North Wales to host major UK immersive arts event ‘The Big Thing’

Hundreds of artists, producers and technologists from across the UK will gather in Llandudno this September as a national event exploring the future of immersive arts heads to North Wales for the first time.

With over 60 sessions hosted in venues across the town, The Big Thing (9–11 September) features inspiring talks, hands-on workshops, live performances, opportunities for collaboration, and social events.

The inaugural event took place in Bradford last year and proved to be a resounding success. It’s part of a groundbreaking nationwide programme led by UWE Bristol called Immersive Arts which supports UK-based artists to engage with immersive technologies.

One of the goals for Immersive Arts is to bring people together, helping to create a more connected, inclusive, and accessible immersive arts community across the UK - and The Big Thing has been created to do just that.

With a focus on the arts and artists, as well as the tech, The Big Thing is open to everyone, from those newly curious about immersive arts to practitioners who are already well established in the field. The location was chosen to shine a spotlight on North Wales’s vibrant creative scene and for the warm welcome that Llandudno offers to visitors from all over the world.

This year’s event is themed 'Play's the Thing' and will explore how artists use play, interaction and participation to create meaningful experiences for audiences – allowing them to become active participants and co-creators through gaming, virtual worlds, live performance and emerging technologies.

Keynote speakers include highly regarded artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, whose interactive talk will explore participation as a creative tool, and games expert and YouTuber Quinns, who will examine how immersive artists can learn from the worlds of video games, tabletop gaming and live action roleplay (LARPs).

Several artists funded by Immersive Arts will be sharing works in progress, inviting attendees to test out their latest work and to offer their feedback and support. Among the projects is Pixel Puppets by Ben Carlin; a live, comic, digitally interactive theatre show for grown-ups where performers puppeteer custom-made cartoon characters desperate to escape modern life.

Principal Investigator and Director of Immersive Arts, Verity McIntosh, Professor of Immersive Arts and Culture at UWE Bristol, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming the creative community to the beautiful shores of Llandudno for this latest iteration of our annual gathering. The Big Thing is a rare and precious opportunity for the UK and international immersive arts community to meet and spend time with one another, to learn new skills together, to be inspired by one another, and to spark ideas and connections that will echo far into the future. We can't wait to see you there.”

The Big Thing is produced by Immersive Arts consortium partner Crossover Labs – its director Tom Millen added: "Building on the celebratory community building of the 2025 edition, The Big Thing in 2026 will be a jamboree of inspiration and connection for the immersive art community from across the UK and beyond. We are extremely excited this year to be throwing the spotlight on North Wales as a dynamic community of creative individuals and organisations, as well as putting a focus on the role of the audience as co-creators in immersive work through our theme ‘Play’s the Thing’.”

Tickets are available to buy on Eventive.

The Big Thing is part of Immersive Arts. Funding for Immersive Arts is provided through a collaboration between the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Arts Council England (ACE), the Arts Council of Wales (ACW), Creative Scotland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI). Funding from Creative Scotland, ACW and ACNI is provided by The National Lottery.

To sign up to the Immersive Arts newsletter and for more details about Immersive Arts visit immersivearts.uk