Festivals in Brighton

Brighton & Hove is a City of Festivals with an eclectic annual programme of events including Paddle Round the Pier; Brighton Pride and Burning the Clocks.

The main month for Festivals in Brighton is May as the Brighton Festival; Brighton Fringe; Artists Open Houses and the Great Escape take place in the city centre and in Sussex there’s the Elderflower Fields and Charleston Festivals too. These fantastic arts & cultural events take place months before the Edinburgh Festival so book a break in Brighton during May and see it first!

Brighton Festival

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This year’s Guest Director is acclaimed poet Lemn Sissay MBE. Established in 1967, Brighton Festival is the largest and most established annual curated multi-arts festival in England. Running from 2 to 24 May 2020, it opens with the popular Children’s Parade, produced in partnership with Same Sky. Appearing exclusively in Brighton, ahead of their London date in May are Malian musicians Amadou & Mariam, performing together with the Grammy Award-winning gospel group the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Brighton Fringe

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The Fringe continues to grow with over 1000 events taking place at 100s of venues across the city. The festival is open-access meaning literally anyone can take part so expect the unexpected as anything goes! Fringe City and the Family Picnics are back again this year plus popular pop-up venue the Spiegeltent will return.

Artist Open Houses

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Every weekend in May over 1000 artists exhibit their work in 200 venues across the city and beyond. This is a fantastic opportunity to meet the artists and buy directly from them, it’s also a chance to get a sneak peek inside some lovely houses and possibly pick up some interior design tips along the way! A lot of the houses also sell tea and cake to help keep you going as you walk around different areas of Brighton & Hove.

The Great Escape

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This is the place to catch the next big thing with over 450 emerging artists performing in city centre venues – all of which are within easy walking distance of each other. Past performers have gone on to become huge stars including Adele; George Ezra; Lewis Capaldi; Blossoms; Rag ‘n’ Bone Man; Sam Fender and Stormzy.