Are you new to Basingstoke Festival? Or maybe you’ve visited the town centre before but not been to all the festival locations? We’ve put together this accessibility guide to the festival to help you plan your Festival experience.

We believe everyone should be able to enjoy the festival, so we offer easy-read guides, touch tours and BSL interpreted performances, find out more below!

Basingstoke Festival is Basingstoke’s annual free outdoor summer arts festival, delight your senses with street theatre, visual arts, circus, storytelling and dance.

The 2025 festival will start on Friday 20 June and will run to Sunday 6 July with free street performances across the three weekends, along with a programme of indoor and community events taking place during the festival dates.

To help plan your arrival into Basingstoke and Deane, please see our main ‘Getting here’ page which includes details of all festival locations and access guides from AccessAble for the train and bus station, parking at Festival Place and The Malls Shopping Centre and other venues.

Performance icons are available to offer quick guidance to each event. You will find these located on the website and printed programme.

Relaxed performances

All our performances are relaxed, which means the environment is designed to be flexible. For example, if you need to take a break from a performance, you can simply leave the space and return as and when you wish to. We aim to be really honest about the content of each show on our website performance pages, but if you want more up to date information, please contact the festival team in advance. You can guarantee one of the team will have seen it! 

New for 2025: Quiet Zones

We have two Quiet Zones – one in the War Memorial Park, near to the pop-up Eco Zone and one in London Street, by the Triumphal Gates. This space will offer you a break from the hustle of the festival should you wish to step away from the noise and have a moment of calm. Chill out on us! 

BSL interpreters

BSL interpreters will be present on each Saturday of the festival. Check back here to see which route to follow to see the shows with BSL interpretation. 

Check back here for any show Easy Read Guides available.

Touch tours are available for visually impaired audiences at some performances. If a touch tour is available, details can be found with the show listing. If you would like to experience a touch tour, please speak to one of the festival team at the relevant performance location. 

Audio descriptions will be available for certain shows within the Basingstoke Festival 2025 programme, please check back soon for updates.

If you have any questions prior to joining us at the Festival, please e-mail festival@basingstoke.gov.uk or chat to one of the staff you’ll find in a bright pink t-shirt on the days of the festival at the performance locations.