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Time Travel Fest

Time Travel Fest is a family-friendly half-term festival combining theatre performances, creative workshops, and free celebratory activities across four days of fun and imagination. Part of GAZE — a two-year celebration marking 70 years of Mitchell Arts Centre — the festival invites audiences of all ages to explore the past, present, and future through music, movement, creativity, and shared experiences.

October Half Term 2026

Future Acts

Bringing young people together - Inspiring creative futures

A special free event for secondary school students combining a National Theatre screening of Life of Pi with interactive activities, creative discussions, and opportunities to help shape future arts experiences, work opportunities, and youth programmes at Mitchell Arts Centre.

June 2026

My Visit to the Theatre – A Social Story

To help make your visit as welcoming and accessible as possible, we’ve created “My Visit to the Theatre – A Social Story” — a visual, room-by-room guide showing what happens when you arrive, where you’ll go, and what you might see and hear.

Developed with support from The National Lottery Community Fund and in collaboration with Chloe Breeze, this resource supports any child or young person who may feel anxious about visiting somewhere new. It may be especially helpful for neurodivergent children and young people, or anyone who benefits from knowing what to expect in advance.

See Visual Walk Through 

 

Listen Up! A Time-Travel Audio Adventure

Close your eyes, wiggle your ears, and whoosh!—you’re off to 1957, when the Mitchell Arts Centre first opened its doors. This isn’t just a building… it’s a treasure chest bursting with stories!
Sit back and enjoy a magical blast through time, guided by whispered tales, curious corners, and the voices of the Stoke-on-Trent community. Who knows what secrets you’ll discover along the way? One thing’s for sure—adventure is waiting!

''Listen to Our Story'' by Whispered Tales

Looking ahead towards 70 years of Mitchell Arts Centre

The Mitchell Arts Centre is celebrating 70 years with GAZE, a year-long programme inspired by Charles Austin Brooke’s vision to “gaze with confidence towards the future.” Honouring seven decades of creativity, community, and culture, the celebrations will reconnect with our founding mission to inspire ambition through the arts. Highlights include immersive audio tours, career talks to spark future dreams, family activities themed around time travel and space, and vibrant micro-festivals that bring energy, colour, and new voices to the Centre. Join us as we celebrate our past and look boldly ahead with hope, creativity, and confidence.

Built It Cinema - A Creative Film Adventure

Get ready for a cinema experience with a twist! Before the film begins, every child gets to build their own mini figure to match the movie theme – and take it home as a special keepsake.

It’s a fun, hands-on way to dive into the story, spark creativity, and make movie time extra memorable!

Summer Holidays 2025/26

MAC Workshops

The MAC Half Term Workshops provide an array of performing arts activities during school breaks for children aged 6 and above. These workshops are designed to engage young minds in creative pursuits, from acting and dance to storytelling and improvisation.

Not only do these sessions offer a fun and constructive way to spend the holidays, but they also help in developing social skills, boosting self-confidence, and nurturing a love for the arts at a young age.11:30-1:30pm During School Holidays

The Hubb Foundation

Our partnership with The Hubb Foundation is dedicated to making high-quality stage experiences accessible to those on the free school meal programme. By breaking down financial and social barriers, this collaboration ensures that children who might otherwise be unable to participate in the arts can enjoy and benefit from these enriching experiences. We believe in the power of theatre to inspire and empower, and this partnership helps extend that opportunity to all young people.During School Holidays

Make & Bake

Make and Bake is back! This hands-on family experience invites children and their families to come together for a fun-filled session of creating and learning. Participants will bond through creativity as they explore new skills, working side by side to craft and make delightful creations. It’s the perfect opportunity to make memories while making something together!

Sessions 11am - Various days during school holidays

 

Ray Johnson Film Archive

The archive was founded and developed by Ray Johnson MBE and is housed at the Media Archive for Central England (MACE) www.macearchive.org. Alongside thousands of original archive films are many hours of complementary material generated by Ray to inform and enhance the films; interviews, relevant audio/visual materials and complete documentary video productions - several broadcast on television here and abroad.MAC FILM Tuesdays at 11am & 1pm

MAC Community Days

We would like to say a huge thank you to Councillor Majid Khan for awarding us £500 towards our monthly Community Days.
Our Community Days bring together members of Staffordshire Site Loss, North Staffordshire Pensioners Convention, and Able Stoke in a shared effort to break down barriers to accessing art, reduce social isolation, support wellbeing, and create opportunities for people to connect and come together within the community.
We would also like to extend a big thank you to Stoke-on-Trent City Council for the contribution through the ward budget scheme. Stoke-on-Trent provides each elected ward councillor with a dedicated annual ward budget to support local groups and community initiatives, and we are incredibly grateful to have received £500 from this funding towards our work and Community Days programme.
MAC FILM Tuesdays at 11am & 1pm

MAC WORKSHOPS 11am-12 midday