2011: Aung San Suu Kyi

Brighton Festival celebrated liberty and freedom with Guest Director Aung San Suu Kyi in 2011.

Artists, both local and international, responded to these themes to create a powerful and wide-ranging programme of events across 23 days. These included Brighton Festival-commissioned works from Turkish artist Kutluğ Ataman in the disused Old Municipal Market; Belgian dance company les ballets C de la B in Alain Platel’s new work Gardenia; French theatre company Peut-être Theatre; Mexican theatre company Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes; British outdoor performance artists Wired Aerial and Nigel Jamieson; site-specific theatre specialists Hydrocracker; as well as world premieres from theatre director Neil Bartlett, actor Joe Bone and a new narration to the concert performance of Fidelio from writer Simon Butteriss.
 

The wider audience responded too with standing ovations to Aung San Suu Kyi's message at the opening Asian Dub Foundation concert and participated actively in the lotus flower appeal: more than 2,000 were made by visitors symbolising the 2,000 political prisoners in Burma. We know that significant awareness and funds were raised for Burma Campaign UK.