Latitude Reveals 2026 Family Line-up Including Theatre, Comedy And More

Twenty years ago, Latitude Festival made a promise: that children would not be an afterthought, but a founding principle. This summer, as Latitude turns twenty, that promise has become something quite remarkable.

There are children heading to Henham Park this July who first arrived through the gates in prams. They will arrive this summer as teenagers. That quiet, extraordinary fact, a generation literally growing up at Latitude, is perhaps the most powerful testament to what this festival has built over the past two decades, and it is the spirit at the heart of the 2026 Family Programme.

Latitude Festival takes place at Henham Park in the Suffolk countryside from 23 to 26 July. Now in its 20th year, it has always been more than a music festival, weaving together live music, comedy, theatre, literature, poetry, dance and film into a single, singular experience. This summer, music headliners David Byrne, Lewis Capaldi and Teddy Swims are joined by The Flaming Lips, The Last Dinner Party, Self Esteem, Wet Leg, Tom Grennan and Tom Odell, while the comedy programme features Sir Lenny Henry, Sue Perkins and Sara Pascoe alongside Ross Noble, Jack Dee and Jen Brister, making it the strongest comedy bill Latitude has ever assembled.

But for tens of thousands of families, Latitude is something else entirely. It is a place where children are not simply brought along, but placed genuinely at the centre of the experience. And in its 20th anniversary year, the family programme is its most ambitious and emotionally resonant yet.

Sharon Reuben, Latitude's Family Programmer, said: "Over the past 20 years we have seen the family programme grow from a handful of core activities into something truly extraordinary. We have watched babies who first came to The Loft Baby & Toddler Tent grow into teenagers performing in our workshops and joining us as young volunteers. That multi-generational spirit is what makes Latitude so special. Every year we build on what has come before, so families can keep discovering something fresh while feeling completely at home."

What began in 2006 as a commitment to take children seriously has evolved into a vast, carefully curated world spanning three dedicated areas: The Kids Area, The Enchanted Garden and Camp Greenpeace. Together they encompass theatre, literature, science, wildlife, craft, music, sport and environmental action. Crucially, everything except the funfair is free. Families are simply invited to try everything, and year after year, they do.

The Kids Area is the beating heart of it all, open daily from 10am to 6pm. This milestone year carries particular emotional resonance, as several of Latitude's founding family partners return to celebrate 20 consecutive years at the festival. The Loft Baby & Toddler Tent, the nurturing, welcoming space that has supported the very youngest festival-goers since the beginning, marks two extraordinary decades. It has watched a generation of Latitude babies take their first steps, then return as curious children, then as confident young people exploring the wider festival independently. Woodcraft Folk and Suffolk Community & Lowestoft Library, both deeply embedded in the local community, celebrate the same milestone, a remarkable reflection of Latitude's roots in the East Anglian landscape it calls home.

The programme around them is as ambitious as ever. Multi-award-winning World Book Day ambassador MC Grammar brings his irresistible grammar-through-rap workshops, while Britain's Got Talent finalist Cillian O'Connor, who has since toured the world and broken Guinness World Records, makes his Latitude debut in the Kids Theatre with his critically acclaimed magic show. Comedian and prop virtuoso Spencer Jones brings his gloriously daft, award-winning family show to the Kids Theatre for what promises to be one of the most unpredictable sets of the weekend. Rhubarb Theatre brings four distinct productions, from the comedy puppetry and mime of Collection Day to the time-travelling family theatre adventure The Time Machine.

Behind the scenes workshops with Magic Light Pictures, author and illustrator sessions with Magic Cat Publishing, breakdancing with Kelfx & Francis, and Minibeast Safaris with the Natural History Museum complete a line-up that genuinely has something for every age, from six months to sixteen years. The SAW Trust, based at Norwich Research Park, transforms their Wild Science Tent into a Microbe Zoo this year, an invisible world of bacteria, fungi and algae brought to life by scientists from one of the region's leading research centres.

RSPB Minsmere joins the programme for the first time, bringing the conservation story of the Suffolk avocet to life through costumed storytelling and craft. Suffolk Archives mark the 250th anniversary of John Constable's birth with family-friendly activities celebrating the county's most famous artist, while Suffolk Recycling return with their much-loved craft workshops, turning reclaimed materials into imaginative creations.

The Enchanted Garden, nestled in the Family Campsite and open from 9am to 4pm daily, offers a more relaxed counterpoint, and again everything is free, open to all families with children under 16 including day ticket holders. Colour Town, led by artist Vix, fills the space with joyful, paint-splattered workshops. Jim Parkyn, famous for his work with Aardman Animations, leads model-making sessions three times daily. The Mini Zoo brings lizards, snakes, meerkats and giant snails up close. Knights duel in Knight School, rockets are launched at Rocketude, and the Canopy Stage hosts a daily programme of comedy, dance and a CPR skills show from East Anglian Air Ambulance, teaching life-saving techniques through music and audience participation, alongside the much-loved Silent Disco from Access Community Trust, which champions homelessness support and mental health services across East Anglia.

Baby Sensory East Suffolk rounds out the family offering in the Enchanted Garden's Family Yoga and Baby Tent, with singing, signing, puppet shows and sensory play designed to support the very youngest festival-goers, proving that at Latitude, the family programme truly begins from birth.

Camp Greenpeace transforms the lakeside forest into a hub of adventure and purpose. 2026 carries particular significance: the Global Ocean Treaty entered into force in January of this year, a historic victory after more than 15 years of campaigning enabling protection of 30% of the world's oceans by 2030. Greenpeace returns to Henham Park to celebrate this landmark achievement, and families can learn about it first-hand while tree climbing, ziplining, learning bushcraft and fire-lighting skills, and taking part in the beloved Rainbow Warrior ship-building activity, Latitude's most hands-on expression of its long-standing environmental commitment.

Families can refuel at the Kids Area cafe, run by the local Waveney Valley Greenpeace Supporters Group, which serves hot and cold food and homemade cakes throughout the day with all profits going to Greenpeace

Twenty years on, what is most striking about Latitude's family programme is not only its scale, but its depth. These are not passive experiences. Children build, investigate, perform, climb, create and campaign. They leave having done something real, and they come back the following summer to do more. The accumulation of those summers, of shared discoveries between parents and children, siblings and grandparents, and returning friends who first met in The Kids Area a decade ago, is what the 20th anniversary is really celebrating.