“Group was inherent within the start of the competition,” says Andrew Comben, chief govt of Brighton Pageant. “If you wish to rejoice the place, then it’s essential to be working alongside the communities that inhabit it. The entire essence of creating artwork is constructing relationships with folks.”
This yr’s visitor director is the acclaimed kids’s writer, screenwriter and author of the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, Frank Cottrell-Boyce. His purpose to infuse this yr’s occasion with hope, marvel, magic and enjoyable can be rooted within the competition’s community-focused ethos. “Frank is optimism on a stick,” laughs Comben. “He’s simply essentially the most unbelievable, beneficiant thoughts and great communicator. We felt it was so wanted to have that hopeful body across the competition this yr.”
Whereas many festivals parachute in huge names who come and go, the Brighton Pageant workforce has made it a core mission to combine and embed the neighborhood, and its native expertise, into the programme itself. “We rejoice the chance to convey worldwide artists to the town and to study from that cross-cultural trade,” says Comben. “However in the identical method, we additionally champion work that’s made regionally, usually by neighborhood contributors.”
The entire essence of creating artwork is constructing relationships with folks
Listed below are 5 methods through which the neighborhood actually does lie at the very coronary heart of this yr’s Brighton Pageant.
Brighton Pageant takes place from 4-26 Might. To search out out extra, go to brightonfestival.org
Essential picture: Jamie MacMillan