Home › News › We Out Here festival 2026

We Out Here festival 2026

All the details from the Activate Takeover at Dorset’s We Out Here festival 2026.

A man with dreadlocks holds a microphone and points to a large crowd gathered in front of him. There are also three people in blue dancing.

The dust has settled, the tents are packed away, but we are still buzzing from the pure magic of We Out Here festival 2026. Our Producer Ki Shaw, gives us the lowdown on what happened…

For the fourth year running, we were warmly welcomed to deliver an Activate Takeover at the beautiful Wimborne St. Giles festival site in August. We kicked off Friday in the family area, with vibrant workshops for all ages. Festival goers had the chance to showcase their best Street Dance moves with Isaac Farmer and his Shake Dance crew, share moments in a Rap writing workshop with Isaiah Dreads, bust some beats with DJ Andy Cleeton, and craft some custom fans, vinyls and flower windmills with Vinyl Van.

A group of children look at DJ decks, a male adult points to it.

A man with dreadlocks talks to a women wearing a hat and sunglasses. There is a table and pieces of paper behind them, with other people sat at the table.

Throughout the weekend, Dorset artist Heidi Steller premiered ‘The Pebble’, a beautiful, organic shelter woven from natural materials. Festival goers of all ages stepped inside to learn simple weaving techniques and help build the den. As ‘The Pebble’ took shape, it transformed into a place to pause, connect and dream, quickly becoming a haven for shared hopes and wishes.

A group of women sit on the floor weaving, they are surrounded by colourful pieces of fabric and a wooden structure above them.

On Sunday, the energy shifted to the Love Serve Bar, where DJ Andy Cleeton warmed up the crowd for the highly anticipated Street in the Park / Up and Coming DJ Competition final. DJ4Blue, DJ Efusion and DJ Spear battled it out one last time for their chance to win a 30-minute set at next year’s We Out Here festival. While the judges faced the impossible task of choosing a winner, the tent flooded with festival-goers eager to catch local rap artist and songwriter Isaiah Dreads performing exclusive new tracks from his album Seaside Rap 2. Isaiah was backed by the high-octane choreography of the Shake Dance crew.

With just a single point separating the finalists, the crowd cheered as the winner was announced as seventeen-year-old DJ Spear from Bristol! To close the event, DJ FLF – champion from last year’s DJ competition final at We Out Here – stepped up to orchestrate his closing set.

A young man holds one hand in the air in triumph. A woman and a man in summer clothing stand either side of him. There is a colourful stage behind them.

As one festival-goer so beautifully put it, “The joy and inspiration on the faces of so many young and older people was soul nourishing!”

A special thanks to Victoria and the We Out Here team. We are already counting down the days until We Out Here 2027 – we can’t wait!

Photos by Brent Jones.