15 October 2026
An audience of over 6,000 at Leeds International Festival of Ideas 2026
Over 6,000 people attended Leeds International Festival of Ideas (LIFI26) as the festival returned for its fourth year at Leeds Playhouse with its biggest programme yet.
Running from Tuesday 6-Saturday 10 October, LIFI26 opened with Louis Theroux in conversation and closed on Saturday night with Tim Minchin – both sold-out events.
The festival presented five days of talks and debates, with audiences hearing from Elizabeth Day, Chris Packham CBE, Dr Mya-Rose Craig, Roman Kemp, Rachel Riley MBE, Tasha Ghouri, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Tulisa Contostavlos, Laura Hamilton and Olivia Bentley among many others across the week. Conversations spanned climate change, suicide prevention and men’s mental health, deafness and music, social media, parenthood, identity and belonging, and the legacy of the 1990s.
This year also saw the launch of LIFI Futures, the festival’s expanded programme for young people, with three free events for schools and colleges and a public event hosted by Rachel Riley MBE, tied to Leeds being named the UK’s first City of Maths. LIFI Futures was supported by City of Maths, Luminate Education Group and Weightmans.
"Thank you to everyone who came to LIFI26, from all of us in the team behind it. We were blown away by the support and the huge, positive reaction. Most importantly, audiences are telling us they had an inspiring, thoughtful and hopeful experience, and that’s one of the main reasons we do this festival."Martin Dickson
Festival Director
LIFI is brought to the city by LeedsBID, with Welcome to Leeds as headline partner and support from AV Matrix, City of Maths, Pinsent Masons and Weightmans
Income from the festival ticket sales goes back into the festival, helping fund next year’s programme.