Brighton Festival Thanks Everyone At Home
1500 ticket buyers have donated back their ticket purchases to Brighton Festival after it was cancelled due to the coronavirus crisis. As a thank you for the public’s on-going support and generosity, Brighton Festival is offering a selection of free online events, featuring artists who would have performed in Brighton this May, along with contributions from artistic partners.
Brighton Festival at Home began with the Children’s Parade at Home on Sat 2 May and continues with live performances; family-friendly activities; artist masterclasses and a few surprise messages from famous faces, scheduled across digital platforms throughout May when the Festival would have been in full swing across the city.
This year’s Brighton Festival Guest Director, Lemn Sissay MBE will host an exclusive live reading and debate based on his best-selling memoir, My Name is Why. Reflecting on a childhood in foster care, self-expression and Britishness, Lemn will be in conversation with writer Hannah Azieb Pool, with questions invited from the public.
Brighton-based Rachel Blackman was due to perform the world premiere of her Festival commissioned show and will create a new adaptation live from her home. Tiny Failures will see Rachel interview a guest artist to recount their personal life disasters, in an uplifting and humorous look at how we can all take comfort from each other’s mistakes.
On Saturday 9 May at 10pm, Brighton Festival will partner with Sam Lee’s Singing with Nightingales, a live audio broadcast taking listeners on a journey into the Sussex woods to hear nightingale birdsong mixed with a real-time duet with guest musician Alice Zawadksi and a special poetry reading by Lemn Sissay.
Comedians Sofie Hagen and Mark Watson give us a glimpse into how they’re coping with life in lockdown with short video sketches. Performance artist Rachel Mars reveals the secrets behind a celebrity love letter in an intimate late-night video chat with friends. British vocal ensemble, I Fagiolini will be offering a sing-along musical lesson with their performers led by acclaimed director Robert Hollingworth. Australian circus act Gravity & Other Myths share their acrobatic skills in a series of physical tutorials. Drag Queen Story Hour UK’s Aida H Dee will bring her own unique style with a fun and educational reading for families to enjoy together. And in an exclusive partnership with Fuel Theatre, the festival will be running a competition to win an invitation to take part in Love Letters Straight From Your Heart, a live participatory event in which the audience and actors offer dedications and declarations of love, past and present.
Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Festival said:
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the way our audiences responded to the news of the festival’s cancellation. By donating in such numbers our community has shown how much the festival means to them and enabled us to look forward to the future with confidence that it will return. Although we can’t replicate the festival experience, we wanted to thank everyone for their support, connect online and keep the spirit of Brighton Festival alive. We are grateful to our guest director Lemn Sissay and the other artists who have offered to share their work digitally. The arts have the power to lift our spirits, inspire our imaginations and support our mental health during difficult times, and we hope online audiences enjoy a small part of the Festival at home this May.”
Brighton Festival is a registered charity and almost two thirds of the festival costs would have been covered by ticket sales. Brighton Festival at Home events are free to watch online and viewers have the option of contributing a suggested donation in order to help support the Festival’s future and its work with artists and community partner organisations.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic Brighton Festival 2020 was cancelled for the first time in its 53-year history. Scheduled to take place from 2 to 24 May 2020, the largest annual, multi-arts festival in England would have featured over 120 cultural events across the region, including 17 premieres, commissions, co-productions and many Festival debuts from international artists.
