The Southbank Centre unveils 75th anniversary programme

19 September 2025 - Press release

 

• Coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, the Southbank Centre's 2026 anniversary programme is packed year-round with events that explore the future, celebrate youth culture, embrace arts' relationship with technology and open up the site as a joyful, welcoming space for everyone.
• The anniversary of the opening of the Festival of Britain in May is marked by You Are Here, a spectacular takeover of the Southbank Centre, created, directed and designed by Danny Boyle. Paulette Randall, Gareth Pugh and Carson McColl.
• Other highlights include: Anish Kapoor returning to the Hayward Gallery after 28 years with a landmark exhibition, pianist Yuja Wang's groundbreaking immersive mixed reality experience Playing with Fire: An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang and Goalhanger Southbank Centre Takeover - a major festival bringing together Goalhanger's chart-topping podcasts for the first time. 
• Also announced as part of the celebrations – a national programme of art, literature and music – aiming to reach 1 million people in over 40 towns and cities across all four nations of the UK.
  
  
  
  Today, the Southbank Centre unveils its 2026 season, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Royal Festival Hall, the only permanent cultural building to come from the 1951 Festival of Britain, and the first chapter in the story of the Southbank Centre. 

The Festival of Britain  galvanised the nation, using art, science,  technology and design to imagine a brighter future after the trauma of World War Two. Taking place from May to September 1951, the Festival kickstarted the regeneration of the South Bank, revitalising the area into a thriving cultural hub. Seventy-five years on, the Southbank Centre is now the UK's fifth most visited attraction, welcoming over 3.7 million people through its doors in 2024.

Elaine Bedell OBE, CEO of the Southbank Centre, said: "Over the past 75 years, the Southbank Centre has grown from a single concert hall into the UK's largest arts centre. We now house three world-class performance venues, a leading contemporary art gallery, a national poetry library and 11 acres of public space that's open to everyone, every day.

"Our 75th anniversary season keeps the spirit of the Festival of Britain alive: hopeful, outward-looking and driven by the belief that culture belongs to everyone. From showstopping classical music, to world-class contemporary art, and unexpected immersive performances – it's all happening at the Southbank Centre next year. 

"Even better - we're taking a full programme of music, poetry, spoken word and visual art around the UK - so hundreds of thousands of people across the country can experience great culture on their doorstep."

To celebrate the anniversary, the Southbank Centre has taken inspiration from the Festival of Britain, an event that embraced the future, looking to it with optimism and hope. The Southbank Centre's anniversary programme considers what it is to be the arts centre of the future, exploring how it can make a difference to the lives of artists, audiences and communities.

Mark Ball, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre, said: "1951 was the moment after the war that  the UK transformed from black, white and grey into full glorious technicolour, and the vibrant, optimistic, forward-looking energy it created still radiates from the Southbank Centre. Now, more than ever, that energy feels vital to harness and we're doing that with a year-round programme that brings people together in a joyful communion with the art, ideas and technologies that will shape our future. 

"From celebrating 75 years of the youth cultures that have shaped and shaken Britain in an ambitious site-wide takeover, directed by the legendary Danny Boyle, to transforming the site into a cultural playground with the music of hundreds of steel pan players, and to showcasing the creative technologies that will transform entertainment in the future, the year ahead is a potent statement of how the arts can help us imagine a different, better world.

"We're not forgetting our past either as we celebrate icons of the Southbank Centre - from Anish Kapoor to Shirley Bassey. It doesn't get any better than this - there's truly something for everyone to enjoy - so join us!"

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan: "The Southbank Centre is one of the world's great cultural landmarks – a place where Londoners and visitors alike gather to be inspired by music, literature and dance.

"As it marks its 75th anniversary, we honour its origins in the groundbreaking Festival of Britain, but we also look to the future - to reaffirm and reimagine its role as a beacon of creativity and hope, helping us to continue building a better, fairer London for everyone."

Culture Secretary,  Lisa Nandy said: "The Southbank Centre is a truly iconic venue, drawing in millions of visitors all year-round to enjoy a wide variety of activities and performances at the heart of our capital city. 

