New festival initiative - Collidescope

During Brighton Festival this year we launched a pilot engagement project for artists and creators to intensively engage with the festival programme. Titled Collidescope, the initiative enabled a selection of artists to attend a wide range of shows and events in the festival. They were able to network with fellow participants and share conversations with festival artists from across all disciplines with the ambition to spark creative ideas and collaborations in the future. Participants were encouraged to share their experiences and thoughts through festival-led social media.

The project was initiated by our Theatre Programmer, Orla Flanagan:

‘ I conceived this project partly because of my own good fortune of having a number of opportunities over the years to attend many different shows with a varied group of arts practitioners. These experiences have been very formative for me as a producer and programmer so I was keen that we provided an opportunity for a group of artists to experience the breadth and range of Brighton Festival. To see the work as a group over the three weeks and allow time and discourse to review how this art relates and potentially inspires their own practise and their own future projects. I am extremely excited about Collidescope and its future as a way to excite and ignite exceptional artists. ‘

The selected artists in the inaugural Collidescope were Graham Sowerby, Kate Laird, Sheila Ghelani, Sue MacLaine, Joel Scott, Yael Karavan and Rachel Henson. 

‘The Collidescope project provided me with invaluable insights into the practices of different artists and the challenges of different art forms. The opportunity to see such a wide variety of shows is one that will never be forgotten and will continue to inform me for many years to come’. Graham Sowerby

‘I feel newly connected into a network of artists and producers and support. I feel included in the conversation of art in our city’ Rachel Henson

For more information on the project, the participating artists and for their feedback please see

http://brightonfestival.org/news/collidescope