MATRESCENCE FESTIVAL
Matrescence Festival UK
12 May - 25 June 2026
Programme
Matrescence Festival ‘Brunch’: A morning of music and conversation
Date: Tuesday 12 May
Venue: Barnstaple Library
Timings: 10.30am -12.30pm
With music and discussion with Sailing Stones, Gabby Young (pictured), The Rebel Chorus and Linde van Vliet. Hosted by Lizzy Humber
Pay what you can.
Matrescence Festival and Exeter Phoenix host Matri-Art Network.
Workshop for parents: Making Art After Making Life: A workshop for new(ish) parents to reignite the creative fire.
Date: Monday 18 May
Venue: Exeter Phoenix Gandy St, Bradninch, Place, Exeter EX4 3LS
Timings: 10am-12noon
Facilitated by: Marie Hamilton (Actor/Mother)
Play: Facilitated creative exercises to re-open those creative channels.
Share: Discuss & troubleshoot upcoming projects.
Connect: Meet other brilliant, inspiring local mamas working in the creative industries, and build your village.
Supported by The Daylight Collective & Open Door Festival
Matrescence Festival and Exeter Phoenix present MADONNA ON THE ROCKS by Marie Hamilton
Date: Tuesday 19 May
Venue: Exeter Phoenix Gandy St, Bradninch, Place, Exeter EX4 3LS
Timings: 1pm & 7.30pm
She used to have dreams, now she has a baby. A sad, aging sack full of milk and regret.
Madonna on the Rocks is a visceral, beautiful, hilarious call to arms. A neon-lit menty-b at the Stay and Play. It’s about egos, responsibilities and the struggle to be an artist, or to have any career at all really, and be a relatively decent parent at the same time. With songs inspired by Madonna, Peaches and Nina Simone.
Written and performed by Marie Hamilton, composed in Berlin by Cameron Mackintosh Award winner Ben Osborn, directed by Stephanie Kempson with dramaturgy from Hildegard Ryan and Bryony Kimmings.
Matrescence Festival M/Other Artist Exhibition
Date: 20 May until 24 June
Venue: Walkway Gallery, Exeter Phoenix Gandy St, Bradninch, Place, Exeter EX4 3LS
Timings: Venue opening hours
Featuring:
Amy Thornley-Heard, Antoinette Brown, Bethan Stokes, Charlie Walker-Mitchell, Emma Forrest, Jennifer Milarski-Stermsek, Jenny Cahill, Laura de Moxom, Leila Manion, Lindsey Gatenby, Lottie Bolster, Louisa Currier, Lynsey Stannard, Matilda Macmillan, Michele Selway, Olivia James, Penelope Davis, Pia Jaime, Polly Black, Rebecka Fleetwood-Smith, Ruth Batham, Sharon James, Silvia Salerno, Sonia Kemp, Sophia Platts-Palmer, Sophie Blinstrub, Vicky Carter, Victoria Clarke and Yara+Davina.
Featured Artwork: Ruth Batham A Crescent Still Abide
Matrescence Festival: Tracing the Matriline Artist Talks with Hettie Judah
Date: Thursday 21 May
Venue: Exeter Phoenix
Timings: 10am-12noon
Join The Daylight Collective to celebrate the opening of their new M/Other Artist Exhibition: Tracing The Matriline as part of this years Matrescence Festival. To celebrate Tracing the Matriline: which explores maternal ancestry, m/other figures and our place in the line (20 May-24 June Exeter Phoenix Walkway Gallery).
Featuring 4 Talks from South West m/other artists whose work is presented in the exhibition. Followed by a talk and discussion circle with Hettie Judah who will following the publication of her book How to Enter the Artworld…After.
Matrescence Festival and Reclaim Festival present THE DIRTY MOTHER by Michelle Hall
Date: Thursday 18 June
Venue: Barnfield Theatre
Timings: 11am
A Post-Punk, Post-Natal Descent Story
The Dirty Mother is an autobiographical, post-natal descent story that follows one woman through pregnancy, childbirth and into the confounding world of motherhood. The Dirty Mother recalls and performs her story of childbirth as a hysterical, heroic feat of survival and personal power.
The Dirty Mother is a high-energy celebration, a communion with the audience in a 21st-century D-I-Y Birth Rite. With guffawing graphic humour and intergalactic karaoke, The Dirty Mother is a one-woman taboo buster, a totally true telling of childbirth LIVE on stage, a story of friendship and reinvention in the nappy shite of life.
Matrescence Festival Exeter - A SPACE TO EXPLORE THE METAMORPHOSIS OF M/OTHERHOOD
Date: Saturday 20 June
Venue: Alibi Exeter Emmanuel Hall, Emmanuel Rd, Exeter EX4 1EJ
Timings: 9.30am -4.30pm
MORNING SPEAKERS AND PERFORMANCES: Smitha Mundasad, Dr Caroline Boyd, YARA+DAVINA, Sailing Stones, Rebecca Tantony, Carolan Grzenski
AFTERNOON WORKSHOPS WITH: Michelle Hall, YARA+DAVINA, Ellie Shipman, Ceri Baker Flow, Rebecca Tantony, We are ND.
INCLUDES LUNCH & REFRESHMENT & CLOSING CELEBRATION
Matrescence Festival - Book Donation
Date: 11 May-25 June 2026
Venue: St Thomas Library Alibi Exeter Emmanuel Hall, Emmanuel Rd, Exeter EX4 1EJ
Timings: Opening Hours
LETS MAKE MATRESCENCE BOOKS AVAILABLE TO ALL M/OTHERS IN DEVON
We are donating books to Libraries Unlimited to ensure there is a well stocked shelf for all m/others across Devon.
We need YOUR help!
ABOUT US
Lizzy Humber (right) is a mother, community artist and producer working in the UK. She specialises in curating parent-friendly live art and culture events. She is a change maker and champion of m/other artists continuing to make work professionally on their terms. Lizzy’s current projects include The Daylight Collective, a network for artist parents, Daylight Sessions daytime gigs for parents, M/Others on the Mic and Parents on the Mic performance platforms, and Creative Journalling for Matrescence. Lizzy’s participatory art projects aim to support parental mental health and community connection.
lizzyhumber.com
Claire Tonti (left) is an Australian indie folk artist, podcaster, Matrescence activist and mother. She released her debut album Matrescence in February 2023 with sold out shows both in her hometown Melbourne across the UK and Ireland. 11 songs about love, loss, identity, motherhood, creative freedom and overcoming birth trauma. Claire also hosts the podcast TONTS. where she celebrates women’s stories - talking to writers, experts, thinkers and deeply feeling humans
Clairetonti.com
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