The Arts Trust, the producer of King’s Cross Summer Sounds, has announced that Summer in the Park will be back in 2025.
The events will take place in parks and squares across the two boroughs.
Last year, the Arts Trust took full creative control of the festivals for the first time, after the closure of long-time collaborator Greenwich Dance.
Summer in the Park spotlights the diverse cultures in the area, offering free events in world-class locations.
The festival was shortlisted for the Greenwich Business Awards 2024 in the Tourism and Culture category and won the 2025 London Sports award for Community Impact.
In 2024 alone, the Arts Trust hosted 14 Summer in the Park festivals, showcased 76 professional shows and 189 talented community performers, engaged 12,643 participants in 111 creative workshops, and reached a total audience of 17,361 people.
Local businesses reported a 60-80 per cent economic increase during the events when compared to a standard trading weekend.
Keeping events free of charge helps eliminate financial barriers and has drawn a wide variety of attendees, including 45 per cent from global majority ethnic groups.
Overall, Summer in the Park saw a 133 per cent increase in attendance in 2024 compared to the previous year.
The Silent Disco SkateJam & Street Food Festival is set to return on a larger scale across four Sundays as part of the 2025 programme.
Delivered by Arts Trust alongside Vibes on Vibes and with support from Peabody, the Silent Disco SkateJam & Street Food Festival engaged 1,785 participants in six SkateJams and 159 in taster workshops between September 2023 and October 2024.
The programme enhances fitness, reduces social isolation, and provides free equipment; sponsored by Sport England in 2025 to ensure accessibility.
It nurtures leadership through mentoring and has contributed to a 25 per cent drop in youth-related crime during programme weekends.
Brand-new for 2025 is St Osyth Summer Sounds: Music & Food Festival, a ticketed event taking place on Saturday, August 30, and Sunday, August 31, at St Osyth Priory.
This is a two-day celebration in the heart of Tendring that brings together live music, food, and family fun.
St Osyth Summer Sounds: Music & Food Festival aims to help promote healthy lifestyles via a cooking demonstration stage, develop the local economy by employing local people, provide business opportunities to local food traders, and support the Arts Trust’s mission to reduce loneliness and isolation in marginalised and rural communities.
Martin Collins, founder and CEO at Arts Trust, said: “We’re thrilled to continue bringing communities together at our long-standing Summer in the Park programme in Greenwich and Bexley and now to introduce our brand-new St Osyth Summer Sounds in Tendring, our hometown.
“We couldn’t be prouder to share world-class cultural experiences right here in our local communities and we look forward to deepening our connections with the people who call Tendring home.”
The full Summer in the Park programme is soon to be announced, but you can expect a series of outdoor dance classes, festival events, and community park picnics, full of music, dance, theatrical performances, and physical activity for people of all ages; held in Cygnet Square, Danson House, Maryon Park, Gallions Park, Greenwich Park, and St Osyth Priory.
Running between May and August, Summer in the Park’s events are designed to celebrate community, arts, sport, and local culture, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, The Royal Parks, Sports England, Peabody Trust, The Royal Borough of Greenwich, and supported by Go!
London, Garfield Weston Foundation, and PRS.
