Culture of Folkestone

The first Folkestone Triennial art event took place between June and September 2008 with artists such as Christian Boltanski and Tracey Emin making site specific work for a wide variety of locations around the town. Many of the commissioned works remain permanently in the town. The 2011 Triennial 'A Million Miles From Home' was launched on 24 September 2010 and commissioned 19 international artists to develop new works for Folkestone’s streets, squares, beaches and historic buildings to create a cutting-edge contemporary art exhibition in the public domain.

Folkestone has an annual Chamber Music Festival each May curated by the Sacconi Quartet. The Festival is based in the town's 13th century Parish Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe in The Bayle and comprises concerts of chamber and ensemble music with guest performers. Website www.sacconi.com The church also hosts a series of Sunday afternoon concerts under the auspices of Bayle Music presenting local, national and international performers as well as occasional concerts by visiting choirs and ensembles.

Folkestone, together with Hythe, has an amateur theatre group: the Folkestone & Hythe Operatic & Dramatic Society. It is a charitable organisation, producing and performing several different shows a year at its own venue, the Tower Theatre, located in Shorncliffe. The society also has a youth section, which puts on three performances a year at the Tower Theatre: the Brigadier Thomas Memorial Competition, a summer show and a Christmas revue.

The literary journal The Frogmore Papers, published by The Frogmore Press, was founded by Andre Evans and Jeremy Page in Folkestone in 1983. The Folkestone Book Festival takes place every November.