Friday 25th September: XMTR PULSE + Audio Cabaret Festival Launch
Saturday 26th + Sunday 27th: XMTR FESTIVAL
Monday 27th: Dungeness Field Trip
XMTR Audio Arts Festival is a deep dive into the craft of creative audio and sonic storytelling - from powerful and provocative performances, to focused listening and immersive experiences, with knowledge sharing through talks and masterclasses - across multiple venues in St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings. This seaside festival is a celebration of sound, where the local and international creative audio community connect, collaborate, inspire and inspirit.
Tickets below (find Weekend or Day Passes and Audio Cabaret tickets all under ‘XMTR Audio Arts Festival’):
XMTR AUDIO ARTS FESTIVAL 2026
FESTIVAL PROGRAMME 2026
FRIDAY 25 SEPTEMBER
PROGRAMME
SATURDAY 26 SEPTEMBER
PROGRAMME
SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
PROGRAMME
Workshop and limited capacity event booking will be available soon. Jot down what you want to book and hold tight.
We’ll send the links to festival pass holders very soon.
Abigail Wincott, Anna de Wolff Evans + Jude Shapiro, Anno Mitchell, Ariana Martinez + Jazmine Green (CMD+JAZMINE) + Lucy Little, Amatorski, Angela Kingdon + Simon Scott (Autistic Culture Podcast Network), Axel Kacoutié, Bitsy Knox, Blake Pfeil (All-American Ruins), Caitlin Kennedy, Chloe Turpin, Colour Carver, Dan Am, Daniel Brandt, Danni Stewart, Dannie-Lu Carr, David Littlefair, David De La Haye, DinahBird, Ed Baxter, Eleanor McDowall, Eloïse Bertil, Emma-Kate Matthews, Fatuma Khaireh + Lina Prestwood, Felix Ford, Fin Kennedy + Farokh Soltani, Grace Stubbings, Hannah Kemp-Welch, Hayley Clarke, Helen Zaltzman, Ilaria Gadenz, Isobel Anderson + Miroslava Vecerova, Jo Hutton, Jodie Taylor, Jude Montague + Duncan Reekie + Matt Armstrong, Judith Geffert + Martina Pouchlá + Ingo Kottkamp, Julie Shapiro (Audio Flux), Katharina Smets + Katherina Lindekens, Kalli Anderson, Karina Townsend, Knut Aufermann (Mobile Radio), Kyla Jardine, Leona Fensome, Lucy Dearlove, M. Cristina Marras + Gianfranco Bitti, Mae-Li Evans, Martin Austwick + Jeff Emtman (Neutrinowatch), Marion Marincat, Mary Hooper, Miri Berlin, Nanna Hauge Kristensen, Nell Catchpole, Nexus Asanté + Sean Clarke, Niamh O'Brien, Nick Dunkerley, Nicola Mecca (Keplero), Pete Hazell (Limbo Tapes), Phil Smith, Rosa Schling, Ruth Sullivan, safe + sound (Jesse Lawson / Kit Callin), Sarah Frosh, Sarah Washington (Mobile Radio), Stellaria Media (Lucinda Guy + Alice Armstrong), Tamar Avishai (Hub & Spoke), Tom Roe, Tony Birch, Tony Macaluso, Tullis Rennie + Cath Roberts (Composite Mashworks), URLAND, Wajid Yaseen (Modus Arts), Will Gore + Friends…
ARTISTS & PARTICIPANTS 2026
Festival FAQS
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ABOUT XMTR AUDIO ARTS FESTIVAL
Over the past decade, Social Broadcasts has been combining community led co-creation, participatory art practice and radio making, to produce place-based audio projects all across the UK. In 2021, sonic storytelling platform XMTR.FMwas launched with the ambition to showcase work from both emerging and seasoned independent audio makers from across the globe.
XMTR AUDIO ARTS FESTIVAL combines these two concepts to imagine an audio festival that champions local stories and artists, as well as showcasing audio works from around the world. Established in 2024 as part of local sound arts festival Sono Electro, we’re delighted to be back for a third year of the festival.
Why St-Leonards-on-Sea?
This seaside area in Hastings has been a popular destination since the 1850s, when the railways arrived from London, Brighton and the Southeast. Today, the town has a thriving artist community and a plethora of historical buildings, intimate spaces and artist-led venues, making it an ideal place for a roving festival.
Why an audio festival?
As the audio and radio making space becomes more digital, in-person, creative and collaborative experiences are ever more important. There are plenty of ‘podcast’ festivals focused on the business of podcasting and the nuts and bolts of audio production, but there’s been very little celebration of the creativity of audio making and radio arts in the UK. Inspired by legendary festivals such as the LUCIA Festival in Florence, Radio Revolten in Halle, Germany and Hearsay in Ireland. We felt it was time there was somewhere for the ever-growing community of creative audio makers (podcast producers, sound artists, radio makers) to gather, collaborate and be inspired. For both already initiated and new audiences, to experience the richness and diversity of creative audio storytelling
Local frequencies
Part of the ethos of this festival is that it’s not top down, but instead deeply embedded in the area and the local community. The aim is to create works featuring historical and contemporary local stories, collaborate with local artists and venues, and co-ordinate audio making workshops for already embedded groups to produce ‘locally sourced’ work to be featured at the festival. This community-led, place-based work lays the foundations for the festival, making it a celebration of place through sonic storytelling.
Festival Press
What people are saying about XMTR
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