International Women’s Day 2026: ways to celebrate women in Brighton & Hove
Phonetic and Bobbie Johnson performing live as part of VIVID. Photo by Chloe Hashemi.
International Women’s Day lands on Sunday 8 March 2026, and here in Brighton & Hove we don’t just mark it on the calendars, we celebrate it.
At The Old Market, we have our amazing Reigning Women festival taking place over the beginning of the year, as we want our platform to be packed with brilliant women-led work - which certainly cannot just be packed into one day. But that’s not all that’s on in Brighton and Hove, and we wanted to highlight some other things to look out for this International Women’s Day 2026.
Our IWD 2026 energy at TOM: Reigning Women
If you’ve been to TOM during Reigning Women in previous years, you’ll know what to expect, amazing women from all walks of live coming onto our stage to inspire, showcase and show what it means to be a woman. It’s our genre-spanning festival celebrating women everywhere, and yes: Reigning Women will be back in 2026.
A little peek at Reigning Women 2026 programming
We’re already preparing our 2026 line up, and it’s going to be HOT. With our first official Reigning women entry “Nine Sixteenths” coming to TOM on Tuesday the 17th of March 2026. This amazing show is presented by four black female performers, who through a visual variety of devised theatre, dance and lip sync, explore themes of representation and pop culture from the early 2000’s to present.
For the latest Reigning Women lineup as it drops, our hub lives right here.
What else is Brighton & Hove doing for International Women’s Day 2026?
Brighton & Hove really gets involved and there’s tonnes of events taking place over the city, but here are some of our favourites for you to check out!
Brighton & Hove Museums: women’s history, told properly
One standout event taking place on the 6th of March is “International Women’s Day: The Fearless and Fabulous Women of Brighton & Hove” at The Old Courtroom. With author Louise Peskett, author of “The Fearless and the Fabulous: A Journey Through Brighton and Hove’s Women’s History”.
This event really highlights our local women and their history going from Brighton and Hove and beyond. Tickets cost £12.
PinkNicky is organising its 4th annual big swim in celebration of International Women’s Day 2026 and raising funds for both surfers against sewage and ocean conservation. This event aims to bring together women to celebrate the power of community & confidence. Whist also focusing on the care of our oceans. So, if you fancy a chilly dip on Saturday the 14th of March in honour of International Women’s Day, you can book your tickets from Wednesday the 28th of January!
The most important International Women’s Day tip of all: keep it going
International Women’s Day is a brilliant spark, but the real magic is what happens afterwards: continuing to support women-led projects, shows and businesses by booking that next show, donating if you can, recommending artists to friends and family and turning it into the norm.
All in all, if you spend International Women’s Day 2026 celebrating women onstage, laughing, cheering & feeling things. We’ll call that an excellent use of a Sunday. Stay up to date with everything we’ve got going on at TOM for IWD 2026 and beyond!