HIJINX has released the full programme of events and schedule for this year’s Unity Festival beginning later this month. Unity Festival is one of Europe’s largest inclusive arts festivals and the only one of its kind in Wales.
Unity Festival 2026 is set to take place from June 30 to July 5 this year at Wales Millennium Centre, Chapter Arts Centre and The Glee Club in Cardiff with satellite street performances kicking off the action in Llanelli on June 25 at Ffwrnes and Theatr Clwyd in Mold, June 27.
A festival trailer has also been launched highlighting just some of the performances audiences will be able to enjoy.Audiences for this 12th edition year can expect a vibrant programme packed full of theatre, comedy, dance, drag and circus from Wales, the UK and Europe across a ticketed and extensive free programme.
Since 2008, Hijinx’s biennial festival has brought together some of the most exciting inclusive theatre, dance, comedy and cabaret from Wales and around the world, championing learning disabled and autistic artists and showcasing bold, boundary-pushing work to thousands of audience members.
The Unity Festival 2024 was a huge success and street and stage performers entertained people of all ages celebrated in a short film also released by Hijinx.
Highlights this year include À Deux Mètres, an atmospheric and touching circus act from Belgium, inclusive dance giants Stopgap from the UK at events in Llanelli, Mold and Cardiff, and German company tanzbar_bremen will also join the festival across those three locations. Audiences will also be able to catch an array of international performers throughout the festival including Theater Thikwa, Blaumeier-Atelier, Collecttivo Clochart, L’Oiseau-Mouche, Satélite Teatro and Danza Mobile.
Cardiff festival events will begin at the Cabaret Bar at Wales Millennium Centre hosted and headlined by Midgitte Bardot on July 1 and joined by performers including Danza Mobile, Crabulous and House of Deviant billed as ‘a spectacular evening of drag, disruption and unapologetic celebration; late night entertainment full of sequins and sass.’
Audiences can enjoy a special comedy night with a line- up of comedians, produced and hosted by Hijinx’s Associate Artist (and stand-up comedian), Richard Newnham, making his Glee Club debut at the Cardiff’s comedy venue on June 30.
A programme of scratch performance will also take place at Chapter Arts Centre (July 2 and 3) in Cardiff giving local acts including Same Hat Theatre and Vaguely Deviant; a collaboration between Hijinx’s band Vaguely Artistic and Cardiff inclusive drag troupe House of Deviant, an opportunity to share work in development.
Hijinx Artistic Director and Co CEO Ben Pettit Wade said: “There will be so much entertainment of all kinds to enjoy across the whole festival.
“There is a bit of a space theme to some of the performances this year, with regular contributor Danza Mobile from Spain presenting The Day the Man Stepped on the Moon in the Weston Studio at Wales Millennium Centre, alongside our own Hijinx collaboration with Tenerife based Satélite Teatro, Astronauts Fusion in the street theatre programme performing on Friday the 3 July at Wales Millennium Centre alongside our own Astronauts on the weekend of 4 to 5 July.”
The partnership with Cardiff Food and Drink festival will see the festival presenting a free programme of street performance in and around the Wales Millennium Centre the July 4-5 weekend as well as the street programmes in Llanelli and Mold to start off the festival on June 25 and June 27.
Ben added: “Don’t be surprised if you come across some giant crabs from Hijinx’s Crabulous show during the food festival trying to nick a bit of falafel wrap!”
During the Unity Festival period, Hijinx will host an Artist Exchange Conference at Wales Millennium Centre, in partnership with the funding network, Cultural Bridge, which supports arts and cultural organisations across the UK and Germany to develop partnerships that explore social arts practice. The event will see creatives and decision makers from the industry reflecting on and sharing approaches to inclusive social arts practice and international collaboration to shape future ways of working.
Co CEO and Hijinx Executive Director Eloise Tong said: “Collaborating with national and international partners is of huge importance in an increasingly fractured world.
“We want Unity Festival and Wales to be a space for important conversations about inclusive arts practice. The event will be attended by both national and international delegates sharing best practice and learning from each other.”
Talking about the Unity Festival itself Eloise added: “I hope visitors will experience impactful work that makes them laugh, cry and reconsider their preconceptions. Unity Festival is about coming together and celebrating difference in a joyful way.”
The Unity Festival is supported by Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government through Events Wales, The Leche Trust, Cultural Bridge, Taith, First Choice Housing Association, The Jenour Foundation, Arts and Business Cymru, Sacyr Engineering and Infrastructures, and Grant Stephens Family Law.
For more information on Unity Festival 2026 visit Hijinx’s website A download of the Cardiff Unity Festival programme is also availablehere: Unity-Festival-2026-Cardiff-Programme.pdf
