Sonic Arts Week (SAW) returns for 2026 with an ambitious 10-day, family friendly, programme celebrating sound, art and play. Taking place across Middlesbrough, this year’s festival expands its reach through exhibitions, performances, community workshops, and a new focus on accessible, hands-on engagement with sound and technology. Delivered by the team behindThe Auxiliary and Middlesbrough Art Week, Sonic Arts Week is an event not to be missed. At the heart of this year’s festival is Encounters, a strand of highly engaging street performance and participatory theatre. Designed to be playful, accessible, and surprising, Encounters invites audiences of all ages to experience sound art beyond traditional venues; transforming streets, public spaces, and community settings into sites of sonic wonderment.

So what can you expect?DJs performing through a wheelie bin sound system, an electromagnetic grand piano, an audio assault buggy where sound meets science and so much more. SAW26 sees the return of some familiar faces.