Welcome to the Home of Highbridge Festival of the Arts

“The friendly festival”

The Festival is affiliated to The British & International Federation of Festivals for Music, Dance and Speech of which Her Majesty The Queen is patron
The Festival is a registered charity, number 284082
Presidents: Nigel Hess, Composer & Stephen Daldry CBE, Film & Stage Director
The Festival began in 1948 at Highbridge Town Hall. It has grown from an afternoon of performances to a large event held over 12 days in three different venues with over 2300 performances in Speech & Drama, Dance and Music. Performers are adjudicated by professional adjudicators, who are recognised by The Federation, and marks are awarded using nationally recognised standards.
We welcome performers of all ages and abilities to take part in a wide variety of classes; from tiny tots to octogenarians, everyone is encouraged to share their talents, whether they wish to recite a poem, act in a play, dance in any number of styles, play an instrument or sing, either as a soloist or with others.
Please explore our website to find out more about the different sections of The Festival. The Syllabus will give you an idea about the breadth of classes you can take part in. If you’re thinking of taking part in Highbridge Festival for the first time, then please read or download our Information Sheet. Do please contact us if you have any questions or would like more information.
We look forward to welcoming you to our next Festival, either as a performer or as a member of the audience, when we can assure you of a very entertaining time.
 

Our 71st Festival was a great success with over 2400 performances in Speech,
Drama, Dance and Music. The audiences at each venue enjoyed performances
by entrants of all ages and were delighted to see and hear a number of Honours winning performances. Our adjudicators were pleased with the good standard of
performance in all disciplines and enjoyed the friendly spirit of the Festival. We
would like to thank all of those competitors who joined us, the adjudicators for
their support and encouragement and our team of helpers who worked tirelessly
to make 2018 such a success.
Photographs from this year’s Festival can be viewed in our Gallery and we are
grateful to J & L Photography (www.jeffandlesphotography.com) and
http://www.Burnham-on-Sea.com for supporting us with photography this year.
Plans are already well underway for our 72nd Festival, which will run from  
Monday 4 – Saturday 16 March 2019. The Syllabus should be available online in
October, but in the meantime if you would like more information, please contact
us.

One of this year’s winners of an Elena Cobb Star Prize in the Music Section of the
Festival, went on to perform in the Winner’s Concert at The Royal Albert Hall, in
London. The photo below, courtesy of Hannah’s Mum & Elena Cobb, is of
Hannah performing.

Hannah says, "On the 5th April 2018, I played 'Heriot Water' by Donald Thomson
on the piano in the Elgar room of the Royal Albert Hall. I got this opportunity by
winning the Elena Cobb Star Prize Award at Highbridge Festival of the Arts. The
piano that I played on was once owned by Elton John! I was able to meet Elena
Cobb and also Donald Thomson. This was an amazing experience and one I will
never forget. I loved every minute of it as I love to perform."