"It's good to see this extensive programme to celebrate the 75th anniversary, with some exhibitions and performances due to take place at venues outside of London so that people across the UK can get involved and reap the benefits that access to the arts and culture can bring."

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You Are Here

The centrepiece of the anniversary is You Are Here (3 & 4 May) – A spectacular weekend celebrating British youth culture and the impact of its music, fashion and rebellious politics over the past 75 years.

Created, directed and designed by Danny Boyle, Gareth Pugh, Carson McColl and Paulette Randall, You Are Here will involve thousands of participants, taking over the Southbank Centre site over the May Bank Holiday weekend – marking the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Festival of Britain, and the birth of the Southbank Centre itself. 

Every individual experience of You Are Here will be different. Audience members will be invited to explore well-known and hidden spaces across the site, turning the buildings inside out with explosive performances. From monochromatic 1950s to the full technicolour of the present day, this event will reveal the through-lines of invention between performances at the Southbank Centre since its inception, and showcase a new generation of cultural trailblazers.

Danny Boyle, Director of You Are Here, said:  "The Southbank Centre is for everyone, like the NHS - a dose of culture, like a vitamin injection, it lifts you. Our ambition is for as many people as possible to experience the variety and vitality of this wonderful site, especially those on their first visit."

"In You Are Here, we want to send people on an adventure, through an arts centre that is usually experienced in individual venues, but transform it in people's minds so they can see the Southbank Centre in a completely original way."

You Are Here will feature a host of emerging professionals who are part of Southbank Centre's new Southbank Centre Presents programme. Associate artists, resident organisations and local collectives will also take part across the whole Southbank Centre site and beyond in collaboration with the BFI at BFI Southbank and across the UK via The BFI Film Audience Network, supported by National Lottery Funding. 

With surprise performances throughout both days, this will be a timely call to action, a different way to see the future.

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Southbank Centre icons

Over the past 75 years, the Southbank Centre has presented incredible performances from some of the most iconic artists from around the world, reflecting shifts in cultural tastes, and platforming some of the most pivotal voices and artists of the time. 

Maria Callas gave her farewell London performance here, a young David Bowie performed Space Oddity in the Purcell Room, Igor Stravinsky conducted The Firebird in the Royal Festival Hall and speakers, including Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela and Michelle Obama, have inspired audiences over the decades.

In 2026, the Southbank Centre is celebrating British and global icons with landmark performances, exhibitions and events across all venues, throughout the year. 

The Southbank Centre's Hayward Gallery will present a landmark exhibition of Anish Kapoor (16 Jun – 18 Oct), curated by Director Ralph Rugoff. The Hayward Gallery was the first public gallery in the UK to host a major exhibition of Kapoor's work in 1998. 

Anish Kapoor said: "I am thrilled to be making an exhibition at the Hayward Gallery with Ralph Rugoff and to be returning to the Hayward after 28 years. The Southbank Centre has over the last 75 years been central to London's cultural life and I am honoured to make an exhibition to celebrate this anniversary"

Pioneering composer Steve Reich celebrates his 90th birthday in 2026, which the Southbank Centre will mark during its Classical Opening Festival (22 – 27 September), signalling the opening of the Southbank Centre's 2026/27 classical music season. The celebration will feature a major concert in the Royal Festival Hall by Resident Orchestra London Sinfonietta who co-commissioned and premiered many of Reich's seminal works.

Set up by Ted Hughes in 1967, the Southbank Centre's longest-running festival Poetry International (10 – 12 Jul) returns, including a celebration of the life and work of the trailblazing poet Benjamin Zephaniah, as well as an event inspired by HOWL by Allen Ginsburg, presented by Resident Organisation Tomorrow's Warriors.

Hofesh Shechter returns to the Southbank Centre with IN THE BRAIN, performed by his young company, Shechter II  (22 – 25 Jul). This new full-length work is an invitation to let go – to move, to surrender to the music and be swept away in rhythm.

