EES Fest in June 2026
As part of our Building the Future Campaign, to transform our premises into a new centre for Egyptian cultural heritage, the Egypt Exploration Society will be closed to the public from 1 April 2026. From this time, we will decant our irreplaceable archive collections to off-site storage for the duration of the transformation. Once the building has been emptied, we will host a festival of events throughout June 2026 to celebrate the Society and, in particular, our history in Doughty Mews!
As well as celebrating fond memories of Doughty Mews ahead of its transformation, the EES Fest will propel us into this exciting new chapter by generating funds for the Building the Future campaign. The generosity we have received from individuals and grant funders has been astonishing and has allowed us to plan in earnest for the next phases of the project. However, we still need funds to support us through the works and to realise the full potential of our plans. We therefore aim to raise £50,000 over the course of the EES Fest. There will be many opportunities to contribute to the campaign across the festival, whether that be through event tickets, purchases, or donations. With your help, we can ensure a bright future for the EES and for British Egyptology.
One of our launch events will be a private screening of the 1999 cinematic masterpiece The Mummy! Throughout the month, there will be various opportunities to visit the building, like at our Open Day, or socialise with fellow EES supporters, like at our online Quiz. You can also find out more about the campaign from the team at events throughout the festival. We will close EES Fest with our annual Summer Study Day, this year focusing on historical efforts to protect and preserve Egypt’s heritage as well as the concept of ‘preservation’. See below for a more comprehensive list of various in-person, online and hybrid events scheduled throughout the month or visit our events page to see our full programme.
Events for EES Fest
Takeovers and Partnerships!
For this fundraising month, we are also delighted to be partnering with other organisations for a selection of events. This will enable us to host bigger and better events than usual, as well as events relevant to the Society's history across the country! We are particularly excited for a range of Takover events, with Hekayyatna (Arabic for "our stories")! They are a community-driven production house, building connections, one story at a time. Various events will be happening throughout June, where they will take over the empty EES office to throw some fun events inspired by our work and collections, from a photography exhibition throughout the month to a family fun day and supper club! See and book their events below.
Call for Egyptian Photographers
Hekayyatna are looking for Egyptian photographers! Selected work will be exhibited and sold at the Egypt Exploration Society in the Behind the Scenes photography exhibition in London throughout June 2026, in dialogue with archival photographs from the EES's collections.
Get involved
Want to do an event in your local area to support the EES? Want to run a sponsored activity to help us raise funds? Get in touch! We'd love support from members across the UK, and we're happy to share any fundraising events hosted by partner organisations on our website. Can't attend an event but want to support our Building the Future campaign? Share our festival using #EESFest or download and display our poster. Donate online now or download a support form to show your support!
