Duffield Arts Festival was founded in 2016 by village resident Jonathan Leach following a desire for more community events in the village.

The inaugural 2016 Arts Festival featured a variety of shows and exhibitions across several venues in Duffield including:

The festival also featured a village-wide scarecrow trail where households and local businesses were invited to create a scarecrow based on a well known fictional character of their choosing. Over 50 scarecrows were created for the 2016 festival, and all were dotted at various locations all over the village.

Competitions also formed a part of the 2016 festival including a Story Writing Competition and a Childrens Colouring Competition, both of which were open to entrants in the village and beyond.