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8 Phonebox Magazine | December 2025%u2018It%u2019s Milton Keynes at its best%u2019Praise rolls in for the city%u2019s arts and culture festival, which has been hailed a great successThe eighth edition of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival, which took place in the summer, has been hailed an outstanding success by visitors and experts.Now the Festival has created a highlights fi lm to celebrate its successes and the impact it had on the city.More than 240 events and exhibition days, including two world premieres and four UK premieres, were presented in 12 diff erent locations, among them Centre:mk, The Open University%u2019s Walton Hall Campus, Campbell Park, The MK Rose, Midsummer Place, The Church of Christ The Cornerstone, Xscape, and The Stables. There were 15,367 tickets sold and 63,000 attendances with visitors from as far away as Aberdeen, Brighton, Newcastle, Liverpool, Southampton and St Ives. A further 210,000 people are estimated to have experienced the Festival as they encountered events taking place in the public realm. 72% of the events were free to attend.Artists came from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Catalonia, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain as well as the UK. In total, 391 professional artists and crew were employed. Seven hundred and forty-four hotel rooms and apartments were booked, and 2,638 meals were served to them over the 10 days!Around 6,100 community participants were involved in this year%u2019s Festival. They took part in events including Michael Pendry%u2019s art-forpeace multi-media installation Les Colombes and Milton Keynes poet Maureen Onwunali%u2019s commissioned poem Utopia in Verse. Les Colombes saw over 2,000 white paper doves suspended from the roof of Middleton Hall in Centre:mk. Local people made doves for the installation and for their homes, shops, offi ces and community spaces, creating a second City-wide installation. The Festival is also extremely grateful to all of the artists, staff , local experts and contributors and the 216 volunteers who worked on the Festival. Plans are already being made for the event%u2019s return to Milton Keynes in 2027.%u201cThe excitement builds in the run up to and during the Festival as artists from around the world embed themselves in Milton Keynes and the positive impact felt across the City is a testament to everyone who helped us plan and deliver 10 amazing days,%u201d said Monica Ferguson, Festival Director and Chief Executive of The Stables.%u201cWe always look forward to the vibrant animation of Centre:mk which the International Festival provides,%u201d said Kevin Duff y, Centre Director. %u201cUsing the City as a stage, it provides an energy for visitors that captures the imagination in a unique way.%u201d %u201cIt was an exceptional Festival once again, bringing world-class cultural experiences to Milton Keynes,%u201d added Cllr Shankika Mahendran, from MK City Council.Highlights of the IF Festival are here: https://ifmiltonkeynes.org/lookback-at-if-2025.