Big Ideas By the Sea returns in May 2026. Between Friday 15th May and Saturday 30th May the festival will bring a host of events to entertain and inform audiences from Scarborough and beyond.

 

Events will take place across Scarborough in St Mary’s Church, St Martin-On-The-Hill,

Scarborough Castle, Scarborough Library, the Old Parcels Office Artspace

and the Shakespeare Gallery.

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The Scarborough Big Dig, nominated for Community Archaeology Project of the Year in 2025, will once again bring school children and adults to Paradise and Scarborough Castle where they will have a unique hands-on experience of working on an archaeological dig.

Come along and ask us what we have found!

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Highlights include a Community Archaeology Day with Professor Charlotte Roberts, BBC's David Sillito in conversation with former BBC correspondent Peter Taylor, and a performance of 12 Silk Handkerchiefs a narrated and musical commemoration of the Triple Trawler Tragedy that rocked Hull in 1968.

The Big Day Out at Scarborough Castle on Sunday 24th May will have music, mini-digs, storytelling, and the VIth Hispania Roman Legion, and there is free entry to the Castle on the day for YO11, 12 and 13 residents.

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There will be magical musical evenings with Raven, the Jake Legg Jug Band, and our sell-out Community Choir event fill

St Mary’s Church with song for our Festival finale.

​And there are walks, tours, performances, poetry events and exhibitions.
Join us and make Big Ideas By The Sea 2026 bigger and better than ever!