SPILL Festival + Think Tank

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SPILL Festival + Think Tank

Ipswich's international festival of contemporary arts + Think Tank performance venue 💫

SPILL is an arts charity based in Ipswich, the County Town of Suffolk in the east of England. You are invited to engage with the art we make and the SPILL Festival of Performance, as well the events, groups, classes, courses and venue hires we run from Think Tank building next door to Ipswich Museum. Our mission is to create and bridge all forms of art, to connect with our audiences in meaningful

ways; and to offer learning and other structured career pathways to develop artists, students and cultural workers. Our Artistic Policy is to use performance as a way of creating fresh perspective, to stimulate lively conversations around society, art, oppression and social justice. The way we create is not limited to one approach and draws upon Fine Arts, Music, Film, Storytelling, New Technologies, Science, Medicine, Politics, Psychology, History and Philosophy.

20/08/2026

🎟 We’re back with a new season! 🎟

Tickets are on sale now, and we’ve kept prices as low as possible, with everything in our venue a fiver

Featuring the long-awaited return of The Posh Club and Walking Each Other Home, and explorations of q***r history with plenty of artist Q&As ⬇

Section 28 and Me | Tom Marshman
A playful, honest and heartfelt portrait, looking at q***r stories on past invisibility and shame

Gen S28 Press Up/ Fold In | Alice Gale Feeny
Experience this part-lecture, part-homage, part-musical protest on Section 28

Walking Each Other Home | Stacy Makishi
Stacy’s back! And you’re welcome exactly as you are in this interactive performance on building connections

The Posh Club | Duckie
A glittering knees-up with classic afternoon tea, a spectacular variety show, and a light afternoon discotheque

💫 More SPILL, all year round - join in here:
https://www.spillfestival.com/whats-on

17/08/2026

Snaps from our first spring season! 📸

From music and dance to artist Q&As, big chats on reforming the economy, and collective sessions on rediscovering creativity, it was brilliant to have so many people get involved

Featuring Johann Don-Daniel, Stacy Makishi, Seke Chimutengwende, Rachael Clerke, Close and Remote & lots of great guest artists

News on the next season is coming very soon... 👀

06/08/2026

Good luck to everyone putting the finishing touches on the final City of Culture bid this week!

We love Ipswich and think our town has so much culture to offer - it's been very exciting seeing this campaign take shape 💙

14/07/2026

Introducing our next artists-in-residence!

Four brilliant artists are joining us at SPILL this summer to develop bold new work spanning video games, music, performance, and textiles.

🎵 Rhiannon Armstrong
An artist whose practice spans online performance, immersive and sensory theatre, creative audio, and textiles. They’ll be turning the residency space into a musical instrument, looking at how sound, repetition and stimming shape our experience of time.

🌱 Edie Evans
A multidisciplinary artist who works across sculpture, installation, moving image, and socially engaged work. She'll be exploring the relationship between clay, neurodivergent sensory experiences, and how landscapes can help us process the world differently.

🎮 Symoné
A q***r interdisciplinary performer, director and alternative game designer. She'll be developing a new series exploring what video games can tell us about life, with a focus on agency and spectatorship, whilst working with circus and choreographic scores.

❄️ Noemi Gunea
A Romanian performance artist based in London who makes surreal comedy. She'll be working on a performance that combines Jungian shadow work, ASMR, and hypnosis to help people lean into winter as a reason for reflection and renewal.

Stay tuned for updates on their work in the coming weeks!

Thanks to everyone who applied for this round of residencies - we look forward to bringing more to SPILL in the future.

13/07/2026

📣 We're hiring a Marketing & Communications Manager!

We're looking for someone to lead SPILL's marketing as we enter an exciting new phase focused on collaboration, placemaking, and artist development

You'll shape how our audiences discover and engage with our work across all communication channels, including socials and print, and be part of a small-knit team bringing ambitious and groundbreaking work to Ipswich

Apply here: https://www.spillfestival.com/vacancies

📍 SPILL Think Tank, Ipswich
📅 Deadline: 12noon Monday 3 August

📸 SPILL vs Brighten the Corners present Ebi Soda, SPILL Festival 2025, Pine Agency

24/06/2026

Next at SPILL: Get a behind-the-scenes look at how a choreographer works!

Seke Chimutengwende, dancer and choreographer, is coming to SPILL on Thurs 2 July to give a rare look at his devising process.

In his choreographic homage to Miles Davis’ landmark work, On the Corner, Seke will transpose Davis’ musical methods into dance: recording, cutting up, splicing and layering movement to create an “album” of choreography. Tickets just £5, and include an artist Q&A afterwards!

📅 Thurs 2 July | 19:30
📍 SPILL Think Tank, next to Ipswich Museum
🎟 £5, https://www.spillfestival.com/on-the-corner-open-rehearsal

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:

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Telephone

+441473216545

Website

http://www.spillfestival.com/

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