Brighton Festival

History

In 1964, the first moves were made to hold a festival in Brighton, and Ian Hunter, the eventual artistic director of the Festival, submitted a programme of ideas. This was followed by a weekend conference in 1965, and the board of the Brighton Festival Society was born. The inaugural festival was held in 1967, and included the first ever exhibition of concrete poetry in the UK, alongside performances by Laurence Olivier and Yehudi Menuhin.

In the introduction to the 1968 Festival programme, Ian Hunter explained the original intentions of the festival: “The aim of the Brighton Festival is to stimulate townsfolk and visitors into taking a new look at the arts and to give them the opportunity to assess developments in the field of culture where the serious and the apparently flippant ride side by side.”

In 2016, the Brighton Festival celebrated its 50th year. The festival's biggest talking point was Nutkhut's Dr Blighty, an ambitious, large-scale, free immersive, outdoor experience co-commissioned in partnership with Royal Pavilion & Museums and 14–18 NOW, which highlighted the story of wounded Indian soldiers hospitalised in Brighton during WW1. Ending each night with a spectacular light display using projection-mapping, Dr Blighty set the city and social media abuzz and drew audiences of almost 65,000 over its five-day run.

The festival regularly commissions new work from some artists and companies. The 2016 Brighton Festival featured 54 commissions, co-commissions, exclusives and premieres, including the UK premiere of Laurie Anderson's unique Music for Dogs, a concert specially designed for the canine ear; the UK premiere of Lou Reed Drones, an installation of Anderson's late husband's guitars and amps in feedback mode, which she described as "kind of as close to Lou's music as we can get these days", a re-enactment of every onstage death from the plays of William Shakespeare from Brighton-based Spymonkey and Tim Crouch; and Blast Theory & Hydrocracker's immersive undercover police drama Operation Black Antler.

In 2020, the festival was cancelled for the first time in its history as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Guest directors

Each year since 2009, the festival has appointed a guest artistic director.

• 2009: Anish Kapoor
• 2010: Brian Eno
• 2011: Aung San Suu Kyi
• 2012: Vanessa Redgrave
• 2013: Michael Rosen
• 2014: Hofesh Shechter
• 2015: Ali Smith
• 2016: Laurie Anderson
• 2017: Kae Tempest
• 2018: David Shrigley
• 2019: Rokia Traoré
• 2020: Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Lemn Sissay was to direct
• 2021: Lemn Sissay{{cite web|access-date=2021-03-31|date=31 March 2021|title=Brighton Festival reveals line-up as it returns in May 2021
• 2022: Marwa Al-Sabouni and Tristan Sharps
• 2023: Nabihah Iqbal
• 2024: Frank Cottrell-Boyce

References

References

1. (1 December 2016). "BBC Arts – How Dr Blighty shone a light on WW1 Indian soldiers at Brighton Royal Pavilion – BBC Arts". BBC.
2. (11 May 2016). "Concert designed for dogs shown at The Brighton Festival".
3. "Lou Reed Drones, BBC Arts – BBC Arts". BBC.
4. Dickson, Andrew. (9 May 2016). "Is this a bloodbath I see before me? The 75 deaths of Shakespeare". The Guardian.
5. (18 March 2020). "Coronavirus: Brighton Festival cancelled for first time in its history, as fringe is postponed". The Stage.
6. Conrad, Peter. (3 May 2009). "Round and round the gardens ...". The Guardian.
7. Green, Thomas H. (2 April 2010). "Brian Eno on the Brighton Festival". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
8. Toynbee, Polly. (16 April 2011). "Saturday interview: Aung San Suu Kyi". The Guardian.
9. (5 May 2012). "Vanessa Redgrave leads parade to open Brighton Festival". BBC News.
10. Higgins, Charlotte. (27 February 2013). "Brighton festival 2013 takes off, with Michael Rosen at helm". The Guardian.
11. James, Ben. (26 September 2013). "Brighton Festival's next guest director is revealed as Hofesh Shechter". The Argus.
12. Green, Thomas. (18 February 2015). "Brighton Festival 2015 Launches with Guest Director Ali Smith". The Arts Desk.
13. Brown, Mark. (7 January 2016). "Laurie Anderson to direct 2016 Brighton festival". The Guardian.
14. Eede, Christian. (21 September 2016). "Next Year's Brighton Festival Curator Announced". The Quietus.
15. (4 October 2017). "Brighton Festival names visual artist David Shrigley as 2018 Guest Director". Brighton Festival website.
16. (11 October 2018). "Malian singer Rokia Traore announced as Festival guest director for 2019". The Argus.
17. Bullmore, Harry. (18 March 2020). "Coronavirus Sussex: Brighton Festival cancelled".
18. Bastable, Bex. (5 December 2019). "Brighton Festival: Award-winning poet is named as guest director for 2020". Eastbourne Herald.
19. Green, Daniel. (16 February 2022). "Brighton Festival promises pre-pandemic scale in return in May". The Argus.
20. Wright, Jonathan. (5 May 2023). "INTERVIEW: Nabihah Iqbal On Brighton Festival Directorship". The Quietus.
21. Nicholson, Savannah. (3 December 2023). "Frank Cottrell-Boyce will be Brighton Festival's next guest director". The Argus.