Cardiff to host student led Multimedia festival

The University of South Wales (USW) will bring Immersed – a multimedia festival of music, film, art, fashion and performance – to Cardiff in 2025 for its seventh year.

Entirely curated by creative industries students, Immersed, supported by Welsh Government initiative Creative Wales, aims to help raise awareness for environmental charity Music Declares Emergency.

New for 2025 is the inclusion of the Immersed Skills Development Programme – a series of free workshops delivered by experts to support the live event sector – along with a vibrant careers and networking fair. These activities will showcase the skills behind the making of the festival, which is known for its outstanding production.

Features

The festival will take place from 6 March to 3 April at venues across the city, with headliners Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn bringing their electrifying live show of hip hop, garage, and electronic dance to Wales for the first time.

Support artists include Porij, who will bring their energetic fusion of funk, synth pop and lo-fi to the Immersed main stage, and DJ and producer Douvelle19 who will be spinning his unique brand of garage-inspired dance music.

Immersed will see more than 30 artists and bands perform across four stages, including Cardiff’s community music initiative Sound Progression. The month-long event also features an industry-leading skills development programme, sharing insights into the production processes behind the festival, as well as a careers fair, film screenings, art installations, fringe gigs and an Immersed TV broadcast.

The theme for 2025’s festival is Regeneration, showcasing ways of rethinking, restoring and rebuilding creative solutions to improve our well-being and our planet. As part of this, the Immersed production team will be piloting a sustainable energy solution for the lighting design of the event, among other elements that highlight its environmental mission.

Proud

BBC DJ and presenter Huw Stephens, who was made an Honorary Fellow of USW last year, said: “Immersed has become a welcome addition to the live music scene in Wales. Its focus on talent, creativity and production is invaluable, and the students should be proud of their professionally delivered, hugely successful event.”

Adam Williams, Dean of the Faculty of Business and Creative Industries at USW, added: “Immersed 2025 is a powerful testament to the creativity, innovation, and commitment of our students to address the biggest challenges of our time. Through the lens of Regeneration, this year’s festival is not just a celebration of music, film, art, and fashion – it’s a call to action. Together with Creative Wales and Music Declares Emergency, we’re reimagining what a sustainable future looks like, harnessing the energy and imagination of the next generation of creators to inspire positive change.”

Lewis Jamieson, Director of Music Declares Emergency, said: “Immersed has grown into a major event in the UK music calendar, which Music Declares Emergency is honoured to partner with. We look forward to this year’s offering, which is a key part of the journey towards a better future for all life on earth; often overlooked in the rightly urgent concern to arrest and reverse the climate emergency.”

For more information and to book tickets for Immersed, visit their website.