Somerset Art Weeks Festival: Cultural Connections

Somerset Art Weeks Festival returns from 19 September – 4 October 2026, bringing contemporary visual art to venues, studios, galleries and unexpected spaces across Somerset.

This year’s festival explores Cultural Connections: Palaeolithic to Present, Human and Non-Human Species, reflecting on the many ways we are connected to one another, to place and to the natural world. The programme considers themes including migration and community, diversity, cultural heritage, memory and belonging, bringing together artists, communities and audiences across the county.

Somerset Art Weeks offers an opportunity to discover the breadth of contemporary visual art being made and presented across Somerset. Artists and makers open their studios, workspaces and homes, while galleries, museums, community spaces and other venues host exhibitions, installations, events and activities.

The festival programme includes group and artist-led exhibitions, open studios, commissions, events and projects developed through Somerset Art Works’ wider programme. Visitors can explore work by established and emerging artists, meet artists in their studios and discover creative activity taking place in communities and places across the county.

Alongside the wider Somerset Art Weeks programme, Somerset Art Works presents Cultural Connections, a major programme of contemporary art, archaeology and community engagement exploring the rich cultural heritage that has shaped Somerset across millennia at Somerset Rural Life Museum.

Other Somerset Art Works projects include commissions and artist development opportunities developed in response to the festival theme, alongside exhibitions and projects presented in partnership with organisations and communities across Somerset.

The festival provides an opportunity to experience contemporary art in a wide range of settings, from established cultural venues and galleries to working studios and community spaces. It offers different ways to encounter artists and their work, whether visiting an exhibition, taking part in an event, meeting an artist in their studio or discovering a new place through art.

Somerset Art Weeks is an invitation to explore Somerset through contemporary art and to encounter the connections between people, place, history, culture and the natural world.

Somerset Art Weeks Festival 2026
19 September – 4 October 2026
Across Somerset

Explore the full programme, including exhibitions, artists, studios and events, through the Somerset Art Weeks website.