About

Performance / Parties / Politics / Pop

For over 20 years, Fierce has been promoting Birmingham and the region across the world as a vibrant, diverse and tolerant place where the incredible happens in unusual places, the outlandish is embraced and celebrated and the new is welcomed with curiosity and kindness. As we look to our future, we want to continue to provide that relevant, fresh and feisty voice for the city. We bring the world to Birmingham, and Birmingham to the world.

Fierce Festival is a youthful and joy-filled festival of international theatre, performance and experiences which takes place in and around Birmingham (UK) every two years. 

Fierce transforms the city and the way we feel about it:  populating theatres, galleries and hidden, unusual or out-of-the-ordinary spaces like disused warehouses, swimming pools and car park. You might see theatre, dance, performance art, music, installations, activism and parties or a combination of all those things in a programme of memorable experiences and events.

We want everyone to have an optimal experience:  from the way we talk about what’s on offer, the experience of sharing in the festival and how we all talk about it afterwards.  We want you to feel welcome and be comfortable to express your thoughts and feelings about your experience.  We see the festival as a utopian space: a temporary community where new ideas and approaches are played with, tested out and broadcast.  It is this space of experimentation which creates surprising, provocative and even primal collective moments.

As an antidote to this digitally saturated age, we bring people together in real life, space and time. Year round we are an active part of the creative landscape in the city – advocating for greater cultural ambition for the city, developing artists through our FWD artist development programme, commissioning and supporting the work of some of the most interesting artists and performers and of course, keeping the Performance, Politics, Parties and Pop alive in Brum with our ever popular Club Fierce late night events.

Our approach is intersectional:  reflecting the diversifying society in which we live.  In particular we seek to amplify marginalised voices and stories.  We disrupt expectations of what art can be, who can make it and where it can happen.  The work you see may be outrageous with a punk, camp or trash sensibility – or equally it may be beautiful work with exquisite, sublime or contemplative moments.

Welcome to Fierce – a world of performance and pop, politics and parties, Birmingham and beyond:  where everyone (especially you) and everything is allowed.

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Fierce Festival is an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation with regular funding confirmed until 2026.

Fierce is a member of Live Art UK, the national network that brings promoters and facilitators together to support and facilitate Live Art infrastructure for artists and audiences.

Registered Company No: 04609212
Registered Charity No: 1110138