Shirley Bassey, the performer who holds the record for the longest residency at the Royal Festival Hall - performing for 10 nights in 1998 - is being celebrated by queer nightlife collective Duckie at This is My Life: Duckie Salutes Shirley Bassey (20 Sep). Expect metropolitan performance, downtown diamond drag, musical chairs, boogie bingo, boas, badges, earnest debate, dance floor shimmers and singalongs as the Duckie All Stars pay homage to the girl from Tiger Bay.  

Other Southbank Centre icons celebrated during 2026 include Max Richter (27 Mar), an evening celebrating Bronski Beat's seminal album Age of Consent (24 May) and Angélique Kidjo (3 Oct) returning to the Royal Festival Hall, performing with Resident Orchestra Chineke!. 

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A space for young people

During the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary, the Southbank Centre is platforming young talent, celebrating youth culture and looking to the future through the eyes of the next generation. 

Renowned poet Lemn Sissay leads Imagine the Future, a national project for over 3.500 schoolchildren, with 2,000 from Lambeth schools, who are invited to share hopes and dreams for the future through poetry and creative writing, with their words displayed in a site-wide installation, launching at Poetry International in Summer 2026. 

Lemn Sissay said: "The Southbank Centre is Lambeth and Lambeth is the Southbank.  These young poets from Lambeth schools and beyond are about to embark on something truly special with Imagine the Future, and I couldn't be more excited to join them on this journey. When children put pen to paper to envision tomorrow, they're not just crafting poems - they're discovering the power of their own voices. As the Southbank Centre celebrates 75 years of inspiring creativity, these students will be writing the verses that might just shape the world."

Throughout the Summer, the Southbank Centre will host a Young People's Pavilion (16 Jul – 31 Aug) giving young people a platform to curate, programme and perform, helping to nurture the creators of the future, looking at the world through their eyes inspired by the forward-looking nature of the Festival of Britain. 

Imagine (11 – 21 Feb), the Southbank Centre's annual festival of fun and creativity for every family returns, transforming the site into one giant playground during February half-term. Next year's festival includes the Southbank Centre's biggest ever sleepover with children's author Jacqueline Wilson and a virtual festival experience on Roblox, inviting young people to compose, share and explore music in a global virtual community.

Undergraduate students from the London Contemporary Dance School at The Place feature in COLOSSUS (25 – 27 Jun), an exhilarating contemporary dance performance created by Australian choreographer Stephanie Lake with 60 dancers.

Letters to the Future (18 – 20 Sep) is a young people's summit on the future, guest curated by emerging voices from the younger generation, culminating with the launch of a new annual lecture, with high-profile speakers to be announced next year.

As part of its mission to give greater opportunities to young creatives, the Southbank Centre is also announcing today that jazz talent development organisation, creative producer and charity Tomorrow's Warriors and youth arts performance and leadership charity Kinetika Bloco are now official Resident Organisations. This announcement is a recognition of the long-established relationships both organisations have with the Southbank Centre.

Tomorrow's Warriors has been running its acclaimed Young Artist Development Programme since 2009, nurturing and championing the next generation of jazz musicians.

Kinetika Bloco has run an annual Summer School, creative and leadership programmes at the Southbank Centre since 2006, empowering young people to develop creatively and take the lead within Kinetika Bloco and the wider sector.

To help build a community of younger audiences, a new under 30s initiative called Southbank Centre Under 30s will be launched in Autumn 2025, offering special discounts and exclusive events to young people. 

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Welcoming and open to everyone

The Southbank Centre is one of the most inclusive and democratic cultural spaces in the world. Since its doors opened in 1951, the Southbank Centre has made world-class arts accessible to everyone - welcoming all voices, background and stories - with 50% of the events each year free to access.

In 1983, the Southbank Centre introduced an 'Open Doors' policy, which opened up public spaces and foyers for free performances, exhibitions and spaces to congregate and enjoy. Since then, the Southbank Centre has been a hive of activity throughout the day, acting as 'London's Living Room' - bringing together artists, audiences and communities across the whole site. 

