KATE Tempest has said her experience of guest directing Brighton Festival has been “crazy”.

The musician and poet followed artist Laurie Anderson, last year’s guest director, in curating the 51st edition of the three-week event.

Tempest has performed a number of times at the festival, from community stages in Whitehawk and East Brighton as part of her initiative Your Place to her two appearances at Brighton Dome. Her final concert at the venue is tonight.

She exclusively told The Argus: “The things I’ve been doing have been things I never would have had the opportunity to try out had it not been for this particular festival.”

She said her gig with composer Mica Levi, in which she performed her latest album Let Them Eat Chaos to a classical backing, was a highlight.

“Getting the opportunity to play with a string and woodwind ensemble; that was an experience that I’ve dreamed of but thought was completely impossible.”

Tempest added that the Your Place scheme, designed to extend the festival programme to less affluent areas of Brighton, was another standout memory.

“One of my big hopes was that we could do what we are doing, which is just bring the festival out a little bit, open it up, have some events going on in the communities for people who can’t make it into town for whatever reason.

“I hope that Your Place will carry on – it’s going to be a real success in terms of the impact on the communication between Brighton Festival and the communities around Brighton. I can feel it.”

The guest director added that her encounters with people during the festival have been “abundantly positive”.

“As I’ve been walking about Brighton and walking my dog, people have been stopping me, running up and being like ‘I was there’”.