Richmond upon Thames Performing Arts Festival

The Richmond upon Thames Performing Arts Festival takes place during the months of February-March 2025 for performers of all ages in music, dance, drama, and speech.

Richmondfestival

This annual festival offers a platform for amateur performers to showcase their skills in front of a live audience and receive constructive feedback from professional adjudicators.

By providing a goal to aim for and a focus for practice, the Festival offers the opportunity to gain confidence and develop performance technique at whatever level.

Performances are arranged in classes relative to age and levels of attainment at a variety of venues across the borough of Richmond upon Thames. There is a small cost for entry into a class.

Every participant

• • has the opportunity to perform before a welcoming and sympathetic audience
  • has the opportunity to listen to and see others performing
  • receives a constructive written and verbal appraisal of their performance by an experienced professional in their chosen field as an aid to improvement, understanding and motivation
  • receives a certificate and a category assessment as an indication of relative achievement

The Festival awards substantial cash bursaries to help with future training to the Richmond upon Thames Young Pianist, Young Singer, Young Instrumentalist, Young Dancer and Young Performer (Speech & Drama) of the Year. There are also other medals and trophies to be won.

Each year some of the performers are chosen to take part in the annual Festival Showcase, held for the past two years at the Normansfield Theatre in Teddington in the presence of the Mayor of the borough.

All the syllabus and entry information can be found here: Syllabus – Richmondfestival

Please share this with any young people or teachers who might be interested in taking part.

The Festival is affiliated to the British and International Federation of Festivals (BIFF) which sets standards for Festivals across the country and whose Child Safeguarding and Adjudication policies are followed by Richmond Festival.