Across three days + nights, AVA London 2026 – the annual multi-venue conference and festival – brings together artists, innovators and leading voices from music and culture, for a programme of live performances, keynotes, conversations and workshops exploring the future of music, nightlife and culture. The run-up to this year’s 24–26 September return has also brought the festival’s biggest wave of additions yet – new club nights, new panels, and a brand-new artist development programme built with the Roundhouse.
The three-day event keeps its now-familiar shape: daytime keynotes and panels at The British Library, followed by club nights spread across Outernet Live, FOLD, EartH Hackney and Round Chapel Clapton. This year marks AVA’s move from its usual spring slot into autumn, and organisers are billing it as the festival’s most ambitious edition yet, with 70+ speakers, 30+ sessions and 8,000-plus attendees expected across the weekend.
A new route into the industry
Alongside the performance and panel news, AVA and the Roundhouse are launching a London edition of Creators Forum, AVA’s ongoing development programme for emerging producers and electronic artists. Ten selected participants will get a focused run of studio time, mentoring and professional feedback, delivered through Roundhouse Creative Studios and backed by Arts Council England, Ableton and Resident Advisor.
On stage: drum & bass history, Black music culture, and a Game Changers return
The daytime programme has picked up several new sessions. Genre veterans Fabio & Grooverider take part in a new keynote conversation covering three decades of drum & bass, while Footsie, Jamz Supernova, Shy One and FLOHIO join a panel exploring Black culture in music, tied to the Olympic Park’s Music Is Black Festival. Podcast duo Chal Ravens and Tom Lea bring No Tags to the stage for a live recording with Tim & Barry, and the Game Changers panel is back too, with YMU CEO Mary Bekhait, Atlantic Records UK’s Anya Du Sauzay and Broadwick Live/London Nightlife Taskforce’s Sam Spencer among the names confirmed so far.
These join a bill already featuring Moby (joining virtually for an EarthPercent keynote on music and climate), a live Resident Advisor Exchange with Oklou, and The Avalanches‘ opening keynote, timed to their first new album in six years.
After dark: RA turns 25
The night programme kicks off Thursday with AVA London x Seanchoíche ‘TIME’ at Round Chapel Clapton – a collaboration with storytelling platform Seanchoíche, built around the theme of time.
Friday’s Outernet Live show doubles as the London stop on Resident Advisor’s 25th-anniversary world tour, with Blawan and Mala on the bill alongside Bitter Babe’s AV set with Koch.a and AliA. Optimo and Holly Lester join FOLD the same night, alongside previously confirmed Swoose, Body Clinic and JWY. Saturday’s closing party at EartH Hackney, curated by Skin on skin, adds Evian Christ to a bill that already included Croatian Amor and mi-el.
Bandcamp, Ableton, the Association for Electronic Music and PRS for Music are among the organisations hosting sessions across the weekend.
Full schedule and remaining passes are on the AVA London website.
AVA London runs 24–26 September 2026.
Reporting on music, UK-based
