It takes place in Canterbury (England) and surrounding towns and villages (including Faversham, Whitstable and Margate) each October/November and includes performances of a variety of types of music, art, comedy, circus, theatre, walks, talks and a Science strand.
It has featured performances by Sir Willard White, Michael Nyman, Hugh Masekela, Rebecca Stephens, Texas, Joanna MacGregor, Van Morrison, Bryn Terfel, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Tom Allen, Michael Mcintyre and Ned Sherrin and by ensembles such as the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, the Endellion and Brodsky Quartets, the Ensemble Cordial, Brass 10 and the Soweto Gospel Choir.
Guest artists during his time included John Masefield, Gustav Holst, Dorothy L. Sayers, and T. S. Eliot (whose 1935 drama Murder in the Cathedral was commissioned by Bell for the festival).
The Festival is also supported by Headline Sponsors Kent College and Paul Roberts Associates, alongside local support and funding from businesses, organisations and trusts from across East Kent, as well as Corporate Members, Vice Presidents and the Festival Friends.
Between 2013 and 2019 Canterbury Festival presented a programme of unique events in the Salon Perdu Spiegeltent, a 1920s Art Nouveau temporary venue.