ORGANISERS of Brighton Festival have promised an "ambitious" line-up and a return to its pre-pandemic scale when it returns later this year.
The event is set to return to the city in May, with 150 events over three weeks and, for the first time, the festival is hosting two guest directors, architect and author Marwa Al-Sabouni and artistic director Tristan Sharps - with the festival's theme based around "Rebuilding".
Marwa, who lives in the Syrian city of Homs, said that during her time in the city, she has experienced the demise of the city through architecture during the civil war in the country.
She said: "The theme of rebuilding is our response to the many forms of erosion that took place around the world in the past few years.
"Not only the physical destruction of homes and communities but also the loss of what brings us together and what makes us belong.
Tristan, who lives in the London Road area of Brighton, said: "For me, our theme of rebuilding is not just about reconstructing your physical surroundings - it's also about reinventing and reimagining those surroundings, and I strongly believe that it's this way that we can reconnect not just with those surroundings and the world around us, but with ourselves as well."
Andrew Comben, chief executive of Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, said: "Our guest directors reflect Brighton Festival's and our city's spirit of openness and inquiry.
"They help us consolidate the festival's reputation as a crucible of ideas; artistic, political, philosophical, ethical - creating a space where art can illuminate and comment upon the complexities of our world."
This year's programme includes the world-premiere of Unchain Me, an exciting multimedia performance inspired by Dostoyevsky's novel The Possessed, in which a provincial town descends into chaos as it becomes the focal point of an attempted uprising, orchestrated by a shadowy conspirator.
Events also include the UK premiere of Witness Stand, with a series of sound works that respond to five sites across the city that "reverberate with ancient, recent, and future stories" of Brighton, performances by The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians, a joint event with Charleston Festival hosting Nobel Prize for Literature winner Abdul Razzaq Gurnah, and the Children's Parade, which will welcome 5,000 of the city's school children along with their teachers onto the streets of the city in a sea of colour and creativity.
The festival will also feature an entirely new space for social and artistic exchange along Hove's seafront, known as The Riwaq. Inspired by Marwa's Syrian architectural heritage, The Riwaq will play hosting to a range of events to highlight creativity in communities across the region.
Mr Comben said that this year's range of events would be in "sharp contrast" to those offered last year during the height of the pandemic, promising more community and local programming partners than ever before, and a return to full capacity indoor events.
He said: "It's wonderful that Brighton Festival is back to the scale of festival we enjoyed before the pandemic.
"Our conversations around rebuilding are an opportunity to explore new and strengthen existing partnerships, as the redevelopment of Brighton Dome's Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre heads towards completion later this year.
"Thanks to the steadfast support from funders Brighton & Hove City Council, Arts Council England and DCMS’s Cultural Recovery Fund along with major sponsors, supporters and our audiences we can emerge from the pandemic to play our full role in Rebuilding the confidence and cohesion of our communities through arts and culture."
The festival returns to Brighton from May 7 to May 29.
Have you got a story for us? Email news@theargus.co.uk or contact us here.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.
Sign up to our newsletter to get updates sent straight to your inbox.
You can also call us on 01273 021 400.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here