is an international performance festival (previously produced by Fierce Earth[1]) that has taken place annually in and around Birmingham, England since 1997.
In 2011 Fierce Festival reappeared after several years absence under the new joint artistic direction of Laura McDermott and Harun Morrison with the tagline 'Live Art.
In 2019 The Guardian Newspaper gave the Festival five stars and described it as 'a daring whirl of theatrical thrills'[5] In 2024, after seven successful years, Aaron Wright left Fierce to become Head of Performance and Dance at the Southbank Centre and Clayton Lee become Director (Artistic) of Fierce alongside co-directors Pippa Frith (Producing) and Catherine Groom (Operations).
In 2022 Aaron led special Fierce projects, Key to the City, a major participatory public realm artwork by Paul Ramírez Jonas and The Healing Gardens of Bab, a three-week programme exploring colonialism and queerness, as part of Birmingham 2022 Festival for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Fierce festival has also presented performances by numerous artists including Ron Athey, Franko B, Gob Squad, Tim Miller, Forced Entertainment and more.