Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival takes place in Huddersfield every year. The 2026 edition takes place from Friday 20 November to Sunday 29 November.

The full programme for hcmf// 2026 is now live. On our programme page, you can browse the complete line-up, explore event details, learn more about the artists and works featured, and secure your tickets.

View and book our hcmf// 2026 on our programme page here.

Free-to-attend concerts, installations, exhibitions, talks and workshops take place throughout the duration of the festival. This includes our annual hcmf// shorts day of free concerts, taking place on Monday 23 November. 

Tickets for individual events as well as Opening Weekend and Full Festival Saver tickets may be purchased online, by phone or in person.

Book online at www.hcmf.co.uk.

Book over the phone at +44 (0)1484 430528 or in person at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2SP. Please note: the Lawrence Batley Theatre Box Office is open in-person and over the phone Tue- Sat, 10am – 2pm. On Fridays, the Box Office is available by phone only and is closed for in-person visits.

Tickets will not be available to purchase or collect on the door. Availability permitting, tickets may be booked online up until the start of each respective event.

Please note: counter sales (including in person and telephone bookings) are unavailable from 2pm on Sat 8 August until 10am on Wed 26 August due to the Box Office’s summer closure. Online booking remains available during this period.

Tickets for bookings made online or by phone will be sent to you via email from orders@lawrencebatleytheatre; please check your junk mail if you cannot see them in your inbox.

If you opt to have your tickets posted to you, you must book by Friday 14 November.

Tickets booked for collection can be picked up from Lawrence Batley Theatre’s Box Office from Tue- Sat, 10am – 2pm (closed Fridays).

If you haven’t received your tickets, contact Lawrence Batley Theatre’s Box Office.

Tickets will not be available to purchase or collect on the door. Availability permitting, tickets may be booked online up until the start of each respective event.

Book over the phone at +44 (0)1484 430528 or in person at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Queen Street, Huddersfield, HD1 2SP.

Please note: the Lawrence Batley Theatre Box Office is open in-person and over the phone Tue- Sat, 10am – 2pm. On Fridays, the Box Office is available by phone only and is closed for in-person visits..

We do not operate a box office on the door; tickets will not be available to purchase or collect on the door.

Availability permitting, tickets may be booked online up until the start of each respective event.

Contact Lawrence Batley Theatre’s Box Office if you have issues accessing your tickets. Please note: the Lawrence Batley Theatre Box Office is open in-person and over the phone Tue- Sat, 10am – 2pm. On Fridays, the Box Office is available by phone only and is closed for in-person visits.

Tickets for bookings made online or by phone will be sent to you via email from orders@lawrencebatleytheatre; please check your junk mail if you cannot see them in your inbox.

All tickets purchased are non-refundable. However, if your ticket is for a sold-out event, the Box Office staff at Lawrence Batley Theatre will attempt to re-sell it on your behalf.

Online bookings and bookings by phone are payable by debit or credit card.

In-person bookings at Lawrence Batley Theatre’s Box Office are payable by debit card, credit card or cash.

Our Under 30s tier of tickets is available for audience members under 30, and for full-time mature students. Proof of entitlement is required on purchase and entry.

This year’s introduction of the Solidarity ticket tier is to give our audiences the opportunity to purchase a ticket at a higher price (the cost of a Standard ticket plus 30%) to support the festival and the artists who appear on our stages. Affordable access to the festival for as many people as possible remains our highest priority, and the intention behind the Solidarity ticket price is to provide an opportunity to pay a little more for those who would like and are able to, while keeping our Standard ticket price as low as possible.

It’s important to us however that the choice remains with you – the audience. Opting for a single Solidarity ticket will not mean this price level applies to every ticket you buy: you can choose to buy a Solidarity ticket for one event and a Standard ticket for another; and if you are buying multiple tickets for the same concert, you can select a combination of Solidarity and Standard tickets.

If – for whatever reason – the Solidarity ticket is not something for you, we cannot emphasise enough that we remain extremely grateful for every ticket purchased at the Standard price.

All tickets booked are subject to standard terms and conditions. Learn more about them on our Terms & Conditions page.

Venue locations can be found on the individual event pages in our programme section.

Train: Travel by train to Huddersfield Station with National Rail and Trainline. 

Coach: National coach travel is available via National Express and Megabus. 

Bus: Local bus travel is available via First Bus and West Yorkshire Metro. 

Road: Huddersfield is accessible by road via the M62 or M1 motorways. 

Air: The two nearest international airports to Huddersfield are Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA), 21 miles away, and Manchester Airport (MAN), 42 miles away. 

Head to the Kirklees Council website or to Parkopedia for information on parking.

Public parking at University of Huddersfield car parks on Queen Street South, Wakefield Road and Firth Street is available at the following times:

Monday to Friday: 6pm – 6am
Weekends: All day

Companion tickets are free and can be easily booked by contacting the Lawrence Batley Theatre’s Box Office. To ensure eligibility, the Box Office team may ask for some extra information when taking your booking.

Limited parking for audience members with disabilities (Blue Badge holders) is available at Huddersfield Town Hall.

Please email Nathan at info@hcmf.co.uk to discuss your requirements.

Facilities at St Paul’s Hall, Phipps Hall and Huddersfield Town Hall are labelled according to whether they include cubicles, urinals or both. Our accessible/single-unit facilities are open to all who wish to use them.

Latecomers will be admitted when a suitable break can be found in the programme.

Audience members under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Content guidance is stated on the individual event pages in the programme where appropriate.

Donate to hcmf// and help us make a difference to artists, composers, musicians, young people and communities. There are several ways you can help: 

• Make a one-time donation 

• Become a corporate donor or sponsor 

• Give an in-memory gift or leave a gift to hcmf// in your will 

Click here to learn more and donate now, or contact our Executive Producer, Róisín Hughes, at  r.hughes@hud.ac.uk to discuss further options. 

From one-off workshops to community and schools projects, our Learning & Participation programme is an integral part of our work. Find out more in the Learning & Participation section of our website. 

If you are interested in finding out more and getting involved in as a delivery partner, a participant or by joining out Freelance Practitioners Pool, contact our Festival Coordinator, Nathan Bragg-Beck at N.Bragg-Beck@hud.ac.uk.

If you are interested in volunteering as a festival steward, find out more and register interest by contacting our Festival Coordinator, Nathan Bragg-Beck at n.bragg-beck@hud.ac.uk.

Our photographer is present at most concerts, and while they will generally focus on capturing the performance, we can’t guarantee that audience members will not be photographed.  

Where our photographer is present at workshops, we will ask for participants’ consent to be photographed. 

Yes, some of our concerts are recorded. Where a concert is being recorded for radio broadcast, we will always try to publish details of the broadcast date and time.

We are committed to ensuring you have a great experience, so your feedback is really important to us. We always read it carefully and use it to improve the services we offer.

If you have a complaint, please write to us at info@hcmf.co.uk. Your comments will be shared with the most relevant department, and we will aim to respond to you within seven working days.

We will do everything reasonable to ensure the performance of the published programme. We reserve the right to make changes to or cancel an event in the event of circumstances beyond our control.