Holmfirth Art Week 2026

One of the UK’s Largest Open Art Exhibitions, Featuring over 400 exhibitors and over 2,000 artworks, plus dozens of fringe venues across the local area with thousands more works of art and craft.

Holmfirth Artweek is a local event with a national reputation. The majority of the exhibitors are from this area but large numbers of visitors come from all over the country to view and to buy. It is astounding how much artistic talent there is locally and it is this that makes the event such a success every year.

In addition to the main Exhibition at The Civic in the centre of Holmfirth, businesses and individuals in the Holmfirth area create exhibition spaces and open their doors to showcase the work of artists from across the region. The Fringe features an exciting and diverse array of work from photographers, painters, textile-makers, ceramicists, sculptors and more.

https://holmfirthartweek.org.uk/

Holmfirth Artweek gears up to celebrate 60 th Anniversary

Holmfirth Artweek returns to Holmfirth and the area this year promising to be the biggest
celebration yet for its 60 th anniversary. The annual art exhibition,is one of the UK’s largest
open art exhibitions, and has become a local event with a national reputation. Now a firm
favourite in the calendar, it welcomes visitors from across the Holme Valley and beyond.

Holmfirth Artweek, is a week-long event dedicated to visual art. The event includes a main
exhibition in the Civic Hall in Holmfirth, featuring over 400 exhibitors with over 2,000
individual pieces of art. There are also fringe venues across the local area,that showcase
even more artists with thousands more pieces of art and crafts, creating a real buzz in the
local area.

This year is set to be more exciting than ever as the team prepare to celebrate 60 years
since the very first event. To mark this occasion there will be special celebrations in the
main exhibition including a specially curated new artist showcase within the main exhibition
and multiple fringe venues across the region. The team behind the event hope this year will
be the biggest and most successful event to date.

It is also the 30th year of Artweek for Curator of the event and local artist Mick Kirkby-
Geddes. Mick brings his own sense of style to the event each year, mixing up the format of
the main exhibition to keep it fresh and new. His focus is about “bringing everyone together
to make something great happen”. And this year is promising to be the best one yet.
For 60 years the event has brought together a variety of artists across all mediums of art –
from sculpture to paint, to photography and beyond. It remains one of the UK’s largest and
longest running open art exhibitions welcoming artists and visitors from the local area, as
well as across the country.

As well as supporting local artists, a percentage of sales from Holmfirth Artweek are donated
to charity each year. To date the event has raised over £1.1 million. This year this will be
split between local charity The Kirkwood and long-standing partner Macmillan Cancer
Support. In 2025 this amount total £40,000 or £20,000 each.

Across the event there will be a wide variety of art from both professionals and amateurs,
providing something to suit everyone’s taste and budget in the main exhibition. There are
also demonstrations on the stage in the Civic Hall, showcasing a selection of artists at work
so you can see behind the curtain on how pieces are made. The Civic Hall in the heart of
Holmfirth also has a small café and a market on the middle floor, making it a fun day out.
In addition to the main exhibition, businesses and venues around the area also participate in
the Holmfirth Artweek Fringe by exhibiting and selling the work of even more artists. This
helps to bring Holmfirth Artweek into the community and to raise extra funds for the charity
partners. Venues located across Holmfirth, the Holme and Colne Valleys and beyond
provide a great way to see the local area. The venues range from bars and cafés to
churches and community spaces, as well as open art studios which will offer visitors special
access into the artists’ workspaces, this year there will be 60 venues to visit.

This year, the event will run from Sunday 5 th July to Saturday 11 th July. The main exhibition,
at Holmfirth Civic Hall, will be open from 10am – 9pm Monday – Friday and until 5pm on
Sunday and Saturday.