Wintertide Festival will once again be burning brightly on Hartlepool’s Headland from Friday the 21st to Sunday the 23rd of November, with a packed programme of art, music and performances along with workshops and an independent maker’s market.

One of the only grassroots residential festivals in the Tees Valley, Wintertide hosts an artistic programme that reflects and celebrates Hartlepool, its people, places, passions, heritage, and folklore. Wintertide’s aim is to bring the historic streets of the Headland to life, which it achieves by welcoming over 15,000 people to the area every other year in this bi-annual festival of arts and culture.

Through our innovative and community-led events, we transform the Headland into a space for curiosity and creative exploration, ensuring that people across the region can access and enjoy the strong cultural offerings Hartlepool has to offer, and creating a legacy for arts in the region.

This legacy begins with our new Youth Producers Programme in partnership with Youth Music, a series designed to give people aged 16 to 25 their first steps into a career in music through free training, paid work experience and time with industry experts, culminating in the chance to shape the sounds of the next Wintertide Festival in 2027.

Through the weekend, Hartlepool’s Headland will be buzzing with live music in pubs, street performances, and workshops. Our music programme culminates with an exciting concert in the beautiful setting of St. Hilda’s Church, with performances from Mercedes, The Memory Club and Field Music.

Locals will be familiar with Mercedes, a female-fronted, Indie rock band from Hartlepool. The Memory Club are a Manchester-based alt-folk band, and our headliners, Field Music, are a Mercury Prize-nominated band from Sunderland, led by brothers Peter and David Brewis.

This year’s Wintertide Festival begins on Friday 21st November with a vast and vibrant community parade, a glowing constellation of light, music, and movement, inspired by ancient myths, celestial journeys, and dreams of the stars. This bleeds into our wider art trail, a collection of illuminated work from across the region, scattered across the Headland. Make a wish among the stars with Periplum’s ‘Spiral Galaxy’ fire installation, and awe at our centrepiece, a stunning, sparkling nova by Studio Vertigo. All of this will be surrounded by exhibitions, performances and creative workshops for all, flooding Hartlepool with bright lights and life in the depths of winter.

We look forward to welcoming thousands of people from across the North East and beyond to the Headland this month, ensuring that creativity in Hartlepool continues to shine brightly.