Brighton & Hove Pride launches Culture ConneX

Brighton & Hove Pride say: “Our mission is simple – we want to create dynamic opportunities for different communities to access the arts and to also connect with each other. We aim to enable people from all walks of life to communicate and learn about each other through many different forms of creative expression.

“We recognise the various ways in which people choose to identify and how these many identities often intersect, so we have purposely designed the Culture ConneX series to interweave between mainstream programming and events for specific communities.

“We creatively celebrate our differences while also focussing on our commonalities. Our purpose is to help to build bridges and to develop intercultural dialogue for a better understanding of each other and the world we live in.”

The initial Culture ConneX series, which has 12 separate categories, including film, cabaret, dance, exhibitions and more, will take place at key points during Brighton’s 2022 cultural calendar, including: LGBT History Month (February); Brighton Fringe (May); Brighton Pride (August); Black History Month/Photo Fringe (October).

Brighton & Hove Pride continue: “We are particularly keen to involve people who are often excluded – those of you who may perhaps feel that you don’t often find stories that reflect your life experiences or your identity, or maybe you have very limited opportunities to take part in creative activities.

“The main criteria that everyone taking part will need to sign up to is a commitment to our ethos of equality and inclusion for all. Most events will be taking place at Brighton & Hove Pride’s unique venue, Ironworks Studios, right in the heart of the city, and we have a very diverse expert team of creative consultants on board to help us deliver this exciting initiative.

“We will also be collaborating with several cultural partners including urbanflo creative, Phoenix Art Space, Photo Fringe, Well Balanced Coaching, Ravisi, Together Productions, videoclub, Vital Capacities, This Too Is Real, Creative Future, Traumfrau, Otherness Archive, Marlborough Productions and Plus X.”Culture ConneX kicks off with Pride’s LGBT History Month programme which includes the stunning Identity Project photography exhibition by Chris Jepson at Plus X Innovation Hub, Brighton. From March, Pride will present cabaret collectives including The Bitten Peach and Queefy. In partnership with Creative Future and Plus X, Pride also present a beautiful solo exhibition by Brighton artist Yvonne J. Foster.

Pride is are also supporting a number of artists, collectives and productions to take part in Brighton Fringe this year, including Lava Elastic (neurodiverse comedy, poetry & performance), ASTRA (multi-media theatre), Visual Poets (physical theatre), the Cocoa Butter Club (cabaret), Leonarda Sep (performance), Lachlan Werner (performance) and Creative Future: Dawn Blake, Danika McElroy and Terence Wilde (visual art).

They will also introduce a low-cost creative coaching series delivered by Dominique Delight of Well Balanced Coaching, and artist advisory sessions presented by guest consultants including Rasheed Rahman (Radical Rhizomes), Amy Zamarripa Solis (This Too Is Real) and David Sheppeard (Marlborough Productions).

Pride has also annonced applications are open for its Small Grant Scheme which offers support and seed funding to community artists wishing to participate in Brighton & Hove Pride and the city’s wider cultural programme throughout the year.

Watch this space for other announcements about exciting commissions for visual artists, digital artists and photographers for a range of exhibitions and events. Full details will be available from February 28, 2022.

Read more about the Small Grant Scheme and Culture ConneX HERE