Confidence high as Brighton Festival gets ready to start

SussexWorld

Andrew Comben’s advice is to snap up those tickets while you still can.

Transcript

00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for the Ed Sussex newspapers,

00:07 and it's always lovely, it seems to come around quicker and quicker, to speak to Andrew

00:10 Conban with the exciting Brighton Festival coming along, a huge range of events over

00:16 a number of weeks. How has it come together this year?

00:21 Well it's been really wonderful to bring this festival to life because Frank Cultural

00:25 Voices, our guest director, has just been an extraordinary inspiration to work with.

00:33 He's got one of those imaginations that's completely infectious, he loves anything and

00:39 everything and the way that they connect to each other, and that's absolutely brilliant

00:44 for a festival because all of the connective tissue of arts and culture but also of life

00:51 itself is what you want to explore in a festival and I'm really excited that this year we're

00:55 concentrating on ideas around a hopeful future but also what's really wonderful in the world

01:04 and what's wonderful in art.

01:05 Well absolutely, we hear so much about all the things that are not quite so wonderful

01:10 about the world, is that the idea, to give us an escape, an alternative?

01:15 Yes, I mean whether an escape or not, I certainly think the opportunity to look around, to look

01:23 up and to also imagine. Frank talked wonderfully about how unless you imagine a brighter future

01:33 you can't actually achieve one.

01:36 And you've made it into existence.

01:39 And artists are brilliant at doing that and so we really wanted to bring artists and audiences

01:46 together in that spirit, not escaping from the realities of the world and indeed some

01:54 of our work this year delves into what is currently going on and what's wrong but always

02:02 with a hopeful imagination for the future.

02:04 So it sounds like we get a true reflection of Frank's personality coming through the

02:08 programme.

02:09 I hope so, I think so.

02:12 And above all there's just a massive amount of fun to be had in this three-week festival.

02:19 And adding to the fun is the fact that you have crucial venues back, don't you, for the

02:23 first time?

02:24 Yeah indeed, so the Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre which are just beautiful as well,

02:30 they're amazingly restored and the opportunity to work back in those spaces for the festival

02:35 is a real treat because it means we can bring a whole array of international artists and

02:43 national figures back to the festival in a way that we haven't been able to do for several

02:47 years.

02:48 Absolutely, and sadly this will be your last festival.

02:51 Does that make it feel very different as you go into it?

02:55 It makes it feel very poignant and I'm looking forward to it even more if that's possible

03:00 and draining every drop of energy out of it that I possibly can.

03:05 And I'm really looking forward to seeing the audiences and artists who are coming together.

03:12 It's feeling like a really, really popular festival this year and so I'm looking forward

03:17 to seeing everybody and celebrating with them.

03:19 Well we will have to do the proper valedictory chat at the end of the festival, won't we?

03:24 But the fact is things are booking well.

03:27 They are indeed and I hope that everybody can take this opportunity to look again at

03:32 the festival programme and really grab hold of some precious tickets.

03:37 There are some wonderful events like Marissa Karnesky's Show Women, which is a spectacular

03:43 circus piece on the last weekend of the festival and I'd really encourage people to have a

03:47 look at that and grab hold of it.

03:48 And that sounds like a fantastic way for the festival to go out for this year, doesn't

03:52 it?

03:53 Absolutely, yeah.

03:54 Well good luck with everything.

03:55 Congratulations on the festival programme that's come together and what you've achieved

03:59 over your tenure and looking forward to seeing it all.

04:02 Thank you very much.

04:03 Thanks very much, Phil.

04:04 Thank you.

04:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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