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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Laurie Anderson named Guest Director for 50th Brighton Festival
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 7 January 2016
Laurie Anderson will be the Guest Director of the Brighton Festival for its 50th year, it was announced this morning. She is the first musician to take up the role since Brian Eno in 2010, though her involvement in the arts obviously spreads much further than music. She will oversee the programme for the 2016 edition of the arts festival, which takes place in May.
“I’m so happy to be serving as Guest Director of Brighton Festival in its historic 50th year”, says Anderson. “Our theme of home and place is especially relevant with so many people in the world on the move now looking, like all of us, for a place we can belong. I’ve been part of the festival several times and it was exciting to watch the city become the heart of so much art. I’m looking forward to being part of it this year”.
Clearly hoping that we’re going to put ourselves through the ordeal of doing another one of these in December, Brighton Festival boss Andrew Comben said he was both “thrilled” and “honoured” to confirm “such a major international figure as Guest Director for Brighton Festival 2016. In our 50th year, it feels right to reflect on the original intentions of the Festival which from the start were about celebrating international culture, the new and the avant-garde”.
“Laurie Anderson has been experimenting, creating and challenging audiences all over the world for almost as long as Brighton Festival has existed”, he continued. “Indeed, she’s been a part of the festival’s journey in past years with some very special commissions and appearances in the city. She continues to break new ground in her own work and through collaborations with some of the most promising artists of the future, and we are looking forward to celebrating all this in what we hope will be a very special 50th Brighton Festival in May”.
The Brighton Festival takes place this year from 7-29 May, with the full programme due to be announced 17 Feb.
