to apply info, here: https://www.estuaryfestival.com/blog/detail/artist-call-out-arise-engagement.html

Image description: Heacham, Norfolk view out to sea at low tide with a bright blue sky. There are seagulls floating and two people walking in the far distance. There are groynes and two signs in the foreground, one says "No climbing on groynes", the other "Caution underwater structure". Photo by ARISE team

23/01/2026

The news is out! Estuary Festival is delighted to have been selected as one of the 11 coastal partners for A Poet in Every Port, a national initiative marking Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary. 🎉

We are thrilled to be working with fantastic Medway based poet David D***s who has been selected to join the New Poets Collective, working closely with Estuary communities to tell stories, celebrate local dialects and show that poetry is for everyone.

Estuary Festival will be hosting the mobile National Poetry Library when it comes to the Thames Estuary on 26 June, with poetry activities and workshops for all. Put the date in your diaries so you can join us! 📅

See link in bio for more info! 🔗

14/11/2025

🐚 An Estuary story told by the cockles and the sea…commissioned for Estuary 2025, ‘Submarine Consciousness, Or What Have You’ is a multi-faceted artistic research project on rewilding by duo Breakwater, Taey Iohe and Youngsook Choi.

🎧 You can still experience the beautiful immersive sound walk ‘Cockles of My Heart II’, starting from Hadleigh Farm today. Head to our LinkTree to access the audio file .

🌳 Order the publication - only pay for postage - ‘There are landslips eating the fields’, heading to the link in LinkTree.

Filming and video editing by

16/10/2025

New album out now! ✨The Myth of Thamesis - The River ✨ Nwando Ebizie’s limited edition album with 50 minutes of orchestral music, an aural poem and a book of poetry is now available to buy at our Estuary Festival shop, with music composed by Nwando Ebizie’s and recorded by Docklands Sinfonia and Guidhall Young Artists. 🔗 link in comments below.

The album developed from Nwando Ebizie’s commission for Estuary Festival’s ‘She is a river’, a live performance held at Tilbury Cruise Terminal on 22 June, and the series of walks ‘A Circular Ritual and Never-ending Ritual of Love to the Thames Estuary’ in Tilbury, Gravesend and Canvey.

The project reimagines the story of the river Thames as Thamesis, a water goddess trapped by human greed and environmental destruction, and calls for ecological urgency and collective action.

⏳ Only 100 copies available to order. Head to the link in the comments below to make your order now.

Filming and video editing by George Morgan.

06/10/2025

What a ride! ⛵️🌊🎙️ Our media journey was eventful and fun, including a memorable boat journey to Fort Darnet with crew, plus drones! 👾

Thanks to everyone who made it possible and especially to Bread and Butter PR for their brilliant work. A huge thanks to our friend and followers who have supported us throughout.

More soon on Estuary Festival’s future projects 🔮✨We are now an organisation producing projects outside of our large-scale festival every 4 years. Sign up to our newsletter and follow us on social channels to hear about exciting future developments.

03/10/2025

Such a great project to be involved with! 💙

24/07/2025

📣 Calling all poets from the Thames Estuary!

Are you 22 or over and haven’t published a solo collection? This is your moment.

Estuary Festival and Metal Southend are teaming up with Southbank Centre for an extra-special 75th anniversary edition of the New Poets Collective – a UK-wide programme celebrating emerging poetic voices.

We'd love to see South Essex and North Kent represented in this landmark year!

✨ Discover new opportunities, connect with fellow poets, and grow your craft
📅 Applications close on 18 August at 12pm – don’t miss out!

👉 See the link here to apply and find out more: https://www.estuaryfestival.com/blog/detail/calling-all-poets-from-the-thames-estuary.html

Image credit: The Water Replies in Chatham Library. Photo by Samuel Taylor