Artists from across the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire will take centre stage at the 2026 Findhorn Bay Festival as the event celebrates the depth of creative talent found across the region.
Traditional and contemporary music, theatre, visual art, storytelling, aerial performance and immersive installations will come together under this year’s festival theme of Connection.
Grantown on Spey musician Hamish Napier will be at the heart of the programme as the festival’s 2026 Musician in Residence.
His residency will extend beyond the festival stages with pop up performances planned in care homes, coffee mornings and lunch clubs, bringing the music directly into local communities.
Napier will also premiere his new album The Hill, perform in Celebrating Celtic Traditions, host festival music sessions and curate the Culture Night Ceilidh.
The Hill is the fourth instalment in his Strathspey Pentalogy, an ambitious 12 year project to create five albums exploring the heritage and landscape of his homeland.
He will also join curator and storyteller Aila Schafer for Storyland Sessions, where anyone with a song, tune, poem or story can take the stage for up to five minutes.
Julie Fowlis will bring Scottish Gaelic traditions together with their Irish counterparts when she joins Zoë Conway, Éamon Doorley and John McIntyre for Allt, with the Esposito Quintet also appearing.
Carrbridge born Rachel Sermanni will perform alongside Northern Irish musician Joshua Burnside for an evening of contemporary folk and storytelling.
Moray duo Hannah Taylor and Gulli Skatun, performing as Hulliannah, will join singer songwriter Harry Bird and his band.
The programme stretches well beyond music, with Moray theatre maker Heather Fulton and her company Frozen Charlotte presenting ISLAND, a performance created especially for babies from birth to 12 months.
Moray Flying Circus will meanwhile join aerial specialists All or Nothing for the world premiere of The Flying Ceilidh, combining live music, traditional dance and aerial performance.
Highland artist John McGeoch, founder of Arts In Motion and creator of the Burke & Hare Stage at Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival, will create an interactive world combining installation, stories, objects and creative play.
The festival’s exhibitions will include work from Codie Anne, photographer Paul Heartfield and New York born, Moray based artist Lucy Dodd.
Beach of Dreams Silks will bring another strong community element to the programme through work created by artists Eve Mosher and Amy Neville with people from Burghead, Roseisle, Findhorn and Hopeman.
Naturally dyed silk pennants will carry individual stories about people’s relationships with the coast and sea, bringing those voices together in a collective installation.
Aberdeenshire musician Fiona Soe Paing will also bring Sand, Silt, Flint to the festival following its appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Across the programme, the festival’s theme is being interpreted quite literally, connecting established performers with emerging artists, communities with creative work and traditional culture with new ideas.
For a festival built around Connection, much of its strength this year lies in just how many of those connections begin close to home.
To find out more about the festival and get your tickets click here
