Get Involved
Whether you would like to take part as a performer, help behind the scenes with the running of the Festival or you’d like to offer financial support to ensure the Festival can continue into the future, there are many ways that you can get involved in the Bedfordshire Festival this year.
The entry portal for the 2026 Festival is now open!
Click here to submit your entry.
Entry info and rules 2026 – click here
Enter the Festival
Could you be a Festival Friend?
The Bedfordshire Festival is run almost entirely by volunteers and every Festival cycle, we need to be able to raise enough funds to continue. This wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our sponsors and our Festival Friends.
The minimum donation to become a Festival Friend is just £15 per year, but you can give as much as you like above this fee. Plus, if you’re a UK taxpayer you can add Gift Aid to your donation which helps us even more.
If you become a Friend, you will receive a free Festival programme, be added to our Annual newsletter, you will be invited to our Gala concert and reception, be named in our Festival programme and you are entitled to attend and vote at our AGM.
But more than this, you’ll be helping young people to be creative and giving them the opportunity to experience the huge benefits that taking part in the Festival can offer.
To find out more, contact us!
Become a friend
Our Festival could not run without the support of our team of volunteer stewards who help to encourage and prepare our performers to take to the stage, who look after our adjudicators, who run our box office and who welcome our audience throughout the 8-day event.
If you are free to steward for one session or more during Festival week in March, we would love to welcome you to the volunteer team. Whether you’re able to give a few hours or help us for a few days, we would be delighted to have you.
Full training will be given, but the most important job you will have is to be encouraging and welcoming to our often nervous young performers, to help them to enjoy their Festival experience so they leave feeling like they’ve had a wonderful time.
Does this sound like something you could do? We welcome volunteer stewards of all ages – if you’re interested in finding out more, do drop us an email.
Become a volunteer
The Bedfordshire Festival would not be able to take place without the generous support of the local businesses who sponsor us – companies that are passionate about offering creative opportunities to performers of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
Each year, we welcome around 1,500 competitors to our 8-day event where they have the chance not only to perform, but to build life-long skills and to learn from other children from a huge range of schools.
We are looking for sponsors to help to take the Festival forward into the future and would welcome the opportunity to talk to you about the options we have for businesses to support next year’s event.
If this sounds like something you may be able to help with and would like to find out some more information, please contact us and a member of the team will be in touch.
Thank you to our existing sponsors for your support and enthusiasm – we hope you know what a difference you are making to our region’s young people who are making memories that will last a lifetime.