Derby Promise’s Dream Fest 2026 saw over 600 children and young people test their acting chops on-stage at Derby Theatre, exploring creative careers from performing and directing to lighting and sound.
The three-day event brought together learners from more than 20 Derby schools, each enjoying a full day of workshops and activities led by a team of real-life West End stars.
Dance, drama and movement workshops were accompanied by talks on creative career paths, with musical theatre stars sharing their own stories of building a career in the performing arts.
Young people were encouraged to ask questions and explore the ways creative hobbies can blossom into rewarding job opportunities, developing skills, confidence and friendships along the way.
Each day culminated in schools performing musical theatre numbers to a full house, as over 500 people packed the auditorium.
Year groups joined together for the finale – a joyous, roof-raising performance of ‘When I Grow Up’ from Matilda. This was followed on Saturday by a West End-themed family day at Derby Market Hall, where over 5,000 people enjoyed performances, hands-on activities and a young makers' market.
Dream Fest was created by Derby City Council’s Derby Promise, a city-wide programme designed to give children opportunities (inside and outside of school) that encourage them to dream big, build skills and confidence, and explore a wide range of career paths.
This year’s event was made possible thanks to generous local sponsors including Derby Theatre, the University of Derby and Caddick, and with support from partners at Culture Derby, CANVAS, Derbyshire Music Partnership, KTCO Studios, Mark Petty Productions and the Lewis Sewell Trust.
Councillor Paul Hezelgrave, Derby City Council Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Skills, stopped by to join the excitement of Dream Fest:
This year’s Dream Fest has been spectacular – from the energy and enthusiasm I’ve seen for the creative workshops, to the amazing performances our young stars brought to the stage. Hearing several hundred young voices join together and sing ‘When I Grow Up’ was brilliant – not a dry eye in the house!
I’ve also seen first-hand the curiosity that has been sparked in some of the young learners, exploring jobs they were curious about and others they’d never heard of but were intrigued by.
A key theme throughout was that it’s perfectly ok if they’ve not yet figured out what they want to do in the future, but that finding out more about themselves, exploring possibilities and giving things a try is an important step towards finding their career path.
This reflects the heart of the Derby Promise – that the more meaningful opportunities we can give our young people, the better chance they have of finding rewarding futures and accessing the skills needed to get there.
Following the success of Dream Fest, the Derby Promise will continue its exciting calendar of events with Roots 2, a careers spotlight featuring local employers and organisations, which will take place in early summer.
For more information about how Derby Promise is supporting children and young people to aim high and achieve great things, visit the Derby Promise website.