IN selecting Kate Tempest as next year's guest director, Brighton Festival has resoundingly fulfilled its own brief: to be 'ambitious and daring.'

While other festivals might have opted for a more mainstream public face of the programme, Tempest is a genuinely cutting edge proposition who has already excelled in a range of art mediums at 31. She follows a tradition of left-field guest directors, including experimental artists and musicians Brian Eno and Laurie Anderson.

The festival is one of the most important annual fixtures for Brighton and Hove.

It is as much a part of this great city as Pride.

It helps us maintain our well deserved reputation as being cutting edge, a centre for artistic talent to flourish and a city with a burning social conscience.

Tempest possesses that elusive skill of seamlessly translating her disparate thoughts on social and personal life into cohesive, powerful words. You only have to listen to her rap Europe is Lost, for instance, to witness her expansive lyrical approach.

Over just five minutes, Tempest tackles poverty, immigration, selfie culture, the average British night out, global warming and more in a monologue that is as fluid as it is hard-hitting. She never misses a beat, but then again neither does Brighton.

The festival also brings thousands of tourists and their pounds into our economy. Previous guest directors have been as varied as Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave, Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and Turner Prize-winner artist Anish Kapoor.

Tempest's name may not be so well known but will no doubt keep the punters interested and coming back for more.

Brighton Festival could not have chosen a better contemporary icon to curate a dynamic and forward-thinking programme.