Steel pan groups from across the UK celebrate 75 years since the first steel pan performance took place in the UK. In 1951, the Trinidad All-Steel Percussion Orchestra performed at the Festival of Britain outside of the Royal Festival Hall. To mark this, the Steel Scenes: the Steel Pan Weekender (25 & 26 Jul) includes numerous new commissions for steel pan orchestras across the country, together with talks, films and mass performances that take over the Southbank Centre site, including the Southbank Centre's Resident Organisation Kinetika Bloco. 

A new exhibition called Skate Space 50 (7 May – 21 Jun), explores 50 years' history of the Southbank Centre's Skate Space, which has iconic status in the UK's skate community. Skate Space 50 focuses on five generations of the skating community through photography, moving image and sound.

Featuring multiple choirs from across the capital, Oratorio for London (19 Sep) is a newly-commissioned, large-scale choral work and site-wide festival celebrating the power of the human voice and the cultural diversity of London, featuring text written by Sabrina Mahfouz in collaboration with young Londoners.

New public artworks will enliven the site as part of the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary programme, including a parade of performers situated on the Riverside Terrace, created by the renowned artist Sir Quentin Blake, who attended the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Welcoming visitors to the Southbank Centre site will be a striking, colourful artwork and sound installation on the Mandela Walkway created by artist Lakwena Maciver and singer-songwriter Abimaro.

A new interactive musical artwork Stepping Out by artist Luke Jerram, will invite visitors to play an outdoor staircase of the Southbank Centre as a musical instrument, recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the Southbank Centre's Resident Orchestras. 

Appearing Rooms, by artist Jeppe Hein, will make a welcome return - entertaining thousands of people with its jets of water, creating rooms that disappear as quickly as they emerge.

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Inventing the future

The Festival of Britain was never a nostalgic affair. It aimed to celebrate the best of British innovation and propel the nation forward toward an optimistic future. Inspired by this spirit, the Southbank Centre is not content with just staging the art of today, but committed to inventing the art of the future - encouraging creative collaboration and imagining new ways to experience culture.

Exploring the future, and what it holds, is a key theme for a new festival co-produced with podcast production powerhouse Goalhanger. Goalhanger Southbank Centre Takeover (4 – 6 Sep) will bring together live editions of their chart-topping podcasts, including The Rest Is...History, The Rest Is...Politics and The Rest Is...Entertainment, uniting on stage for the first time. 

Gary Lineker, Co-founder of Goalhanger, said: "It's incredible to see how far Goalhanger has come – from those early recordings around a table to now taking over the entire Southbank Centre. Bringing our many shows together for a festival of ideas promises to be a standout moment and a real milestone for us."

The UK premiere of Playing with Fire: An Immersive Odyssey with Yuja Wang (11 Sep – 13 Dec) is a groundbreaking 50-minute immersive experience that transforms the traditional piano recital into a mixed-reality odyssey starring world-renowned pianist Yuja Wang. 

Wearing mixed-reality headsets, audiences are taken on a deeply personal journey through music, memory, and imagination, blending immersive visuals, spatial sound, storytelling, and virtual performance. 

Yuja Wang, pianist, said: "As a performer, I am constantly seeking new ways to connect emotionally and creatively with audiences through music. In this vein, I am immensely curious about the evolution and potential of technology: how it changes our daily lives, enables new forms of art, and can push the boundaries of how we experience music. I have found so much inspiration from joining forces previously with artists like the legendary David Hockney and now collaborating with the talented creatives and technologists behind this project. To be able to marry art and technology with this new immersive installation is really a dream come true."

Playing with Fire is produced by VIVE Arts and Atlas V and directed by Pierre-Alain Giraud. Yuja Wang appears courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft.

Seventy-five years after the Festival of Britain reimagined the nation's future through art and innovation, Southbank Centre revives that spirit with Creative Intelligence (11–13 September 2026). Over three days, the Southbank Centre will become a playground for creative technologies, exploring how AI and digital innovation are reshaping how we live, imagine and create. 

