The Programme for Estuary 2025 – Vessels is Announced

April 25, 2025

Full list of events can be found at https://www.estuaryfestival.com/

The programme details for the large-scale contemporary arts festival Estuary 2025 - Vessels have been announced. Celebrating the stories, places and people of the Thames Estuary, the third edition of the festival takes place from 21-29 June 2025, with nine days of performances, installations and events across the region.

Through the theme of ‘Vessels’, Estuary 2025 looks beyond the boats and ships that move in and out of the Thames Estuary, to think about the festival itself as a vessel - exploring people’s complex and changing relationship to this unique landscape.

Taking place every four years across the South Essex and North Kent coastlines the festival explores the rich and often overlooked stories of estuary people and places, creating extraordinary arts experiences inspired by unexpected places. Originally conceived and programmed by Metal in 2016 as a catalyst to embed long-term change in the perceptions and visibility of the region, this third edition of the festival marks its first as an independent arts organisation.

The festival coincides with both spring and neap tides which offers the unique opportunity to engage with the Thames Estuary on both land and water. Projects such as Changing Tides, SALT, Anchored and Thought Forms, take place on the water of the Estuary with performances on a sailing barge, in tidal pools and in a nineteenth century military fort,, whereas up and down the coastline of the Estuary, land projects such as Call me Back!, and Sleeping with the Dead reimagine a giant BT phone box and contemplate a relocated mass grave.

Thea Behrman, Artistic Director and CEO said: “Our theme for this edition is ‘Vessels’, which in the context of the Thames Estuary might first conjure pictures of boats and ships – the vessels that transport so much in and out of this region. But the people, flora and fauna of the area are vessels too: carriers of ideas and aspirations, stories and myths, memories from the past and hopes for the future.

Estuary 2025 is a vessel too, bringing newly commissioned artworks to forge new connections and resurrect old ones: it is only relatively recently that rivers have been seen as barriers that need to be crossed by land - for much more of their history they have been waterborne thoroughfares - the primary way to meet and interact.

At the heart of the programme is a love letter both to this remarkable region that has inspired artists for millennia and to our fantastic collaborators from the Estuary - from youth clubs and yacht clubs to brass bands and dancers who have joined us in the journey to realising this festival.”

The Estuary 2025 Programme:

ANCHORED (21 June, Anchor Wharf, Chatham Historic Dockyard)

SALT (27 &; 28 June, Concord Beach Eastern Esplanade)

Call Me Back! (21 June - 29 June, Various Locations)

Sleeping with the Dead (28-29 June, Reburial site adjacent to Willow Cemetery, Canvey Island)

Thought Forms (21-29 June, Fort Darnet)

Changing Tides (21-29 June, Benfleet Yacht Club)

Clubbing and commune-ing in Essex (21-29 June, Basildon)

The Dreamshare Seer (Online) - Pending Approval (22 & 24 June, Hadleigh Farm Estate, Benfleet, Essex)

Common Grounds (19-25 June Riverside Country Park; 27 June - 6 July, Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea, Basildon)

Hop Aboard (21-29 June, Chatham Historic Dockyards, 21 & 22 June, Gravesend Town Pier)

The People Will Possess the Wind (21 &; 22 June, Canvey Island, Southend Pier, Hampton/Herne Bay and Sheerness)

Sea Like a Mirror (21-22 June, The Clarendon Royal Community Garden, Gravesend)

Submarine Consciousness, Or What Have You (21-29 June, Hadleigh Farm Estate, Benfleet)

Threads for Tomorrow (21-29 June Knightswick Shopping Centre, Canvey Island)

The Library of Lost Sounds (28 & 29 June Canvey Wick Nature Reserve, 276 Northwick Rd, Canvey Island SS8 0PT)

Estuary 2025 film programme (21-29 June, Wat Tyler Country Park, Basildon; 21-22 June, Gravesend Town Pier, Gravesend DA11 0BJ)

Estuary Anthology (21-29 June, various locations)

The People Will Possess The Wind - sailed in the Thames Estuary - credit: Nell Houguez