18 Mar 2014
We have a few spaces for our press trip on the first weekend of May. The trip gives journalist exclusive tickets to all four festival shows and performances and also gives interview access to the festival directors and key performers. Please let me know if this sounds of interest.
Festivals in Brighton are growing year on year, with 2013 continuing the trend of increasing ticket sales and shows every year. Festivals in Brighton will of be back from 3rd May 2014, where the collection of festivals, including Brighton Festival, Brighton Fringe, Artist’s Open Houses and HOUSE, will transform the south coast city into the epicentre of cutting edge music, dance, visual art, free events, outdoor performance, spoken word, theatre and film.
Brighton Fringe 2014: 3rd May – 1st June
Fringe 2014 is set to be bigger and better than ever before – last year saw record numbers attending the city with over 270,000+ attendances which was a 32% increase on 2012
As with last year the festival will be extending for an extra week at the end of May to incorporate half term and 2014 is the pilot year of WINDOW, Brighton Fringe’s showcase of exciting new shows available for touring, from 2–7 May, made possible by grant funding secured from Arts Council England.
Highlights
· Fringe has over 100 shows at the beautiful Warren hidden away in central Brighton with their secret garden
· Pink Fringe will have a very innovative app-based series of shows – app is called PERFORMR (based on popular app GRINDR) Also for Pink Fringe will be 30 shows on at the Marlborough Theatre, the little gem of a venue opposite the Royal Pavilion.
· The Nightingale will have only one event but it will be very unique – a one-on-one performance written by Tim Crouch (he wrote The Author for the Royal Court and directed productions at the RSC) that people will pass onto each other, starting from our Victorian bathing machine on New Road
· Lastly (and just announced) is the new addition of the Brighton Fringe Urban Artfestin collaboration with ArtRepublic which will see disadvantaged youths in Brighton benefit from training with well known street artists. Artrepublic will now be working with Tarner Youth Project on a 4 week workshop for a group of 10 -15 youths. The objective of the workshops is for the youths to gain an award at the end of the programme and also to discourage tagging (graffiti signatures on buildings). Artrepublic are using 2 of their artists to work with the youth group for 4 weeks and then for them to produce a final piece at Circus Street on Saturday 31st May. Artrepublic will then have 2 of their more high profile artists (Pure Evil and Copyright and more) producing works straight to the venue walls and also on moveable structures so that these can then be auctioned off at a later date and proceeds would then so to the youth project. The event on Saturday will be instead of Fringe City so will also have performances from some acts in the Fringe as well as other youth groups ie. Dance, Free running.*
ARTISTS OPEN HOUSES HIGHLIGHTS 2014 – 3,4,10,11,17,18,24,25 May (weekends)
Twice a year artists and makers open their houses and studios, providing art lovers the chance to browse and buy original artwork direct from the artist. With a focus on quality and value for money, the Artists Open Houses festival aims to bring a dynamic mix of arts and crafts to the widest possible audience, providing visitors and viewers with engaging and inspiring experiences. Visitors can expect to see a wide range of art including jewellery, ceramics and textiles, paintings, sculpture, printmaking, photography and many other media whilst also having the opportunity to chat directly with the artists. The Artists Open Houses festival is free for visitors and open to everyone.
Highlights:
· Brighton’s Smallest Pub - The Blue House, Agnes Street, Hanover - Competing for the title of Britain Smallest Pub, The Blue House will be creating a pub in the front room of their house and showing the work of 17 artists including Megan Robinson (collage) Emii Smid (illustrations), Charlie Lyons (wirework) and live music.
· Award winning illustrators Chris Riddell and Ed Kluz at Ravenswood
· Chris Riddell, artist, illustrator, author, winner of the Costa Children’s Book Award 2014 (for Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse) has illustrated many best-loved children’s books. Chris and his artist wife Jo Riddell, a printmaker and painter, will be opening their house exhibiting an eclectic mix of printmaking, illustration, fine art photography, jewelry and sculpture from a group of artists including illustrator Ed Kluz who as a designer and illustrator has received commissions from St Jude's fabrics, the V&A, Faber and Random House.
· Danish Contemporary Ceramics show at The Ceramic House, Brighton Winner of Best Open House Award, 2013, The Ceramic House is a remarkable house belonging to ceramicist J Kay Aplin that in itself is a living ceramic installation. For the 2014 festival, Kay Aplin will be curating an exhibition of contemporary work from 14 of Denmark’s leading ceramicists.
