About the festival

A totally multicultural and all-embracing celebration of London and the Thames...
a spectacular and hugely enjoyable event that also succeeds in promoting environmental awareness and community spirit 

Today, you've made me fall in love with London again!’

Running Friday 6 – Sunday 15 September 2013 The Mayor’s Thames Festival is set to stage an inspiring 10-day celebration of London’s iconic river through art, music, and educational events both on the water and along its banks and bridges.

For the first time, the festival will extend beyond its usual concentrated weekend of riverside animations to a wider season of bespoke programming - creative new commissions, river events, and many activities to connect, involve, inspire and entice people down to the river and onto its waters.

Some of the events taking place this year include:

• a night-time river opera by Turner-prize nominated artist Richard Wilson and  Zatorski + Zatorski

• riverside screenings of Nikolaj Larsen’s A Portrait of the Thames in 125 short films

• river inspired art commissions from Doug Fishbone, Hew Locke and Layla Curtis

• the Thames’ first floating art fair

• A 600-voice children’s choir singing a suite of songs inspired by Henry VIII’s connections with the Thames

• a rally of Dunkirk Little Ships

• the Great River Race: 340 boats taking part in the river’s biggest race

• the Barge-Driving Race: 40ft steel barges competing in the river’s slowest race.

 

By shedding the restriction of a weekend and broadening its geographical horizons, combined with a fantastic and wide-ranging programme of events, the festival will inspire people to re-connect with London’s greatest natural asset in new and surprising ways

The Mayor’s Thames Festival is London’s only river-focused multi-arts festival and is one of the largest of its kind in the world. Although its principal focus is on and around the river between Lambeth Bridge and St Katharine Docks, it promotes activities that reach up to the source of the Thames and down to its mouth. Via its year-round learning and participation programme, Thames Festival Trust works with over 120 schools across London and internationally, engaging over 9,000 young people each year.

The Thames Festival is staged by the Thames Festival Trust, a not-for-profit charitable trust with an independent board of trustees. The Trust is also a founding member of river//cities, an international platform that aims to increase the impact of culture on urban waterfronts and waterways.