This year’s Brighton Festival marks a new era for the event as the full line-up was revealed.
Returning to the city and surrounding areas from May 1 to 26 with over 100 events, this will be the first festival under the artistic leadership of new chief executive Lucy Davies.
Established in the late 1960s, this year marks the 60th edition of the festival.
After sixteen years operating a guest director model, Brighton Festival will be curated by the festival programming team led by Ms Davies with producing director Beth Burgess.
The new model has enabled the festival to begin producing original work for the very first time.
Festival organisers also want to deepen the event’s connection to the city and explore new partnership opportunities and collaborations both in the South East and internationally.
The largest festival of its kind in England and a major event in the international arts calendar, Brighton Festival attracts artists from all around the world while celebrating home grown talent.
“I thank and celebrate all the people and partners involved in creating this landmark 60th edition of Brighton Festival,” said Ms Davies.
“We honour an extraordinary legacy and look ahead to festivals to come as Brighton Festival enters an exciting new chapter. We will produce original work in theatre and land art and invite truly great artists to treat our beautiful Brighton Dome building as a site.
“The roll-call of artists and the volume of exceptional work taking place with 105 events across 24 days this May proves what a thriving ecosystem our festival exists within. From Making It Out to the Lost Woods Project and the Table Tennis Club, Brighton Festival collaborates with partners in art, nature and civic life across the city and the region.
“Our mission is to enrich the city, to welcome world class artists, and to create lifelong memories for the many audiences who make the festival so dynamic every May.”
See our full interview with Ms Davies here
From 2026 onwards, world class artists and performance companies will transform Brighton Dome’s newly restored Corn Exchange into a hub for theatrical events. Opening this year’s programme is the world premiere of Kohlhaas (May 1 to 5), the first original work to be produced by Brighton Festival.
Directed by Omar Elerian (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Rhinoceros, Misty) and starring Arinzé Kene (Misty, Girl From The North Country, Get Up Stand Up) in their first collaboration since Misty, the adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist’s novella Michael Kohlhaas delves into the psychology of protest and resistance.
The Corn Exchange programme will also feature a five-hour durational performance by twelve children and one adult percussionist in Fevered Sleep’s Time Keeps The Drummer (May 8- 10); Clod Ensemble and Nu Civilisation Orchestra’s live dance celebration of Charles Mingus’ seminal album The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (May 16 to 17); and fix+foxy’s reimagining of the birth of modern America performed by a South African cast, Dark Noon (May 21 to 24).
Live-art company KlangHaus will present two site-responsive, immersive experiences (May, Anita’s Room, May 2 to 23) which will blend moving images, live music, light, sound-design and staging. Last Haus on Earth dismantles the barriers between performers and audiences in an audio-visual sensorial storm, while in Darkroom audiences of six are plunged into darkness in this visceral response to climate change.
Beyond Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, the festival’s performance programme includes the world premiere of NoFit State’s carnation: the revolution is coming and I have nothing to wear (May, Black Rock, May 2 to 25), created and directed by Firenza Guidi (Sabotage) and combining circus, live music and cinematic imagery to explore rebellion, resistance and hope in turbulent times; the return of the Emma Rice Company with a revival of their hit Malory Towers (May, Theatre Royal Brighton, May 19 to 23) and the final touring production from The Akram Khan Company, Thikra: Night of Remembering (May 23 to 24, Brighton Dome Concert Hall).
Land art, visual art and social sculpture collide in the world premiere of Soft Machines (May 2 to 24), a major new commission by Brighton-based artist Ivan Morison and his long-term collaborator Heather Peak.
Made from agricultural materials, monumental embodied forms will appear on Hove Promenade in this large-scale artwork - a love letter to Brighton, the city where Morison and Peak first met and trained. Soft Machines will be built in collaboration with Millimetre and Making It Out, a Brighton based charity working with people after prison to build skills and stable futures through creative design and manufacture.
The visual art line-up also includes the world premiere of Shhh… by Abigail Norris and Isobel Smith (May 2 to 31, Marine Workshops, Newhaven), which explores silence as a charged force and an immersive installation and soundscape by artist duo Antonio Jose Guzman and Iva Jankovic A Timeline of Infinite Skies (May 2 to June 28, Phoenix Art Space) which reflects on Brighton and Hove’s largely hidden or forgotten legacies resulting from the forced migration of enslaved people.
Global music icons, exclusive collaborations and one-off concerts from critically acclaimed artists, orchestras and ensembles characterise the music programme for Brighton Festival 2026. Patti Smith returns to Brighton Festival for a two-night residency, performing with her long-time collaborators as The Patti Smith Quartet (May 12, Brighton Dome Concert Hall). In addition, Smith will present an exclusive event for Brighton Festival, An Evening of Words and Music (May 13, Brighton Dome Concert Hall) which will see the performer, author and visual artist showcasing her spoken word and poetry as she combines it with an intimate live musical performance.
In a UK exclusive especially for the festival’s 60th edition, pioneering multimedia artist and previous Brighton Festival guest director Laurie Anderson presents The Republic of Love (May 6, Brighton Dome Concert Hall). An immersive multi-sensory experience of song, language and visual art, the show will feature songs from the past that take on new meaning in the current political climate, including Anderson’s Big Science and Language Is A Virus.
