Site festival 2026
festival highlights
Double Take
SVA John Street Gallery
Nik Ramage is a mechanical sculptor, bringing odd ideas to life with moving parts and found objects. For his residency at SVA, he showed Double Take, a two-week show of mechanical oddities and everyday objects having unexpected encounters.
Meanwhile
George Street, Stroud
This site-specific installation by SICKBOY occupied a vacant premises in a post-industrial town centre, activating a space shaped by absence and transition. Once a site of productivity, the building now exists in suspension between past function and an undefined future.
The work occupied the window façade for Site Festival, enabling it to be viewed from the street. At its centre is The Temple, the artist’s recurring symbol.
Open Studios Highlights
In 2026 61 artists opened their studio doors in 38 locations along 6 routes in the Stroud Valleys over 2 weekends.
The routes start from right in the centre of Stroud and stretch out right across the district from Painswick to Wotton-under-Edge, from Chavenage to Stonehouse and from Uley to Chalford.
The 2026 directory is a lasting collection of artists and their contact details, so feel free to continue to browse and get in touch with them.
Open Studios 2026 : Emily Clarke at The Clay Loft : Fran Cox
Rory thomas-lawton
Rowden Wood, Nailsworth
Rory invited visitors to retreat to Rowden Wood, a space for deep listening. Once a woodland for Hockney & Furnival’s sketches, now a home for sounds.
Rowden Wood : Fran Cox
Jessie James
Stonehouse
Jessie James (Studio Tuft) makes hand tufted rugs, each rug is one of a kind and totally unique. ‘I like to think of them as functional art for the floor’.
Jessie James studio : Fran Cox
Site Exhibition
Lansdown Gallery, Stroud
At Lansdown Gallery representing the 2026 routes, the annual exhibition features all artists taking part in our Open Studios. It’s a unique opportunity to see artwork from each artist, arrange visits to suit your interests and get a preview of what to expect. All six routes across the Stroud District, from Sheepscombe, to Chavenage, to Wotton-UnderEdge, to Chalford - all on display in the gallery and celebrating the creative diversity of our valleys.
Tamzin Phillips : Open Studios
Site Exhibition : Lansdown Gallery
Ann-Margreth Bohl : Open Studios
Kes Wilkie : Open Studios
Nik Ramage : SVA Gallery
Jessie James : Open Studios
Jackson Tayler : Open Studios
Nik Ramage : SVA Gallery
Ike Coleman : Open Studios
Nancy Taylor : Open Studios
The Big Art Show : The Sub Rooms
Rory Thomas-Lawton : Rowden Wood
annual arts festival in stroud
Site Festival is an annual programme of artist-led projects from SVA; events, exhibitions, talks and directory of Open Studios in the Stroud district; established in 1997.
We set up Site Festival Open Studios in 1997 when we first moved into John Street Studios. For us it was really important that SVA was not just about the building itself.
It's also about the community of artists who lived out in the Five Valleys, working away in their spare rooms, sheds and kitchen worktops, as well as the more formal studio spaces.
Big Art Show at The Sub Rooms : Fran Cox