Arts by the Sea 2026: Elemental takes over the Lower Gardens

Arts by the Sea is back this weekend. The festival fills the Lower Gardens and the town centre on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 September 2026, with a two-week fringe running from 27 September to 11 October, and it is free to attend. This year's theme is Elemental, described by the organisers as a celebration of the energies that connect people to each other and to the world around them.

The festival announced its final additions earlier this month: The Hide, Breakin' Free by Pavilion Dance South West, Read by the Sea, The Story Works, Freefall Collective and a Bournemouth & Poole College takeover join the programme. The spectacle piece is Frequency Rider by Lords of Lightning, the sister company of Arcadia Spectacular, the outfit behind the giant mechanical spider at Glastonbury.

The artist in residence

This year's artist in residence is Rhea Hanlon, the Bournemouth-based multidisciplinary artist known as Lost Lines, whose character-led work runs across digital illustration, traditional media and public art. Ahead of the main weekend the festival took three free Bite-Sized Festivals into local neighbourhoods, with family-focused days of creative activity.

How to do the weekend

• Start in the Lower Gardens after dark. The installations and the lighting work are designed for the evening, and the gardens run from the Square down to the pier, so the whole route is a walk of ten minutes. Our guide to the parks and gardens explains the geography.
• Eat before or after, not during. The Square and Old Christchurch Road are a few steps from the gardens; the best restaurants in Bournemouth has the places worth booking on a festival Saturday.
• Stay within walking distance. Late finishes and a busy town centre make a hotel on the West Cliff, ten minutes on foot from the Square, the sensible base. Where to stay in Bournemouth compares the options.

The fringe carries the festival into October with events across the town. For the full list, the festival's own site is the source, and our events calendar has everything else on in Bournemouth this autumn, including the Bournevaria Oktoberfest at the BIC the same weekend.