The contemporary music line-up also features an exclusive one-off collaboration between artist Sampa The Great and Zamrock pioneers W.I.T.C.H. who will join forces for a night of psychedelic rock, hip-hop and soul, celebrating music born from independence, resilience and creative freedom (May 9, Brighton Dome Concert Hall); fresh off the release of his brand-new album, singer, composer and transgender activist Beverly Glenn-Copeland will perform his blend of folk, jazz, classical and electronic music at the festival (May 1, Brighton Dome Concert Hall); five-time Grammy Award winner Angélique Kidjo will bring her striking voice and stage presence as part of the Hope Tour (May 16, Brighton Dome Concert Hall); a celebration of cult movie La Haine (May 7, Brighton Dome Concert Hall) with a live soundtrack by Asian Dub Foundation; musicians from 16 countries come together as part of One World Orchestra (May 1, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre) where ancient instruments meet contemporary beats; and a celebration of Bronski Beat’s defiant debut album, The Age of Consent (May 2, Brighton Dome Concert Hall) reimagined by groundbreaking queer and trans contemporary artists including Planningtorock, Tom Rasmussen and Bishi.
In the classical programme, a bold new staging of Bach’s St John Passion (May 4, Brighton Dome Concert Hall) will take place throughout the Brighton Dome Concert Hall auditorium bringing together the artistry of the Britten Sinfonia, young soloists from Les Arts Florissants, the Brighton Festival Chorus and Youth Choir; countertenor Iestyn Davies and harpist Oliver Wass (May 20, Royal Pavilion Music Room) will span 400 years of music from Monteverdi to Anna Meredith in a single concert; international star pianist Denis Kozhukhin performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with The London Symphony Orchestra under Chief Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano (May 8, Brighton Dome Concert Hall); the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra performs Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10, set to William Kentridge’s animated film Oh To Believe in Another World (May 17, Brighton Dome Concert Hall), a dream-like “Soviet museum” created using collage, puppets and masked actors.
In the literature programme, Joelle Taylor performs a staged reading of her new poetry collection Maryville (May 8 to 9, Brighton Dome Studio Theatre); a searing, poetic excavation of 50 years of lesbian counterculture, directed by Neil Bartlett with visuals from artist and filmmaker Sweatmother. Taylor will also join award-winning writer Yomi Ṣode and a host of local talent for the return of Status Flo (May 18, Brighton Dome Corn Exchange), curated and hosted by AFLO. the poet.
Past Festival guest director, former Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen will team up with award-winning rapping teacher and World Book Day ambassador, MC Grammar for Ridiculous Raps and Rhymes (May 3, Brighton Dome Concert Hall), a high-energy, laugh-filled musical celebration of words. Philippa Perry will discuss her new book Shrink Solves Murder (May 7), and Brighton Festival brings together a group of speakers led by campaigner and founder of Hope not hate Nick Lowles to respond live to the provocation How to Defeat the Far Right May 11, Brighton Dome Corn Exchange).
Thousands of Sussex residents and children are once again taking part in the festival this year. To mark the start of the festival, thousands of people will take to the streets to celebrate the 40th Children’s Parade, the largest parade of its kind in Europe. Presented by Brighton Festival and Same Sky, the parade, which is inspired by 2026 as the National Year of Reading, will see the streets of Brighton come alive with large-scale artworks and costumes created by hundreds of school children from across the city.
Since 2017, communities and resident artists have created work with lasting impact as part of Our Place, Brighton Festival’s annual programme developed in partnership with community steering groups and originally inspired by former guest director Kae Tempest. 2026 marks the 10th edition of Our Place, which will be celebrated with a free Family Fun Day at Brighton Dome (May 4), while artist Leo collaborates with residents of East Brighton to create land art and sculptures which will form part of a temporary art trail around Whitehawk and in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, puppeteer Darren East leads community workshops to create a live and interactive performance using giant puppetry, masks and music.
There will be over 25 free events taking place during this year’s festival, including two weekends of free performances from outdoor arts experts Without Walls. Taking place in locations across Brighton and Hove, Weekend Without Walls will have nine festival commissions from UK outdoor artists including; Garbh (womb) an outdoor dance work that reimagines ancient Gujarati Folk Dance ‘Garba’; Talawa Theatre Company’s Fragments of Us, an intimate exploration of identity, resilience, vulnerability, centring on a cast of black men and boys; and Nigel ‘Kobby’ Taylor’s The Torch where Afrobeat, hip-hop, rap and storytelling collide in a piece of high-energy gig-theatre.
Tickets for Brighton Festival 2026 will go on sale to members on Thursday, February 19 and on general sale Thursday, February 26.
Brighton Festival 2026 is supported by funders Brighton and Hove City Council and Arts Council England; principal supporter The Pebble Trust; major sponsor Mayo Wynne Baxter; higher education partner University of Sussex; as well as other sponsors, patrons, members and supporters. The Argus is again the festival's media partner.
