Street Choirs Festival
Friday 12th - Sunday 14th June 2026, Dumfries
The Street Choirs Festival is a fabulous event where singers from across the UK meet up with other singers to take part in a unique, a capella experience, sharing our voices and sending out our message on the streets. 2026 is the 42nd Street Choir Festival, and notably, the first Street Choir Festival in Scotland. This year, for the first time, Street Choirs is coming to Scotland and will be hosted by Cairn Chorus, Songwave and the Catstrand Singers in Dumfries.
The chosen theme this year is "Equality and Love" with Robert Burns featuring in our very own logo!
The history of the Street Choirs Festival
The Festival has been held every year since 1984, in different venues around the UK, the majority in the north of England. Participating choirs all have an ethos of singing, a cappella, in support of peace, human rights, climate and social justice etc. A significant aspect of the weekend is outdoor performance.
Our Music Director, Kate Howard was involved in setting up the original festival and some of our choir members who hail from the north of England have links with choirs there. Two years ago, Kate felt that it was time to bring the Festival to Scotland and a small committee has been planning ever since.
Dumfries may be a very different place from the cities of the north, but we feel we have much to offer, albeit on a smaller scale. That said we expect more than 700 singers from more than 30 choirs.
The images shows the massed sing at Sheffield in 2024 and Cairn Chorus singers busking in Kendal in 2023..
What you can expect
The weekend follows a similar format to previous Street Choir events:
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Friday evening: An informal concert followed by a Ceilidh at Easterbrook Hall. This is for performing choirs only.
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Saturday: A 'massed sing' involving all choirs in Dock Park, followed by busking in Dumfries Town Centre. In the evening choirs will take part in a concert at Easterbrook Hall where they will perform for each other.
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Sunday: A selection of workshops on different themes at the Crichton.
We will update this page with photographs during and after the event.
