Brighton Festival 2023 highlights the joy of shared experiences

Connection and collaboration was at the forefront of this year’s Brighton Festival. Guest director, DJ, broadcaster and musician Nabihah Iqbal invited artists and audiences to ‘gather round’ and celebrate the arts. 

For its 56th edition, England’s largest curated multi-arts Festival brought 120 events from international, national and local artists to venues and outdoor locations in an ambitious programme that included seven world premieres, five UK premieres and eight Brighton Festival Commissions. 

In Shoreham-by-Sea, the immersive world premiere of John Lyly’s play Galatea, from theatre maker Emma Frankland, historian Andy Kesson, Brighton’s Marlborough Productions and outdoor theatre specialists Wildworks, included a community chorus of local residents alongside a large cast of deaf and hearing actors. 

Across the city at The Crew Club, youth theatre company ThirdSpace worked with Brighton People’s Theatre and Ceyda Tanc Dance on a modern re-imagining of the Greek tragedy Bakkhai. 

Brighton Festival’s community collaborations continued with Our Place, supported by higher education partner University of Sussex. The programme connected artists in residence with the communities of Hangleton and Knoll, East Brighton and Moulsecoomb, and Bevendean for creative projects including a new mural for Hangleton Community Centre. 

Elsewhere, London Symphony Orchestra shared their expertise with Brighton & East Sussex Youth Orchestra in a series of mentoring sessions ahead of the young musicians’ performance, supported by major sponsor Mayo Wynne Baxter. 

Further creative partnerships saw Nabihah Iqbal perform live with award-winning arts collective Invisible Flock in the Sumatran rainforest soundscape The Sleeping Tree, which was part of this year’s music programme, supported by major sponsor Moda. The Books and Debates programme had Iqbal also discussing life and music with BBC broadcaster Anita Rani and poet Linton Kwesi Johnson.

Critically acclaimed events included Van Gogh Alive. This innovativem immersive exhibition marks the reopening of Brighton Dome’s newly refurbished Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre, ahead of the spaces returning to live performances in the autumn.

This year’s programme included 123 free performances, continuing Brighton Festival’s aim to make the arts accessible to everyone. 

Groundswell, a large-scale interactive installation encouraging audiences to work together to create oceanic waves of sound and light, welcomed more than 20,000 participants across the Festival. Groundswell was presented in partnership with Brighton Fringe and made possible by The Pebble Trust.

The annual Children’s Parade, supported by Brighton Girls, saw more than 5,000 school children take to the streets to celebrate this year’s Parade theme ‘One world: learning and growing from each other’. 

A Weekend Without Walls series brought a colourful and vibrant programme of free, pop-up outdoor performances to hundreds of people in the closing weekend.

Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival said: “I’d like to thank everyone who has helped make this very special Festival possible – all our supporters, sponsors and funders and especially our audiences and artists. It has been wonderful to host so many sold-out performances and see the arts, creativity and culture truly thriving in Brighton and Hove this year.”

Brighton Festival returns next year from 4-26 May 2024.