AUTON Electronic Arts Festival (Chelmsford, United Kingdom) 2027

AUTON returns to Mettle Works in Chelmsford on Saturday 15 May 2027, running from midday through to 05:00. The festival programmes experimental and industrial electronic music alongside workshops, installations and performances, which is where the electronic arts part of the name comes from.

Mettle Works is the venue and the promoter. The site spans nearly 1,000 square metres divided between a warehouse space and a collection of studios, which means the festival has both the room for a dance floor and the smaller spaces that installation work needs.

The organisers are building on the 2026 edition with an expanded programme and run a mailing list for early ticket access. Chelmsford is 35 minutes from London Liverpool Street by direct train and 30 minutes from Stansted, which makes this one of the most accessible festival sites in the south east. Mid May in Essex is mild at around 17 degrees. For a British experimental music festival outside London, AUTON is the one worth the trip.