Summer Time

Southbank Centre’s summer programme of art and music is bringing plenty of sunshine to the riverside this season. Visitors can look forward to a vibrant programme of free events out on the terrace every weekend, plus a brilliantly curated selection of concerts, shows and themed series.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest highlights from the Summer Time season:

New Music Biennial

Fri 4 July – Sun 6 July
Take a deep dive into the world of new music across all genres at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Across three days, more than a dozen composers and musicians will share and discuss their newest works. The series takes on a wide range of sounds featuring everything from folk to RnB, jazz, baroque electronica, chamber music and contemporary brass, to name just a few. Entrance is FREE!

ESEA Encounters

Thu 17 July – Sun 20 July
This new series showcases contemporary art and culture from East and Southeast Asia. There’s something for everyone with family events, a 12-hour ‘theatre-meets-rave’, literary discussions, audio visual projects, poetry, a pop-up market and a headline performance at the Royal Festival Hall by the Japanese music icon Haroumi Hosono. Check out the full programme of events here.

Dance Your Way Home

23 July – 29 August
Taking inspiration from Emma Warren’s book Dance Your Way Home: A Journey Through the Dancefloor, this month-long series celebrates the myriad ways that dancefloors and dancing cultures, from rural raves to school discos, Irish dancehalls and underground nightclubs, have shaped our contemporary culture. The series includes free dance parties on the terrace every weekend that bring together a wide range of dance and clubbing scenes, including:

EVERY THU  |  Our Hearts Beat: Unity in Motion Residency
Every Thursday evening the Our HeartBeats DJ crew takes over the Terrace stage for a night of global club sounds, community and celebration, championing DJs from underrepresented backgrounds.

FRI 25 JUL  |  Trans Pride Riverside Party with Transvision
SAT 2 AUG  |  Urban Ritual: From Havana to Bahia 
FRI 1 AUG  |  A Dance Floor Journey 
SUN 3 AUG  |  Grief Rave 
FRI 8 AUG  |  Deptford Northern Soul Club & Friends
SAT 9 AUG  |  Skate Up Space
SUN 10 AUG  |  Femi Koleoso presents Situation Dance
FRI 15 AUG  |  Steps of Resistance – traditional Middle Eastern Dabke 
SAT 16 AUG  |  Hooley in the Kitchen 
SUN 17 AUG  |  Move Like Me with Rain Crew 
FRI 22 AUG  |  Make Yourself! Be Yourself! – pre-Notting Hill Carnival party
SAT 23 AUG & SUN 25 AUG  |  Bring the Dance You Have
MON 25 AUG  |  History of Hip-Hop