This autumn, Liberty Festival 2025 brings a celebration of disabled artistry to Wandsworth from 24-29 September, as one of the highlights of its year as the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture. Liberty Festival is the Mayor of London’s flagship disability arts festival, platforming some of the most exciting disabled creatives, showcasing bold, innovative work that excites and challenges audiences, and reframes disability.
A vibrant lineup of free events will unfold across Wandsworth’s venues, featuring immersive art installations, theatre, dance, cabaret, creative workshops, and more. Showcasing both emerging talents and globally celebrated artists, Liberty Festival 2025 is brought to life by CRIPtic Arts, one of the UK’s most impactful disabled-led creative organisations.
Access is embedded at the heart of the festival. All events will take a Relaxed approach to movement and noise with audiences able to leave and re-enter, tic and move around if needed. There will also be wheelchair access, accessible toilets and quiet chill-out areas to rest and relax in. BSL, Audio Description, Captioning and other provisions will be available throughout the festival. Please check the website for detailed access information for each event and venue.
Kristina Veasy and Alejandro Ahmed will be sharing the stunning Capturing the Forest at Battersea Arts Centre, which serves as the central hub venue of Liberty. Their work is a festival-long immersive, multi-sensory installation inviting audiences to explore the emotional and physical presence of the forest. Other featured artists and organisations at the venue include Jack Wakely (Goblin), Oily Cart and Polyglot Theatre (When The World Turns), Simeon Campbell (SADBOI), AJ Venturini (Altar to Joy), Disco Neurotico & Deaf Rave (Takeover), Krystal S Lowe (Daughters of the Sea), BLINK DANCE (Elvis Died of Burgers) and Amanda Grace(Love In).
Other work will be shared across the borough, including pieces from The Baked Bean Company (Life of I) and Chisato Minamimura (The Lost Golden Lotus) at Tara Theatre, with the venue also hosting a mini arts conference with talks, panel discussions and creative workshops from Sense Arts and Flawbored. Adrian Lee (Hexagram) will feature at World Heartbeat, CRIPtic Arts will co-host an open mic day at The Bedford.
The Clapham Grand will host the opening night party on Wednesday 24th September featuring a boundary-pushing cabaret curated by the radical Midgitte Bardot and a powerful live music showcase by Wandsworth based Sound Minds. A joyful, relaxed, family friendly picnic with performances, including from Miss Jacqui will take place at Battersea Park to close the festival on Sunday 28 September.
This year’s Liberty Festival will also highlight work taking place in Wandsworth in schools, community groups and with other disabled-led organisations, as part of the wider London Borough of Culture, including a SEND Schools Showcase at Wandsworth Council’s Civic Suite on Monday 29 September.
Jamie Hale, Artistic Director, CRIPtic Arts said: ’Liberty 2025 is a celebration of the richness, diversity and innovation of disabled-led creativity. We’re proud to be presenting a bold, unapologetic, visionary programme, centring access and demonstrating the skill, talent, and expertise disabled creatives bring.’
Wandsworth Council Deputy Leader Kemi Akinola said: ‘Liberty is all about providing a platform for disability-led arts and staging the work in the hearts of our communities. During our year as London Borough of Culture, we are proud to present Liberty 2025 and are excited to share an exciting and challenging programme that we hope will reach new audiences and showcase the very best of disability-led art and performance.’
For all the details and more information, visit https://welcometowandsworth.com/liberty-festival/ Please note, all events are free but ticketed.
