Anti Racist Summit 2025

The Anti Racist Summit returns to Theatre By The Lake, bringing top names in arts, literature, and comedy. Hosted by local charity Anti Racist Cumbria (ARC), it’s a standout event on Cumbria’s calendar. Now drawing UK-wide visitors, this year’s Summit goes bigger than ever with a festival-style lineup!

We’ve sold out 3 years in a row so if you want to be a part of it, you better move quickly! Expert led workshops, a literary tent with incredible authors (and views over the lake!) and thought provoking chats, wellbeing practices, art, music, food and conversation – all tackling the topics that matter.

We’re also going to be rounding up the celebrations this year with a comedy night – that’s right, you can still laugh and smile when working on anti-racism, in fact it’s important that you do! So when you choose your ticket, you’ll have the option to choose day + evening.

We are very happy to finally be able to tell you that our keynote speaker is the wonderful Lemn Sissay and our first Comedy Night headliners are none other than Nish Kumar and Desiree Burch!! Read more HERE about them plus our other speakers and talent.

This is an event like no other in Cumbria and it is not to be missed!

Tickets & Pricing

We have different ticket price brackets, please choose the most appropriate for you and your group. 

All tickets include a delicious lunch, a free tote bag full of ARC merch, keynote speaker and a choice of activities and workshops (plus loads more). If you select a day plus evening ticket you'll also get access to the comedy night!

• Business tickets are £210 for day only, or £250 for day & evening.

• General tickets for citizens, charities, schools / educators are £85 for day only, and £100 for day & evening.

Low income / Unwaged tickets were extremely popular and are now unfortunately sold out. 

Evening only tickets are now on sale too! If you're looking for those, click here!

Payment in instalments is available at the checkout via Klarna. If you need to pay via invoice please get in touch and bundle discounts are available for groups of over 5 people. You can contact Nykia@antiracistcumbria.org for bookings enquiries.

Please not that we are unfortunately able to issue refunds.

Timings 

- Doors open from 9.00am.

- Main stage for the Keynote begins at 10.30am.

- Lunch, activities and workshops are available between 12pm and 3pm.

- We'll come back together for main stage from 3 - 4.30pm.

- Comedy night begins at 7.30pm and finishes at 9pm.

There'll be plenty to see and do in between: Join us for a drink at the bar, check out some of our exhibitions and market stalls, or make the most of our ARC discounts and deals at local restaurants in Keswick!

Accessibility

You can read the venue's accessibility information here.

ARC are working harder than ever to make all of our events accessible in every way. We'll provide more seating areas, chilled spaces, sensory packs brought to you by our sponsor Flare audio, plus this time we'll have a separate quiet / low sensory zone which is away from the noise & bustle of the main event. 

If you need to book wheelchair tickets, please contact us directly via email. Apologies for this inconvenience, but this allows us to tailor your ticket and seating as best as we can - accompanying carer tickets are of course free. 

If you have any additional accessibility needs you'd like to discuss with us, or any suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. Please get in touch on hello@antiracistcumbria.org

Unfortunately we are unable to offer refunds for this event.