Canal Dream Art Festival
Where art meets water, community, and heritage.
About the Festival
Canal Dream Art Festival (CDAF) is a waterborne celebration of art, nature, community, and heritage — reimagining London’s historic canals as living cultural corridors for the future.
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We bring together longstanding canal communities, an emerging generation of creatives, and cross-sector partners to transform industrial heritage into vibrant spaces for dialogue, experimentation, and shared imagination.
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From boat interiors to rooftops to the towpaths, every space inspires a site-specific artistic response. Through visual art, performance, music, poetry, and participatory workshops, the festival offers experiences that are open, inclusive, and made for everyone.
CDAF awakens hidden spaces with new voices and visions — activating the canal as a platform where creativity flows and communities gather.
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Where We Come From & Where We’re Heading (and Flowing)
CDAF was founded on the belief that art and creativity can be catalysts for canal regeneration and social innovation. Guided by design thinking and powered by the community, the festival continues to grow, evolve, and transform — from a paper boat to a dream fleet, from a humble workshop to a multi-arts festival.
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Our 5-year goal (2025–2030) is to grow Canal Dream Art Festival into a renowned linear multi-arts event on the water, expanding along the entire Regent’s Canal and parts of the River Lea — from Hackney in the east, through King’s Cross in the centre, to Paddington in the west. Together, we aim to form a fluid cultural route that connects art, nature, community, and heritage.
​The 3rd Canal Dream Art Festival
Theme: Innocence & Experience
Your Boarding Pass to the 3rd Canal Dream Art Festival
A personal invitation from Chuntian Hu, Founder & Director of Canal Dream CIC
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Hello Canal Dreamer,
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Canal Dream Art Festival (CDAF) is a grassroots, waterborne celebration of art, nature, community, and heritage — born from a student-led initiative and now entering its third edition. As both an organisation and a movement, we’ve been learning through prototyping and persistence — growing from innocence to experience.
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As a locally embedded, non-profit initiative led by a newcomer to the UK — a young female social entrepreneur — Canal Dream sits at a point of intersectional challenge. We’ve navigated visa restrictions, language and cultural barriers, and gaps in funding and representation. And yet, step by step, we’ve built roots in London’s canal system — physically, creatively, and communally.
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In the past, through limited self-initiated funding, a powerful network of collaborators, and the ongoing commitment of volunteers, we’ve sustained this festival and a series of public programmes — continuing to generate meaningful social impact.
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Now, we’re ready to take CDAF to its next stage.
The 3rd Festival will return to King’s Cross — the heart of London’s canal network, and a living model of urban regeneration.
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To make this possible, we’re seeking thoughtful collaborations with partners who share our values: Imagination, Experimentation, Innovation, Regeneration, Connection, Flexibility, and Diversity.
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At the same time, to support Canal Dream’s long-term development, we warmly welcome support from individuals with experience in fundraising, business development, marketing & PR, or social impact strategy to join our volunteer advisory board — and help Canal Dream navigate the journey from innocence to experience.
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Will you board this journey with us?
Let’s co-create moments of beauty, dialogue, and lasting change.
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Partner, sponsor, or supporter — and be part of a growing movement reimagining the future of our waterways.