· 2014 Artist Open House brochure cover artist and a V & A Illustration Award prize winner Jonny Hannah’s work has graced the pages of Vogue, GQ and The New York Times. Under the moniker, Cakes and Ale Press, Jonny produces linocuts, screen-prints, limited edition affordable prints and artist books all of which will be on show and available to buy.
· Ralph Levy’s Handmade House. A visit to the Handmade House is like stepping back in time. A charming 1930’s cottage, where everything from Ralph’s simple ironwork furniture to the doorhandles, the beds to the ceramics in which you drink tea and the paintings on the wall are for sale. The house shows an eclectic mix of local artists and sculptors and there is a pop up restaurant in the garden.
· UK Contemporary Open House - a group exhibition combining cutting edge Brighton street art, expressive painting, prints, architectural sculpture and photography. There will also be several street art demonstrations throughout the month. Artists include Elise Buddle (abstract)Cassette Lord (stencil art) Tim Bates (architectural sculpture) and Zeezee 22 (stencil art)
BRIGHTON FESTIVAL 2014: 3rd -25th MAY
www.brightonfestival.orgTwitter: @brightfest
Brighton Festival - an annual celebration of music, theatre, dance, circus, art, film, literature, debate, outdoor and family events - will take place in venues across the city. The festival is thrilled to announce that the 2014 Guest Director is critically acclaimed choreographer, musician, composer and performer Hofesh Shechter. Recognised as one of the UK’s most exciting contemporary artists, Shechter is renowned for creating raw, physical live contemporary dance pieces set to his own, highly-charged, atmospheric musical scores. His eponymous Company are a Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival resident company, and their brand new work Sun – co-commissioned by Brighton Festival – will open the three week arts extravaganza on Saturday 3rd May when it comes ‘home’ at the conclusion of its first world tour.
Highlights:
· Sun
-The first show revealed as part of Brighton Festival 2014’s programme is Hofesh Shechter’s new full length piece Sun. Opening on four dates across three continents this autumn, the Sun world tour will make its final performances of its first world tour at the opening weekend of Brighton Festival 2014. With an expanded company of 14 world-class dancers and an eclectic soundtrack composed by Shechter himself, this new work tells of the darkness of Shechter’s emotive and often angry world from which emerges a bright white light dancing out of the smoke and chaos. Sun sees Shechter work once again alongside his close collaborator Lee Curran, the Olivier Award-nominated lighting designer.
· Nowhere and Everywhere
-Schechter passionately talked about William Forsythe’s ‘nowhere and everywhere’ at the launch (25th Feb) of Brighton Festival. The blend of artwork and choreography lets the audience become the dancer. The art installation makes you move inside.
· Opening Night
- Les Slovaks –Opening night, is a little hint of Schechter’s creative and humorous ways. “Opening night is held at the end of festival, I should speak to someone about it, I like to play with beginings and ends – don’t know why”.
HOUSE: 3rd – 25th May
http://www.housefestival.org/house-festival-2014
HOUSE, Brighton’s festival of visual art and domestic space, is delighted to announce Yinka Shonibare MBE as the Lead Artist for its sixth edition, in a co-commission with Brighton Festival 2014. The festival is supported by an Arts Council England National Lottery funded Grants for the Arts award and the 2014 guest curator is Celia Davies, Director, Photoworks.
Highlights:
· The British Library
-Inspired by the immigration, migration and refuge themes of HOUSE 2014, Shonibare MBE’s The British Library is presented in the dramatic Edwardian surroundings of the former Reference Library in Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, once the stable block for the Royal Pavilion.
-The artist’s installation depicts the names of one thousand British immigrants who throughout history have made significant contributions to British culture and society. The names – including Henry James, T S Eliot, Ignatius Sancho, Hans Holbein and Kazuo Ishiguro - appear on the spines of books bound in Shonibare’s trademark fabric and organised on the Library’s original wood bookcases. The British Library is in a room used for research for almost a hundred years by academics, historians, writers and local residents, and close to the Museum’s collections of art, ethnography and archaeology.
-Responding to the Festival’s themes, four artists selected by HOUSE through regional Open Submission will present works in Regency Town House, Lighthouse and Waste House, a new low energy pre-fabricated house built within the University of Brighton. This is the first time the Open Submission artists have featured in Brighton Festival in pre-determined spaces in the city.
-Ends-
For further information please contact:
Phoebe Oliver
Tel: 01273818112
Email: phoebe@oliverrelations.co.uk
