2025 is set to be a landmark year for Kingston upon Thames as the Royal Borough announces a major, diverse six-month cultural festival opening in May. 

Kingston 2025 will include large scale public events with dramatic performances, public art installations, a river festival and a box-fresh music composition performed by schools at The Rose Theatre featuring in the programme of events. 

The flagship celebration marks the 1100th anniversary of the crowning of Athelstan, first King of a united England, right in the heart of Kingston in 925.

Kingston 2025 is a celebration of the past, present and future of this special part of London where river, town and countryside meet, and diverse communities come together to create a history-rich cultural landscape. 

The festivities will kick off with a majestic launch event in the historic Kingston Market Place on Saturday 3 May 2025.

This will include community pop up events across the town centre building toward a joyful public performance. 

People of all ages will be able to explore and enjoy a range of arts and cultural events over the summer months right through to October, most of which will be free.

The Kingston 2025 programme will encompass established annual events such as the Kingston International Film Festival, Fuse International youth arts festival and Kingston Carnival as well as seeing brand new additions to the cultural calendar. 

A new music production specially commissioned for schools and young musicians, 'Bridging Kingston', will be staged at The Rose Theatre in June.

Later in the summer, just ahead of Kingston Carnival, a colourful River Cultures Festival will celebrate the importance of the River Thames and the natural environment as part of the Totally Thames Festival.

Furthermore, Kingston Museum will stage 'Kingston Glamour', a new exhibition on art and innovation in the suburbs, and the return of an expanded two-day Saxon Fayre will offer visitors an immersive experience of daily life in a Saxon encampment with warriors reenacting battles in Kingston's riverfront Canbury Gardens. 

The programme is underpinned by a focus on a community history project.

Local people will be exploring aspects of Kingston's lesser known histories in the borough's neighbourhoods and communities bringing to life stories of the people who shaped Kingston, in collaboration with partners including Kingston University, Kingston College and many community and voluntary sector organisations.

Leader of Kingston Council and Portfolio Holder for Culture, Andreas Kirsch said: "As we head into the new year, I'm incredibly excited that Kingston 2025 is on the horizon.

"It will be a fantastic celebration of the borough's diverse and vibrant communities and cultural landscape, its beautiful riverside location and rich royal heritage.

"A celebration of Kingston past, present and future."

He continued: "I'm thrilled to host this very special arts and culture programme in 2025 that I hope will enrich, excite and bring communities together in celebration."