IF: Milton Keynes International Festival 2025
18 Jul 2025 - 27 Jul 2025
Middleton Hall
IF: Milton Keynes International Festival returns this July and centre:mk are immensely proud of our headline sponsorship and collaboration. This year, we are hosting a range of award-winning activations.
Michael Pendry: Les Colombes
Friday 18 – Sunday 27 July | 10am-11pm daily, Middleton Hall
Find out more here
Make and Take Dove-Making Workshops
Wednesday 3 – Sunday 27 July | 11am-3pm, Middleton Hall
Come and be inspired by Michael Pendry’s art-for-peace installation Les Colombes and make your own paper dove to take home with you. All materials provided.
Free, no booking required, 8+
The Symbolism of the Dove and the Meaning of Peace
Thursday 17 July | 5pm, Middleton Hall
An invited panel, including Festival artists Michael Pendry and Maureen Onwunali, explores the presence of symbolic art – specifically the dove – in secular, everyday spaces.
Free, no booking required, 10+
Zwermers: Pan~// Catwalk
Friday 18 July | 12pm & 2.45pm, Queen’s Court
Two performers, one catwalk and a never-ending row of outfits. Through a fusion of fashion, choreography, live music and theatre, Pan~// Catwalk challenges the urge to label or judge others based on how they appear, revealing instead a mind-opening celebration of fluidity and self-expression. Zwermers are working with the local community to showcase their own wardrobes and identities.
Serving Sounds
Saturday 19 July | 12pm & 3pm, Festival Square, MK9 3FN
Sunday 20 July | 11.15am, 2.15pm & 4pm, Queens Court
Serving Sounds is a mobile pub that creates connections through music. You’ll find all the things you’d usually find on a bar, like glasses and beer mats. But when touched, these items create a groove, a sound – maybe even your favourite song.
Each Serving Sounds session lasts 40 minutes.
Ages 4+, under-16s must be accompanied by an adult.
15ft6: Les Patineurs
Saturday 19 July | 1pm & 4pm, Festival Square, MK9 3FN (outside Door 18)
Roll up and experience a gasp-inducing, hilarious and joyful battle on roller skates presented by 15ft6. Combining impressive circus skills with the music of the Skaters’ Waltz.
Ages 3+, under-16s must be accompanied by an adult.
NoFit State Circus: BAMBOO
Sunday 20 July | 12pm & 3pm, Queen’s Court, centre:mk
BAMBOO is a breathtaking outdoor circus show using only bamboo and human bodies. The whole show becomes an animated circus installation with moments of beauty and poignancy, impressive feats of strength and agility and elements of physical comedy.
Ages 3+, under-16s must be accompanied by an adult.
Gijs van Bon: Nyx
Friday 25 July | 8.30pm-10.30pm, Festival Square, MK9 3FN (outside Door 18)
Experience this mesmerising spectacle as the mechanical marvel Nyx slowly brings Maureen Onwunali’s poetic Festival commission to life. Watch as the glowing script emerges, letter by letter, traced in light-emitting powder across the ground.
Entry: free admission