Kindling Arts Festival returns with its boldest and most immersive lineup yet Thursday, July 24 through Sunday, July 27, 2025, with 19 boundary – breaking projects crafted by Nashville’s local experimental artists united by the theme “Fortune & Fates.” The festival, in its eighth year, known for championing unclassifiable and genre – defying performances, once again puts local artistry front and center, proving that some of the most urgent, innovative and visually arresting work in the South is being created right here in Nashville.
The festival transforms beloved West Nashville venues OZ Arts Nashville, Darkhorse Theatre, The Barbershop Theater, Nashville School for the Aerial Arts, Play Dance Bar, Actors Bridge Studio at the Darkhorse, Welcome to 1979, and Global Education Center into immersive stages for storytelling. Come celebrate and support local artists all weekend long by securing a Festival Pass for as little as $98. Complete information and schedules, along with Standard and VIP Festival Passes are available now at: kindlingarts.com
OZ Arts will be a home for innovative, short – form dance and performance art, including “Seekers,” a trio of new works including a performance art creation by theater legend Jennifer Whitcomb – Oliva, an original solo by dancer / choreographer Phylicia Roybal, and a celebratory group dance by Eboné Amos. “Life Force: Expressions of Power” includes powerful work of Friends Life Community featuring beloved poet Ciona Rouse, a moving piece from choreographer Delaine Dobbs, and a collaboration between Shabaz Ujima / Shackled Feet Dance and Chattanooga – based Juba Dance Ensemble. “I Saw Goody Proctor With the Devil,” explores the Salem Witch Trials through an electro-pop, feminist, 21 st – century lens from Amm Skellars.
Darkhorse Theatre hosts diverse theater, dance, burlesque, and performance art. “Within Reach,” by Shawn Whitsell, features contributions from currently and formerly incarcerated Tennesseans and families whose lives have been shaped by mass incarceration. In addition to 2 performances in Kindling Arts Festival, the project will also be featured in the popular Shades of Black Theater Festival in September.
Nashville School for the Aerial Arts hosts “All In!,” featuring sparkly showgirls, charming concierges, and enamored honeymooners galore, as Suspended Gravity dives into the underbelly of a flashy casino in their new spectacle. Independent aerial artists showcase their talents through seven short – form pieces in “Flirtations with Fate: Aerial Showcase,” a mix of aerial silks, trapeze, lyra, and more.
The 2025 Festival includes acclaimed choreographer and distinctive solo artist Becca Hoback’s “Mellow Drama,” a cabaret-inspired section of her Sacral Series, reconciling ownership of the body with a religious upbringing; “Bad Stripping,” a celebration of all body types with performances from burlesque, drag, and dance artists; and “Live in Technicolor!: Performance Art Showcase.”
Enjoy “30 Fortunate Plays in 60 Fateful Minutes” by Where House Ensemble Theatre (W.H.E.T.); Maya Antoinette Riley’s debut play, “Touching,”; “Bess Has Never Had an Orgasm,” from Emmalee Manes; “Network Operations: Post-Internet Movements in Chance,” by Dylan Simon; “Chisme Fantasmagórico: Gossiping with Ghosts,” led by Olivia Jimenez; and “War & Beat,” an after – hours multimedia dance party hosted in the Actors Bridge Studio about immigration as alien invasion, courtesy of IMGRNT.
