Our mission is to create a world where everyone can explore and create culture.

To achieve this, as well as 30 days of Festivals, our Learning and Participation team deliver 180 days of outreach with schools, communities and young people from Gloucestershire and beyond. Alongside our Festivals for schools, we run year-round pioneering talent development, education projects and community programmes that support individuals; everyone from artists and musicians to writers and budding science communicators.

Explore our projects further using the menu above.

Children enjoying the Makershack at Cheltenham Science Festival

Our Projects

...around town

...around town is one of our talent development initiatives, showcasing local talent across our Festival programming. An eclectic mix of performances and activities pop up in pubs, bars and vibrant spaces around Cheltenham - all free of charge to experience - during our live Festivals.

Community

Working in partnership with local charities, including Caring for Communities and People (CCP) and Cheltenham Welcomes Refugees (CWR), the Connections scheme allows Cheltenham Festivals to provide free tickets to our Festivals to those who would perhaps not have the opportunity otherwise.

DataFace

DataFace equips teachers and students with the skills and confidence to interrogate data – big and small – and present their findings creatively. It draws on core data skills, broader power skills and data visualisation techniques to encourage students to find the stories they care about through the gathering and presentation of data.

FameLab

FameLab is the largest science communication competition and training programme in the world. It discovers, trains and promotes the best new voices in science – including social sciences – technology and engineering. FameLab is broken down into three different competitions. FameLab UK, FameLab International and the schools initiative FameLab Academy UK.

Musicate

Established in 2016, a refreshed Musicate will re-launch in 2024. If this is too long to wait, don’t worry you can book onto a Musicate CPD day in the interim.

VOICEBOX

A vibrant home to free, pop-up content and performances that explore everything from spoken word, sex and wellbeing to mental health, sustainability, politics and social justice.

Schools at Festivals

We host a schools programme alongside each of our four Festivals where children can experience things like live concerts and performances for the first time, engage in interactive workshops, delve into the world of STEM and so much more.

The Scribbled Self

The Scribbled Self is a unique writing for wellbeing resource co-created by young people in Gloucestershire. These contributors were previous beneficiaries of Beyond Words, our writing-in-residence programme in partnership with The Gloucestershire Hospital Education Service (GHES).

RT=RP

Reading Teachers = Reading Pupils (RTRP) is Cheltenham Festivals’ flagship outreach project designed to inspire teachers and pupils to read for pleasure because children who read for pleasure experience high levels of well-being, engage in learning and are successful in life.