Press room

Play Make Do press images 2025

The Barbican invites visitors to roll up their sleeves this summer and explore a new festival of creative activities and performances for all ages. Play Make Do brings local communities together to inspire playful imagination, connection and hands-on adventure. The inaugural festival runs from 13 July – 16 August 2025, with events delivered in collaboration with leading artists and companies from across the creative sector.  

Play Make Do is a new initiative from the Barbican’s Creative Collaboration department, building on from last summer’s hugely popular ‘anti-exhibition’ in The Curve, Our Street, which invited children and families to play through games, performance and conversation. Play Make Do is taking place all over the iconic arts centre this year. The line-up includes even more interactive and breathtaking sessions to entertain the whole family, focusing on the joyful and transformative moments experienced when different generations unlock their creativity together. 

The ground floor foyer will fizz with fun for all ages, with free, collaborative events including: design-your-own imaginary playground inside the Barbican’s brutalist walls, led by collage experts Artizine UK; drop-in to our summer Play Space packed with giant games and timeless playground classics; travel to the forest through interactive sensory materials, supported  by experienced playworkers Assemble Play Works.  

From the forest world to a tropical paradise, head to the Barbican Conservatory for free, breathtaking, high-flying performances from award-winning contemporary circus disruptors Upswing, with opportunities for audiences to try out their own aerial techniques or circus skills at floor-level. Or restore calm with Mei Quan Academy’s morning of outdoor Tai Chi on the picturesque Lakeside.  
 
Ramp up the rhythm with afternoons of joyful communal dance in the atmospheric subterranean foyers: learn fiery and beginner-friendly Cuban Salsa with Rueda Libre; join an inclusive ceilidh dance party with spirited live music provided by Queer Folk’s in-house ceilidh band.  

Celebrate one of the most spellbinding ancient traditions - the magic of storytelling - in further free sessions: get stuck into the 2025 Summer Reading Challenge with storytime inspired by nature and the great outdoors, hosted by the Barbican Children’s Library; internationally acclaimed children’s author and CBeebies’ favourite Chitra Soundar performs tales from India; award-winning Sierra Leonean performer Usifu Jalloh returns with a new interactive adventure inspired by Anansi folklore.  

Everyone can discover new skills and explore their own creative voice, with workshops on illustration, storytelling and kite making. For young people, week-long creative camps encourage 11-16 year olds to be creative and build confidence in hand-made animation filmmaking and devising theatre, and an intergenerational drama workshop session inspired by the spectacular summer production in the Barbican Theatre focuses on the themes of family, tradition and resilience. 

While many of the events are free, audiences are advised to secure their place by booking via barbican.org.uk, tickets available from today.  

Oluwatoyin Odunsi, Senior Producer Creative Collaboration, Barbican, said:  
“We are so excited to welcome families to the Barbican Centre, especially those from our local communities, to take part, have fun and explore their creativity this summer. We have brought together fantastic and passionate collaborators at the top of their fields, to give the public a taste of everything the Barbican has to offer. By spending quality time together and having fun, we hope everyone who comes along will be energised, relaxed and inspired to explore whatever they can imagine.” 

Karena Johnson, Head of Creative Collaboration, Barbican, said:  

“We are thrilled to continue building on our department mission to hold space which invites people to play and explore their creativity. In a time when families are under pressure, we are committed to our arts centre being an affordable and free civic space for London’s diverse communities to encounter extraordinary artists and try something new. We’re offering many routes in this summer, inviting new audiences and neighbours who have may have felt excluded to make new memories with us, and to feel that this local arts centre is absolutely theirs.” 

For more information, please download the full press release from the sidebar.