SPILL Festival + Think Tank

18/06/2026

📣 We’re thrilled to welcome Scott O’Hara as our new Executive Director!

Scott joins us from Somerset, where he led Seed, the first Arts Council funded Creative People and Places project in the South West.

Scott is also a songwriter, musical performer and video maker, winning the songwriting prize at The Climates Film Festival in 2024. He brings extensive experience in a wide variety of arts management roles, living in Sydney before relocating to the UK in 2019.

Scott will be helping to guide our new chapter of year-round programming, and we’re very excited to have him as part of the team!

13/06/2026

📣 Just two days left to apply
for an Artist Residency!

Our Think Tank space is hosting paid residencies again from 20 July to 7 August.

If you’d like to spend a week researching and developing a new idea with us in Ipswich, we’d love to hear from you.

Our residencies include:
💡 Mentoring and advice from SPILL staff
💻 Access to tech and equipment
💸 A £1k honorarium and an access fund
👏 The option to informally share ideas with an invited audience
💫 Marketing support

🗓️ Deadline: Monday 15 June 12noon
If you’ve applied before, you’re welcome to apply again!

‘SPILL created a really warm, encouraging and welcoming atmosphere that made me feel completely at home and free. We found ourselves dreaming up and planning new projects far beyond what we could ever have imagined.' Leila Gamaz, 2025 Residency

Learn more about the residencies and apply now:
https://www.spillfestival.com/residencies

01/06/2026

Our spring season continues next week, with sound artist Johann Don-Daniel presenting Vessels: Drums Distortion Dissonance - a live, experimental sound performance through drums.
Limited tickets left!

📅 Thursday 11 June | 19:30
📍 SPILL Think Tank (next to Ipswich Museum)
🎟 £5, https://www.spillfestival.com/vessels-drums-distortion-dissonance

24/05/2026

💚 Start the Bank Holiday weekend on a positive note with Folk Features:

🛒 A Q&A with , the artist-turned-shopkeeper behind TRANSACTIONLAND at Ancient House, Ipswich (finishing tomorrow!)
📔 ’s latest column: could YOU contribute to her A LIFE IN A DAY online diary on June 21st?
🎭 Lindy O’Hare, co-founder and director of , in Suffolk, on the new season for the outdoor theatre in the woods (which started last night!)
🏊 , author of WILD SWIMMING WALKS - NORFOLK & SUFFOLK
🏃‍♀️ .runbritain, on becoming the fastest woman to run the coastline of Britain

https://folkfeatures.co.uk

Folk Features is ad-free, and is supported by the following key partners:






unity.hub

22/05/2026

Transactionland is here! Come down to Ancient House to play the stock market, print your own money, exchange a story for a cup of tea, profit from your outrage, or even try your hand at a spot of shoplifting 🛍

Link in bio for the full programme.



📸

19/05/2026

Thursday to Sunday in Ancient House this week! 👇

Part of our spring/summer season at SPILL 🌞

A participatory artwork opening at The Ancient House this week will host a daily "Shoplift-o-clock" hour where pinching items is playfully welcomed – provided thieves are willing to discuss the ethics of theft and have their portrait drawn for the Thieves Gallery.

18/05/2026

🆕 Meet , the Artist-turned-shopkeeper bringing TRANSACTIONLAND to Ancient House, Ipswich, this week:

https://folkfeatures.co.uk/welcome-to-transactionland/

📷 Ruby Turner

SPILL Festival + Think Tank

18/05/2026

Tired of procrastination? Work Party for Cheats is a communal space for getting the stuff done that you just can’t get done 💪

Join this free workshop (with equally free tea and coffee) to finish as many unfinished tasks as you can, using all the skills and energy in the room to swap, steal and cheat our way out of stuck-ness.

Previous tasks have included proofreading, finishing paintings, toilet-training a puppy, and designing a website...
..because doing other people’s work is easier than doing your own work, and collective satisfaction is better than individual smugness!

🎟 Free, but must be booked: https://www.spillfestival.com/work-party-for-cheats
📅 Saturday 23 May | 10:00 - 12:00
📍 Ancient House, Ipswich

18/05/2026

Taking place this evening - Shefarers of Ipswich Global Women's Walk! ⛵

Details below if you'd like to get involved 🔽

06/05/2026

It’s shopping, but not as you know it!

Transactionland is coming to Ancient House in Ipswich from 21 - 24 May 🛍

For 4 days, this interactive pop-up shop by artist-turned-shopkeeper Rachael Clerke invites you to question the economic systems affecting our everyday lives

Shop ‘til you drop alongside a packed programme of events, including:

✍ Work Party for Cheats, a workshop for procrastinators
📞 Time Brokering, a one-to-one performance by Paula Varjack
🃏 An economy-themed Board Game Night
🎨 A specially commissioned installation by local artist and poet Amy Wragg
✨ Lots of events and games across the shop floor, including Doughnut Hour, Wall of Inflation and more...

All FREE but some need to be booked - link in bio or head to our website!

Part of In the Works Festival 🎪