Kindling Arts Festival 2026 invites you to explore the theme of “Utopias,” an invitation to imagine what’s possible if we let ourselves dream beyond the limits of what is. For their 9th year of radically unique arts programming, they will again feature more than a dozen performances and events from July 23-26, 2026 (Thursday – Sunday) at multiple venues across West Nashville.
The Festival celebrates the audacity of imagination. What does it mean to create in the direction of a world that isn’t here yet? How might artists model systems of belonging, justice, and joy that stretch our shared sense of what’s possible? Together, we can make something better, not someday, but here and now. 4 Days. 22 Shows. 150+ Local Artists. 8 Venues: OZ Arts Nashville | Darkhorse Theater | The Barbershop Theater | The Curb Center at Vanderbilt University | Spero Dei Church | Global Education Center | The Back Bar at Verna | Richland Park.
The Festival line-up includes Fairy Floss: A New Musical; Faith:A New Opera; Found Movement Group: Tea; Objects In The Mirror: new dances by Becca Hoback, Emma Morrison and Asia Pyron / Pydance; Off The Clock: New performance Art by Landry Butler, Grandma Fun, Chris Strauss and Jennifer Whitcomb-Oliva; Common Ground; Milk Makes Me Sick (But my body needs it) by Hannah Dorfman; New Play Platter; 30 Plays in 60 Minutes; See You in Hell; The Wreck of The Manifest Destiny; Kitsugi: Art of Scars by Cameron L. Mitchell (choreography by Thea Jones); Late Stage Elisabeth by Elisabeth Donaldson; Stuffed Spider; Faulty Premise: The Live Show; Chisme Fantasmagorico: Pool Party; The Queerest Comedy Show; Embodied Creativity Workshop; Dance Studio Sharings; Community Frolic; Unscripted: Festival Remix; and Writer’s Gym Workshop with Simba Alik & The Free Nashville Poetry Libray Reading: Utopia.
Which new worlds will you step into? See it all with a Festival Pass? Or get a glimpse of Utopia with a show or two? The choice is yours! All-Access Festival Passes are now available at $109 for a Standard Pass or $149 for a VIP Pass. Book your Festival pass today to explore all 22 unique artistic experiences, or purchase individual tickets now, as shows will be selling out, at the Kindling Arts Festival website: https://www.kindlingarts.com/2026-festival
These are the three events I am especially looking forward to:
OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR | A TRIO OF NEW DANCES, Thursday, July 23 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, July 26 at 7:00 pm at OZ Arts Nashville (6172 Cockrill Bend Cir.) featuring Emma Morrison – “This Is a Good and a Bad Dance;” Becca Hoback – “Rapt;” and Asia Pyron / PYDANCE – “EGO.”
KINTSUGI: ART OF SCARS | Cameron L. Mitchell with Thea Jones, Saturday, 25 July 2026 at 1:00 pm
And Sunday, July 26 at 3:00 pm at The Barbershop Theater (4003 Indiana Avenue).
LATE STAGE ELISABETH | Elisabeth Donaldson, Friday, July 24 at 7:00 pm and Saturday, July 25 at 9:30 pm at The Barbershop Theater (4003 Indiana Avenue).
Learn more about these shows in the extended version of this article at: https://urbanjournalnews.com/
