Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival is delighted to announce that the theme for the 2016 Children’s Parade, which will take place on Saturday 7th May, is “Brighton celebrates”.
Jointly produced with award-winning community arts organisation Same Sky and supported by local businesses Class of their Own and Riverford, the annual Children’s Parade officially launches Brighton Festival and has delighted participants and spectators for over 25 years. The largest of its kind in Europe, the parade is attended by almost 5,000 children from schools and community groups from across the region and cheered on by many thousands of spectators.
With a different imaginative theme each year, previous parades have seen children dress up as everything from letters of the alphabet and Brighton street names to books, mermaids and even slices of cake. In 2016 participants will be invited to be part of a major historical milestone as Brighton Festival celebrates its 50th year, taking inspiration from the people, places, ideas and innovations that shape the city’s unique character and identity.
Established in 1967, the three week celebration of music, theatre, dance, visual art, film, literature and debate and family events has become one of the city’s most enduring symbols of inventiveness and celebration over the past half century. Renowned for its pioneering spirit and experimental reputation, Brighton Festival’s inaugural programme controversially included the first ever exhibition of Concrete Poetry in the UK, alongside performances by Laurence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins and Yehudi Menuhin.
Now one of Europe’s leading arts festivals, Brighton Festival is known for its ambitious and daring programme that aims to make the most of the city’s distinctive cultural atmosphere, drawing some of the most innovative artists and companies and adventurous audiences from the UK and around the world. The 50th Brighton Festival, which will take place from 7th-29th May 2016, will feature a wide range of international, national and local artists and companies including site-specific pieces, exclusives, world and UK premieres.
Pippa Smith, Brighton Festival 2016’s Children & Family programmer says: “In 2016 Brighton Festival proudly enjoys its 50th birthday, and we can think of no better way of launching this special event than by inviting the children of Brighton to take to the streets with the theme of celebration. Brighton schools and community organisations will be working hard over the coming months exploring creative ways of representing the very best of the people, places and ideas which form our beautiful city. 5000 children will take part in the annual opening parade on Saturday 7th May representing Brighton characters past and present, landmarks old and new and the ideas and innovations that will carry us into Festival 50 in an explosion of sound and colour.”
For more information visit www.brightonfestival.org