© Jonathan Juniper Set to be one of the biggest cultural events in the South East, Estuary 2021, from Saturday 22 May to Sunday 13 June 2021, is a large-scale arts festival celebrating and acknowledging the lives, landscapes and histories of this spectacular region.
The festival launched in 2016 to great acclaim with 55 events from 265 artists, reaching more than 100,000 people.
This year, re-framed in light of Covid-19, the festival invites visitors to take an epic walk along the stunning coastline of South Essex and North Kent encountering contemporary artworks and performance within the estuary landscape, historic sites and coastal towns.
The festival presents site-specific works in the landscape, as well as animating the wharfs, piers and high streets of estuary towns including Southend, Chatham, and Gravesend. The programme will feature performance, including an immersive audio-visual performance; installation; immersive storytelling; GPS audio; murals, specific walks, and tours.
The online programme brings together artists, scientists, and activists from the estuary and beyond to audiences from around the world.
The festival is led by estuary-based arts organisations Metal (South Essex) and Cement Fields (North Kent) working in partnership with a wide range of artists, arts organisations, local authorities, river agencies and businesses.
The programme for Estuary 2021 can be viewed at https://www.estuaryfestival.com/events.html
‘A festival that brilliantly matches the intention to the amazing site and constantly keeps culture and the community / social in perfect balance. So much so that I think anyone who encountered it will now think of the festival as much as the place (as part of the place) when the word comes to mind.’
Estuary 2016 visitor
© Jonathan Juniper 
