The Beat Goes On

The Beat Goes On will be packed with homegrown heroes and international stars, with more exciting acts still to be announced. Featuring entertainment and activities for everyone to enjoy, this free and celebratory event is set to be a spring highlight in London’s cultural calendar!

Stars of the UK garage and UK grime scenes and founding members of Battersea’s So Solid Crew Lisa Maffia and Romeo will be back on home turf, hosting the main stage in Power Station Park for the afternoon.

Endorsed by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Sarah Jayne’s Dolly Parton Tribute Show is a true celebration of the Queen of Country. Performing all the hits including 9 to 5, Jolene, and I Will Always Love You, this is a heartfelt, feel-good journey through Dolly’s legendary career. Sarah Jayne brought a touch of Nashville to Wandsworth when she helped launch Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library in 2025, a scheme offering free books to thousands of under 5s across the borough. 

Opening for our headliners and performing across the site, discover the next generation of homegrown talent from SW15 Music, Wandsworth Music, On Da Beat and the BAC Beatbox Academy.

Get ready to encounter roaming circus and street theatre from Wandsworth Arts Fringe family favourites Brainfools, Autin Dance and Jellyfish Theatre. Balance is the latest original work from Brainfools who expertly fuse dynamic circus arts with imaginative storytelling. Jellyfish Theatre roll up with their joyfully interactive family show – The Dragon Whisperer - a tale of friendship, food and dragons packed with puppetry, laughter and original live music. The Giant Wheel, by Autin Dance Theatre, features a 12-foot tall Giant Wheel powered by five street artists in a celebration of community and togetherness.

Battersea Power Station’s pedestrianised high street, Electric Boulevard, will come alive with the irresistible rhythms, bold brass, and the joyful energy of World Heart Beat’s New Orleans’ Second Line Band, accompanied by flags created for Welcome to Wandsworth’s Urban Flow parade. Led by Kinetika, 50 hand‑painted silk flags were created in collaboration with Wandsworth community groups and Putney School of Art and Design. These were taken to India for a performance at a festival in Goa, where they joined 50 silks made locally. The full collection was then brought back to London and paraded as part of a vibrant procession through the streets of Roehampton in September 2025. These stunning flags will now be carried by Wandsworth’s London Borough of Culture Champions, and members of the public, in a procession led by dancer Nana‑Yaa Appiah.

Head inside the Grade II* Power Station to discover a dance takeover of the Ground Floor in Turbine B, representing Wandsworth dance organisations including London Children’s Ballet, Pointe Black, Royal Academy of Dance, Lucie Benson Dance School, Flow Dance and Tavaziva Dance. 

Celebrating Wandsworth’s rising reputation as a home for dance, Strictly Wandsworth kicked off its London Borough of Culture Year in April 2025 with a free, day-long festival of dance featuring over 200 performers, led by renowned choreographer Jeanefer Jean-Charles with dancer and choreographer Patience J, who taught the iconic Strictly Wandsworth dance to 3000 audience members. Bursting with energy and the irresistible rhythms of Afrobeats by composer DJ Walde, everyone will once again be able to revive this dance together for the finale!

Sing to Thrive is a celebration of singing for health and wellbeing. Following a series of pop-up performances across the borough’s shopping centres in the week running up to The Beat Goes On, visitors to the finale will be able to enjoy a day of music from the Battersea Power Station Community Choir, Thames Philharmonic Choir, Wandsworth Performance Troupe, National Opera Studio Opera Singers, Crib Notes Choir, Treblemakers, Some Voices, Wandsworth Youth Choir and others, culminating in the premiere of a specially commissioned song from composer Bernard Hughes and lyricist Helen Eastman on the main stage in Power Station Park.

Don’t miss exhibitions from local artist Michael Warren, photographer Steve Reeves, and Our Beautiful Neighbourhood, an exhibition under Grosvenor Bridge featuring artwork by primary school pupils from across the borough, inspired by nature. Join Apples and Snakes for a fun-filled, interactive poetry show bursting with rhythm, movement, and imagination, and listen along to some of the episodes of The Wandsworth Way, a 40-part weekly drama produced by award-winning local broadcaster Riverside Radio, in collaboration with the home of new writing in Wandsworth, Theatre503.

For those who want to get involved, RCA graduate, Grace Holliday, will be hosting art workshops, FC Battersea Ironsides will be challenging visitors to a Keepie Uppie competition, and there will be crafts and face-painting with Bounce Theatre. 

Keeping the creative juices flowing and feeding the crowd, visitors can enjoy some serious hotdogs from Oh My Dog!, try sweet and savoury delights from Queen of the Crepes, freshly crafted gelato from Gelato Cremoso, and bold, punchy, and unforgettable bites from Oh Babu, inspired by Delhi street food.

For Wandsworth, and everyone who has been involved in and enjoyed its year as London Borough of Culture, this may be the finale event, but it signals how culture will continue to be valued and enjoyed across the borough in the future - The Beat Goes On.