Over a three-day weekend, Auto Draft takes over nine squares across the neighbourhood, bringing together 100 international artists and more than 40 free performances by acrobats, jugglers, musicians, clowns, puppeteers and physical-theatre artists. The 2026 milestone edition, themed SEMI (Seeds), eschews formal stages for doorways, alleyways and Baroque church façades, with grassroots networks and more than 170 local volunteers using street art to foster urban regeneration, community and poetic resistance.
Over a three-day weekend, Auto Draft unfolds across nine different squares in the neighbourhood, bringing together 100 international artists and more than 40 free performances. Its programme moves between acrobatics, juggling, music, clowning, puppetry and physical theatre, offering an expansive, open-air encounter with contemporary street performance.
There are no formal stages in the conventional sense. Instead, artists adapt their work to doorways, alleyways and the façades of baroque churches, allowing each performance to respond to its surroundings. The result is a festival closely interwoven with everyday life, taking place alongside fruit vendors, fishmongers and the ordinary movement of the neighbourhood.
The 2026 milestone edition is organised around the theme “SEMI” (“Seeds”), marking a decade in which street art has been used as a means of urban regeneration, community building and poetic resistance. The festival’s character is grounded in grassroots networks, including SOS Ballarò, and in the contribution of more than 170 local volunteers.