A celebration of contemporary South Asian arts and culture, An Indian Summer, returns to Leicester in July. This year, visitors will be able to enjoy even more entertainment, as the festival celebrate its 15th anniversary with its most vibrant and eclectic programme to date from 1 – 5 July 2026.
Produced by Inspirate, An Indian Summer is their flagship festival. Now running across five days, the festival will also be coming to some new spaces in Leicester, bringing a fresh, bold and unique programme of contemporary South Asian arts and culture to more people than ever.
New venues this year include the Leicester Cathedral Gardens and International Arts Centre, with events also returning to Jubilee Square and Attenborough Arts Centre.
Across the five days of the festival, visitors can enjoy events including comedy, live music, creative writing, classical Indian performance, film screenings and more. Many of the events are also free of charge for families to enjoy in the city centre.
For live comedy fans, An Asian Occasion will be back at The Big Difference on 2 July, bringing together some of the best Asian comics on the circuit. For further contemporary celebrations, head to Jubilee Square on 4 and 5 July, where Aaron Hira, the resident An Indian Summer DJ will be blending contemporary and nostalgic rhythms throughout the day. Jubilee Square will also play host to live theatrical performances across the weekend. With the Square also housing Summer in the Square, with food and drinks available, it will be a real destination whilst in the city centre.
Leicester Cathedral Gardens will also come to life across the weekend of 4 -5 July, as a series of free to attend activities fill the space. Enjoy storytelling, puppetry performances, live music and more across the weekend.
With so much to explore and so many performances taking place over the weekend, be sure to view the full Festival listings on the Festival website.
The Festival will come to a close with a truly special performance at Leicester Cathedral on Sunday 5 July. Full Circle, Still Turning, will bring the festival to a close with an evening of incredible live music, short film screenings and a live DJ set. Amrit Kaur (sarangi and voice) provides a live music set exploring the sacred sound of Sikh musical heritage whilst traversing the worlds of jazz, blues and soul. Alongside the music there will also be screening two short films – Jaikur by Kesha Raithatha and Roots & Rivers by Nupur Arts. This beautiful evening of South Asian artistry ends with an informal festival ‘gathering’ accompanied by a live DJ set from Aaron Hira.
Tickets for this closing performance are priced at £10 and are available online.
Celebrating the shared culture between South Asia and the UK makes An Indian Summer a very special event for Leicester, and with this being its 15th year, it once again demonstrates the wonderful culture and community that Leicester holds so dear.
For the latest news and info on An Indian Summer, you can follow them on Instagram and Facebook.
All event listings and ticket information is available from An Indian Summer online.