Much Wenlock festival

Much Wenlock Festival was founded in 1984. It started as a small group of individuals who were passionate about creating a place to champion and celebrate local arts and culture. Over the years, it has grown into a thriving community activity with a strong presence in Much Wenlock. Early Festival activities were hosted in locations across the town, with Shakespeare performed in the Priory Ruins, carnival activities in the Town Square and Church Green, and Poetry readings / Story Telling taking place in local cafés. Over the years the Festival has evolved to meet the changing environments of our town as well as to accommodate different elements of arts and culture. We are now primarily hosted on the Church Green and try our best to provide a wide variety of acts and performances to enrich our community. In 2010 the Much Wenlock Festival became a Charity, as such we submit financial records annually, and are constituted formally.  

We host the Festival every two years, usually within early June. We hold committee meetings at least quarterly, with a minimum of two Trustee meetings, and our annual general meeting within a financial year. Our AGM tends to fall in the autumn which is open to the public to attend and gain an understanding of what we do as a committee and charity.

Anyone who shares our values and is interested in supporting local arts and culture can join Much Wenlock Festival as either a trustee, committee member, or a volunteer. We welcome individuals from all backgrounds and ages, and are always in need of support to ensure the operational activities of the festival run smoothly. We have a variety of responsibilities our volunteers can help with, including supporting our marketing and ticket sales, working in the café bar, helping performers and artists on site, supporting site management etc. If you are interested in joining us as a volunteer, committee member, or trustee, please email muchwenlockfestivals@gmail.com

As a charity, we are committed to supporting our local arts and culture community. We are currently looking to establish a community fund that could support local arts and culture based opportunities, groups, and activities within Much Wenlock and surrounding areas. This fund will be largely dependant on profits made in the festival year to allow small grants or contributions to be made to qualifying applicants.

In 2022 we committed funding towards the Much Wenlock Holy Trinity Church Reflection Garden, which will include an art installation within a peaceful space in the grounds of the Church Green.

We seek to utilise the Festival as a way to promote local businesses, increase tourism in the area, and promote opportunities for local artists, performers, and groups to participate in a festival. We aim to enrich our community with cultural opportunities, and hope that by doing so we are supporting our local community to thrive.

Each performance or event is ticketed separately, with links to our online ticket sales platform within each of the event information blocks in the Festival Calendar section of our website. You can also purchase tickets in person at Penny Farthing on the Town Square in Much Wenlock. Tickets will go on sale in the January of the festival year.

Anyone wanting to provide vendor services (such as food stalls, craft fair traders, or activity providers) can express their interest to do so via this form (link for 2027 coming soon).  Completing the form does not guarantee you a space at any of the events and the Festival Committee will select providers based on the anticipated footfall and needs of the events and days.