Tour de Moon announcement

Download the full 'Tour de Moon announcement' press release (PDF)

An out of this world free festival which will bring together sports, cinema, music and talk – all tied up under one cosmic theme – is set to land across the UK this summer.

Through collaborations with young people and with a special focus on nightlife and night-time culture, Tour de Moon will bring a number of thought-provoking and immersive experiences to Leicester, Newcastle and Southampton in May and June.

And more locations across the country will also have the chance to get involved thanks to its travelling Moon Convoy – which will bring satellite events to 14 towns across the two months.

The four-day events will take place in Leicester from 13 to 16 May, Newcastle from 27 to 30 May and Southampton from 10 to 13 June, with each of the chosen cities hosting a variety of events made up of the programme’s eight strands.

These range from a giant inflatable playground as part of Moon Sports to Moon Bar Talks – which will encourage debate of nationwide issues such as the loss of youth clubs and night life spaces.

Moon Experiences will take over derelict spaces to invite visitors to consider life beyond Earth, while Moon Hotline gives people the opportunity to engage in interactive experiments as a way of connecting to the moon.

And the festival is supported by its independent printing outlet Moon Press, which amplifies underrepresented voices, and music label Moon Recordings – a project aiming to produce collaborations between the younger generation and those aged over 66.

Developed for and in collaboration with young people aged 18 to 25, organisers have also appointed a board of youth reporters to oversee the event’s commitment to equity, plurality, community decolonial practices and social and racial justice.

The event is the brainchild of award-winning designer of experiences, artist and filmmaker Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun, who is the founder of NASA’s International Space Orchestra, whose large-scale projects have included collaborations with Noam Chomsky, Pussy Riot and Kid Cudi.

Nelly’s team has allocated more than a million pounds of its budget to bursaries for young creatives to produce their own, original contributions for the event’s eight strands.