This year’s programme features over 40 events designed to encourage connection, reflection, and sharing. Highlights include a starlit evening exploring David Bowie’s final album, frank discussions on mortality, and hands-on craft workshops. Acclaimed photographers Deanna Dikeman and Colin Pantall join forces with poet John Hegley and The Common Room gallery to delve into the love and loss that is embedded in Family Albums. Weston’s streets will come alive with international artists performing street theatre, from a barber who exchanges haircuts for personal stories to theatre addressing grief within displaced communities.
Across local venues, including Weston General Hospital, a further four exhibitions will highlight diverse experiences of loss, from young carers to healthcare staff, offering spaces where people can engage with grief in creative and meaningful ways.
A major feature of this year's festival is its community-led programme, developed by North Somerset residents. Highlights include Car Boot Soul, an audio-visual project by Weston creative Paul Blakemore, who spent two years at car boot sales across the southwest capturing the personal stories and memories of local stallholders. Other events explore how different cultures understand and approach grief; while those navigating loss related to addiction are invited to dedicated, supportive sessions.
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Image credit: Travelling Light’s Wonder Baby is a show about the complex feelings that can sit alongside love and joy. Aimed at children aged three and under, it blends non‑verbal dance, clowning and playful interaction.
Throughout the weekend, Weston's Italian Gardens will transform into a central marketplace and gathering space. Local support services, artists, and community groups will offer advice, creative activities, and resources. Visitors can explore art installations and pop-up performances at their own pace, and gather together for a Sunday Global Kitchen Brunch. Festival events will also stretch across the region, taking place at venues such as Marine Lake, Plaza Cinema, and locations throughout North Somerset.
"Good Grief Festivals create a compassionate space to explore grief and loss - something that impacts us all," says Lucy Selman, co-director of Good Grief Festival and Professor at the Centre for Academic Primary Care and Palliative and End of Life Care Research Group at the University of Bristol. "By bringing creativity, support services, and communities together across Weston and North Somerset, we hope to build connection and confidence in talking about and navigating loss."
Dr Lesel Dawson, Associate Professor in Literature and Culture in the Department of English, University of Bristol and co-founder of Good Grief Festival, said: "Grief is something we all carry, but rarely talk about. This year's Good Grief Weston brings an even wider range of community-driven events, inviting us to explore big questions, share stories and connect with others. It shows how creativity and conversation can help us make sense of loss - and what becomes possible when we create space to come together and support one another."
Good Grief Weston is produced by Super Culture in collaboration with the University of Bristol and the Weston-super-Mare Community Network, as part of the national Coastal Community and Creative Health project. It is funded by Bristol North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board and Institut Ramon Llull, and supported by key regional partners including Weston Hospicecare, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, North Somerset Libraries, For All Healthy Living Centre, and the local creative community.
The full programme of activities is available on the Super Culture website www.superculture.org.uk
Image credit: Kamchàtka, award‑winning street performance collective from Catalonia, bring their world-acclaimed eponymous show to Weston exploring displacement and empathy.