The Stables is a registered charity, founded by the world-renowned jazz musicians Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine in 1970. Our vision is to engage the widest range of people with music in all its diversity and the arts in general to enhance, and improve their lives. We do this through presenting concerts at our venue, through IF: Milton Keynes International Festival; by offering a learning and participation programme of workshops and projects; and by supporting local talent and developing new artistic commissions.

Concert programme

We are recognised as one of the leading music venues in the UK (ranked fourth in the UK’s top 100 music venues by the Performing Right Society), presenting around 400 concerts from a wide spectrum of music and world class artists  including pop, rock, folk, classical, jazz, world, soul and blues each year. The programme also includes Cabaret, Spoken Word, Comedy, Cinema, Early years and Family work.

Learning and Participation

We offer over 200 education workshops annually as well as bespoke projects working in schools and communities to enable people of all ages to learn new skills, gain confidence, connect and meet new people. We also provide a range of support for emerging artists.

IF:Milton Keynes International Festival

Our work continues outside of the venue, where we produce the IF: Milton Keynes International Festival, which we founded in 2010.  This is a biennial multi-arts festival using the city as a stage,  and creates unique and memorable experiences designed to encourage people to see a different side to Milton Keynes. The Stables has also produced one off events including A Clash of Drums – the Cultural Showcase for the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and Feast of Fire – the Birthday Celebrations for MK50 in 2017.

All of this activity is supported by a huge team of Volunteers, recipients of the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.