ANNOUNCING ONE ROOF FESTIVAL 2026
Ten years after the very first One Roof Festival in 2016 (then titled One Fest), we are back at our home, Old Diorama Arts Centre, from 19th to 30th January. Following our first year of rolling out our year-round weekly programme, we are making a few small changes to the festival's format that we are excited to introduce to you now.
That first year was titled Laying Foundations and was devoted to skills-building, exploration, and trying things out. This year, titled Bricks and Mortar, is about putting our skill sets, perspectives and ideas together to work collaboratively.
We'll still have everything we all know and love about the festival: the open studio, the food, the space and time to connect with each other, the wide range of creative workshops delivered by artists with lived experience of homelessness, and the exhibition in ODAC's foyer at the end of it all. But this time, we will also have a dedicated 'project' space each week, overseen by an artist who will support participants in shaping their ideas, collaborating and elevating their work by combining art forms, perspectives and insights.
Our project space in the first week will explore art as activism, starting with the stimulus word "UNSPOKEN"; while in the second week, we will explore art as expression/aesthetics, starting with the stimulus "UNKNOWN". There will be chances to share the work begun in these weeks in evening sharing events at the end of each week, and then to present wherever they get to in front of a public audience at the exhibition launch.
The other change we're making, as requested by the community, is that, alongside arts workshops, every day will contain at least one workshop focused on supporting wellbeing and mental health. Think relaxation, meditation, yoga, tai chi, and other practices to balance us as we navigate our lives and practise our creativity.
So whether you've been coming to the festival for years or this will be your first time, whether you're currently experiencing homelessness in any form, or have done so in the past, whether you're a painter or a writer or an actor or a musician or want to find out what works for you, we'll have something for you.
Watch this space for the full programme announcement early in the new year - and have a happy festive season in the meantime!
Photos on this page from last year’s festival by Alice Horsley.
