As Cheltenham Festivals' 80th year draws to a close, the charity is reflecting on the record-breaking reach and impact it has achieved in this milestone year.
At the beginning of the year, it set out with an ambitious mission to engage 80,000 children and young people in its 80th year – a mission it has not only achieved, but exceeded, through its festivals and year-round learning programmes throughout 2025.
For many of those children, it was their first-ever cultural experience, giving them the chance to take in live music, literature, science and the arts for the first time.
Cheltenham Music Festival 2025 hosted its first-ever relaxed concert for families, as part of a wider programme of activities and workshops specially tailored for SEND, which more than 700 children took part in this year.
At Cheltenham Science Festival, participation in the DataFace programme doubled in 2025, with 2,828 students taking part – up from 1,200 in 2024; and FameLab Academy saw 9,000 children take part in 2025, meaning that over 20,000 children have benefitted from the programme since it began.
While at Cheltenham Literature Festival, its flagship educational programme Reading for Pleasure impacted more than 19,000 school children through their teacher's participation in the programme, allowing pupils to build their confidence in talking about the books they read.
And authors, illustrators, educators and industry leaders, including Waterstones Children's Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, attended the Future of Reading Conference to discuss the future of creativity, inclusion and storytelling at the festival.
Alongside its outreach programmes, it was a record year at the box office, too.
Cheltenham Music Festival saw its audience double compared with last year, with ticket sales returning to pre-Covid levels for the first time since the pandemic.
And Cheltenham Literature Festival saw a record-breaking 100,000 tickets sold to over 400 events, as well as bringing back The Big Read for the first time in a decade in the lead-up to the 2025 festival, giving book clubs and readers across Gloucestershire the chance read Kaliane Bradley's showstopping debut, The Ministry of Time, for free.
Cheltenham Festivals' co-CEO, Ali Mawle, said: 'We’re thrilled to have reached more than 80,000 children in our 80th year, sparking a lifelong curiosity for the arts. This year has shown what is possible when our communities, artists, partners and festival-goers work together to celebrate arts and culture in its widest form.
'Without the support of local businesses, festival-goers, patrons, corporate partners and funders, we couldn’t have achieved this mission and reached 80,000 children this year, helping to inspire the next generation and enrich lives through culture.'
Cheltenham Festivals are back in 2026, starting with Cheltenham Jazz Festival from Wednesday 29 April until Monday 4 May 2026. The programme is being announced on Tuesday 10 February 2026 – to see who'll be on the lineup, visit cheltenhamfestivals.org/jazz-festival.
To donate to Cheltenham Festivals' mission to create a world where everyone can explore and create culture, visit cheltenhamfestivals.org/support-us.
