The Folkestone Triennial, a prestigious outdoor contemporary art festival, is set to return in late summer 2025 after being postponed for a year. The sixth edition of the internationally-renowned event will run for approximately three months.
Originally scheduled for 2024, the festival was delayed after local officials secured £20 million in levelling-up funding to improve infrastructure for the event. This is not the first postponement; the 2020 edition was also delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sorcha Carey, the exhibition curator, expressed her desire to ensure that art and creative thinking remain central to Folkestone's evolution. Organisers report that previous editions have generated £100 million for the local economy.
Past highlights include works by Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger, and Yoko Ono, as well as a Banksy mural that appeared in 2014. The most recent triennial in 2021 attracted over 220,000 visitors.
Alastair Upton, chief executive of Creative Folkestone, described the event as a catalyst for economic and cultural growth, putting Folkestone on the map and attracting visitors from near and far.
