Lucy Davies Brighton Festival
With festival season finally here, this month we chat to Lucy Davies, CEO of Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival.
Tell us about your personal journey to becoming Brighton Festival leader this year. I’ve been leading cultural organisations for nearly 20 years now. My first exec role was at the Donmar Warehouse, then I was the founding executive producer at National Theatre Wales, nine years at the Royal Court Theatre and most recently exec director at the Young Vic Theatre. I love venues. I love welcoming audiences into our spaces, and giving people great, memorable nights out. There is no building more beautiful than Brighton Dome and its three venues. What an honour to take on this fabulous organisation, and the delivery of Brighton Festival each year is a programming dream.
How do you feel about leading one the UK’s biggest arts festivals? I relish every moment of it. To be honest, we could do so much more! We pack as much as we can into those three weeks and four weekends, and it is such a turbo-charge of creative energy. The appetite from artists and audiences is huge, so we really feel we are meeting that enthusiasm and ambition. It is the city and its people that makes Brighton Festival so unique and special.
What can visitors expect from Brighton Festival’s 60th year? An unfolding sequence of very special, dynamic, ambitious, unique and extraordinary events. A true celebration of creative power. Legends and future legends.
Any major highlights for you? Our first Brighton Festival production, Kohlhaas, will be a magical experience in our beautiful Corn Exchange venue – one man, a brilliant story, a huge space. Ivan and Heather Morisons’ Soft Machines landing on Hove Prom. The massive scale of events in the music programme. The privilege of welcoming global artists to us, and knowing that Brighton Festival audiences will make them feel totally at home.
Tell us three things you love about Brighton. Tango dancers, the creative collaborators and fellow dreamers, early mornings at the shore.
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