IPOH, 10 November 2026 – Ipoh Festival 2026 will make its debut from 27 November to 19 December 2026, transforming familiar streets and spaces across the city into places for performance, discovery and shared experiences.
From 27 November to 19 December 2026, the inaugural Ipoh Festival 2026 will transform cafés, galleries, heritage buildings and public spaces into stages for performances, exhibitions and cultural experiences.
A café becomes a theatre. Ipoh Padang becomes an outdoor cinema. Tin Alley becomes a space for traditional crafts and cultural discovery. At 22 Hale Street Heritage Gallery, visitors can begin their journey by exploring the stories, food and characters that have shaped Ipoh.
Held under the theme “Turning the city into a stage”, the festival will encourage audiences to move through Ipoh rather than gather at a single festival ground, with each participating location offering a different way to experience the city. While activities will take place across Ipoh, the programme will place particular emphasis on bringing new energy into Ipoh Old Town.
Inspired by city festivals such as George Town Festival in Pulau Pinang and Urbanscapes in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh Festival 2026 is designed as the first step towards an annual celebration that residents can take pride in and visitors can look forward to.
The inaugural edition will pilot new ideas for activating public spaces, supporting local talent and reimagining how residents and visitors experience Ipoh.
A festival created by Ipoh
At the heart of Ipoh Festival 2026 is a simple idea to bring together the people already shaping the city and give their individual efforts a larger shared platform.
Local artists contribute their work, cultural groups bring their performances and businesses open their spaces. What may usually happen separately across Ipoh will come together as one coordinated festival, allowing each contribution to become part of a bigger story about the city.
That story connects Old Town and New Town while bringing Ipoh’s heritage into conversation with its creative life today. It gives local talent an opportunity to reach audiences beyond the city and allows visitors to experience Ipoh through the people who know it best.
For younger Ipoh Mali residents, the festival offers another way to discover the stories behind familiar places and develop a stronger sense of pride and ownership in their city. Collectively, these efforts aim to strengthen how Ipoh sees itself and how it is experienced by others.
This collaborative spirit will be reflected throughout the festival programme.
The visual arts programme will include Rootbound: Origin and Boundless Expression, presented by Senitra Studio Gallery, and Yellow, a contemporary exhibition inspired by Ipoh and Perak, presented by The Ipoh Fine Arts Class and Perak Contemporary Artists.
Beyond the galleries, performances will move into cafés and other participating spaces. The Food and Arts Crawl by Ipoh Mali Theatre Society will pair musical theatre performances with experiences at selected venues, while Indiescape will lead a separate music crawl through the city.
The Festival Information Centre at 22 Hale Street Heritage Gallery will serve as a starting point for visitors, bringing together the story of Ipoh, its hawker fare and more of Perak to discover.