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Exeter Respect Festival 2022

Exeter Respect Festival returns to Belmont Park for its 25th anniversary with live music and performance, food stalls, campaigners and community groups.

Leigh Curtis

Exeter Respect Festival returns to Belmont Park on Saturday 11 and 12 June for its annual celebration of Exeter diversity.

Now in its 25th year, the event will host live music and arts performances on main and marquee stages alongside local community and campaign groups and local food and drink stalls.

There will also be play, art, workshops, dance, stories, crafts and displays.

Headlining on Saturday are Irish folk musicians The Henry Girls, three sisters from County Donegal who have released one live and six studio albums.

Devon Afrobeat Collective, a fourteen-piece band with a five-piece horn section from South Devon, will be headlining on Sunday.

The festival is open from 11.30am-7pm on Saturday and 11.30am-6pm on Sunday, with an over-16 entry fee of £2 on each day. The event is alcohol-free.

xeter Respect Festival 2022 poster

Exeter Respect Festival began as a small one day event in Northernhay Gardens before growing into weekenders and themed events at Exeter Phoenix then settling in Belmont Park from 2009 with a two day festival for up to 20,000 attendees.

The event has welcomed many musicians and artists over the past 25 years. Then up-and-coming Teignmouth band Muse played in 1998. Other highlights have included Asian Dub Foundation Soundsystem, Talvin Singh, Wiley and Skepta.

In July 2020 the festival moved online, also holding a vigil in Belmont Park in memory of those lost to COVID-19 and in the Grenfell Tower fire, police murder victim George Floyd and Simeon Francis, who died in police custody in Torquay.

Last year, Exeter Respect returned to Exeter Phoenix for a one day event but is now back at its regular Belmont Park home.

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On Saturday 23 April a 2022 Exeter Respect Festival launch event is taking place at the Cygnet Theatre.

The event starts at 6pm with a cake cutting ceremony, after which there will be a panel discussion with Dr James Dyke, Associate Professor in Earth System Science at the University of Exeter, followed by music and performances from 8.15pm. Attendance is free and all are welcome.

Visit the Exeter Respect Festival website to find out more.

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