Team Abertoir’s been taking a breather after our massive 20th anniversary edition and we’ve made a decision: we’re taking it down a notch for 2026.
We’re excited to see what the next decade or two of Abertoir looks like, but in order to do that properly, and ensure it’s bigger and better than ever before, we really need to take a little break this year. Abertoir’s always been run on very late nights, too much caffeine and not enough hours in the day. But after doing this for twenty years, it’s time to make sure we have the right approach to make it another twenty!
What we’re saying is – there won’t be a big 5-day festival in 2026. But we’re certainly not going to be dormant – far from it! We’re already lining up a number of one-off events throughout the year, starting with two collaborations with other Welsh festivals in the next couple of months, and some standalone Abertoir fun very soon too. We’ll be designing these one-offs in such a way as to reach as many of you as possible, so although most will take place here in Aberystwyth, we’ll have some online events too.
We’ll also be a bit more active on our newsletter and Letterboxd too, filling in some of the gaps with, dare we say it, ‘content’.
We’ve been a little nervous about making this announcement – we know how important Abertoir is for you, but we also know you want us to be in the right position to continue doing what we all love best. We’re already looking ahead to 2027, and will have the time and space this year to ensure that it’ll be a sustainable and ultimately better Abertoir that moves into the future.
So keep your eyes peeled for some event announcements very soon; we’re looking forward to being able to see as many of you as possible and prove that Aberystwyth is really quite lovely when it’s not November and raining!