The Big Thing which is produced by Crossover Labs returns this September, bringing more than 70 workshops, performances and networking events to Llandudno for three days between Wednesday 9 – Friday 11 September 2026. 

Director of Crossover Labs Tom Millen, says: 

“Building on the celebratory community building of the 2025 edition, The Big Thing in 2026 will be a jamboree of inspiration and connection for the immersive art community from across the UK and beyond. We are extremely excited this year to be throwing the spotlight on North Wales as a dynamic community of creative individuals and organisations, as well as putting a focus on the role of the audience as co-creators in immersive work through our theme Play’s the Thing.”

Following on from an inaugural event in Bradford last year, The Big Thing is Immersive Arts’s annual gathering, where the immersive art community – at any stage in their journey – can come to connect, spark new ideas, and push the boundaries of their work.

This year’s theme Play’s the Thing explores how artists invite audiences into their work in playful, meaningful and empowering ways. The programme looks at the politics of the work we make, the role of failure in artistic practice, inclusive approaches to immersive art, alternative ways of reaching audiences and the need for stronger critical discussion across the sector.

The programme includes keynote talks Your Voice, Your Choice from Artist Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, whose practice focuses on intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell stories of people they seek to archive and challenging traditional narratives. As well as A House Called Play from Quinns, who is evangelist for the very weirdest video games, board games, roleplaying games and folk games.

Programme Highlights

• In conversation: Kent Bye with Harmeet Chagger
• Annwn Prize 2027 longlist announcement
• I need a hero (image)
• (Not) New approaches to reaching audiences 
• Decolonising listening
• Worldbuilding with clown logic
• I’m so tired: Burnout and regulation with IDA XR Studio
• Slop shop

Performances

Work in Progress: Pixel Puppets: the live comic theatre show where performers puppeteer custom-made cartoon characters desperate to escape modern life. Real-time motion capture collides with musical satire, dark comedy and a big dose of nostalgia to give a playful interactive power-up for anyone tired of adulting and big tech.

work.txt: This is a show about work. But the worker isn’t here, so it’s down to you. You’ll clock in at the beginning. You’ll work in a team, and under your own initiative. You will be your own boss. You will be free.

work.txt is a play performed entirely by the audience. It explores themes of contemporary work, automation, and always-on working culture. Someone, somewhere, has laid down on the way to work, just stopped: what a strange thing to do? Let’s work together to figure out why.

Tickets are available to buy on Eventive.

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The Big Thing is part of Immersive Arts, which is funded through a collaboration between the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Arts Council England (ACE), the Arts Council of Wales (ACW), Creative Scotland and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (ACNI). Funding from Creative Scotland, ACW and ACNI is provided by The National Lottery.