Visitors will encounter installations, demonstrations and prototypes at the intersection of  creativity and technology, alongside discussions with leading artists and thinkers on how performance, storytelling and authorship are being transformed. 

Multitudes (16 Apr – 1 May), a festival that reimagines the orchestral music experience  to attract new audiences to the genre, will return for its second edition. The critically-acclaimed first edition of the festival attracted 59 per cent new bookers to the Southbank Centre's classical music programme. 

Opening the second edition will be Resident Orchestra Aurora Orchestra, with a theatrically-staged exploration of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Premiered in 2023, this groundbreaking production redefined the possibilities of 'Orchestral Theatre', combining thrilling memorised performance with movement, actors, design, and a new script by Aurora's Creative Director Jane Mitchell, all while keeping the music and musicians at its heart. 

Also part of Multitudes is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Messiaen's epic Turangalila Symphony with theatre company 1927. Further details of the Multitudes programme, which will include cross-art form collaborations from all six of the Southbank Centre's Resident Orchestras, will be announced in the Autumn.

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A national programme of music, literature and visual art

In 1951, Festival of Britain events were held at the South Bank and across the country. For the 75th anniversary, the Southbank Centre is extending its national reach, aiming to reach one million people in over 40 towns and cities across the UK in 2026 and building a legacy for greater national engagement in the future. 

Inspired by the Festival of Britain's coastal exhibition by boat and the Land Travelling Exhibition, which took 5,000 exhibits transported in over 100 lorries around the UK, A Poet in Every Port visits ten coastal locations nationwide. 

Led by the Southbank Centre's National Poetry Library, the project celebrates different dialects, languages and approaches to poetry across the coastline of our nations. 

Taking to the road in a mobile poetry library, A Poet in Every Port will visit every nation of the UK, from North Uist in the Outer Hebrides, to Great Yarmouth in Norfolk; Bangor in Northern Ireland to Caernarfon in Wales. 

For A Poet in Every Port the National Poetry Library takes to four wheels with a selection of the world's largest collection of post-War poetry in a new mobile library that travels around the UK. A programme of public events will be organised in each location in partnership with local libraries and arts groups. It will also collect new poetry and spoken word for its national collection from each of the A Poet in Every Port locations. 

Already announced, the British Art Show is the largest and most significant recurring exhibition of contemporary art in the UK. Curated by Ekow Eshun, British Art Show 10 marks the first time the exhibition has travelled to five cities across the UK – its most extensive presentation to date.

Opening first in Coventry in September 2026, the British Art Show then tours to Swansea, Bristol, Sheffield and Newcastle over the next two years. Over the past four decades, the British Art Show has reached over 2.3 million people nationwide, highlighting new trends in contemporary art and reflecting a changing Britain.

To mark the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary, Hayward Gallery Touring have commissioned 60 artists – previous participants of British Art Show alongside other acclaimed artists who have immigrated to the UK – to create a work in a miniature, easily portable format. 

This exhibition, Sixty Artworks for 2026 is inspired by one of the centerpieces of the 1951 Festival of Britain was a national touring exhibition – 60 Paintings for '51 – which was designed for not only museums but also the libraries and health centres of the new welfare state. 

Sixty Artworks for 2026 tours to smaller museums, arts centres and other community spaces, celebrating the contribution of these artists to Britain's artistic landscape, and offering an overview of the history of British art over the past 45 years.

In a new partnership with the Music Venue Trust, the Southbank Centre supports the UK's essential grassroots music sector by taking its legendary Meltdown festival to local music venues in six towns across the country in a project called Hometown Meltdown. 

Leading musicians will curate their favourite local bands in grassroots music venues, with curators and artists to be announced in early 2026. 

The Southbank Centre's groundbreaking Multitudes festival will also be going on tour, taking extraordinary orchestral collaborations to venues outside London - with further details to be announced. 

For more information about the Southbank Centre's 75th anniversary celebrations, including information about when tickets will go on sale to members and the general public, visit southbankcentre.co.uk.