Welcome to Godalming Performing Arts Festival which includes Music, Dance, Musical Theatre and Speech & Drama.

Usually the Festival has around 300 classes to cater for all ages and all levels of ability. Most classes are competitive, with marks awarded by an adjudicator. However, most music sections also have non-competitive classes. Having seen the performances the adjudicator comments on them before awarding marks and then writes a short report on each performance which is presented at the end of each class. The Festival is divided into Sections each of which is run by a Secretary dealing with entries and enquiries.

The 2023 Festival will be held in February/March. At the moment we have Secretaries for Contemporary Bands, Dance, Ensembles & Bands, Musical Theatre, Organ, Piano, Speech & Drama, Strings and Wind, so those Sections will be running. The Sections without the guiding hand of a Secretary (Singing, School Choirs and Adult Choirs) will sadly not be operating in 2023.

In addition, we are at the moment without a Festival Director to guide the whole organisation, and our Interim Treasurer would like to step down. If you are interested in helping us by filling one of these vacant positions, please contact us through the “contact us” page of this website. We’d love to hear from you!

Dates for the 2023 Festival:

Dance – 14-18 February 2023  – St Catherine’s School, Bramley GU5 0DF

Speech and Drama / Musical Theatre – 4/5 and 11/12 March 2023 – Prior’s Field School, Godalming GU7 2RH

Wind – 5 March 2023 – St Hilary’s School, Godalming GU7 1RZ

Ensembles & Bands – 9 March 2023 – Borough Hall, Godalming GU7  1HP

Strings – 12 March 2023 – St Hilary’s School, Godalming GU7 1RZ

Organ – 13 March 2023 – St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Godalming GU7 1ED

Piano – 10 March 2023 – St Catherine’s School, Bramley GU5 0DF

and – 17 March 2023 – Holy Trinity Church, Bramley GU5  0HD

and – 19 March 2023 – St Hilary’s School, Godalming GU7 1RZ

Contemporary Bands – This Section is no longer being held

Information on schedules can be found on the Festival Timetable page

Entries are Now Closed

We are very grateful to all our Sponsors and Advertisers who enable us to run this highly regarded festival.

The annual cost to run the Festival increases year on year and our main source of income is fees for entry and admission fees to the public. Our major expenditure is the hire of halls and professional fees for adjudicators and therefore we can only break even with the help of our Sponsors, Advertisers, and Friends.

If you would like to advertise or sponsor a class please contact our our Sponsorship Secretary through the contact us page.