The annual November LGBT+ entertainment and cross-art event GFEST – Gaywise FESTival® launches on Monday, November 12 at Alexandra Palace, Palm Court.
GFEST aims to promote ‘All Arts’ by LGBT+ artists. Everyone is welcome to attend the events, to see the artistic excellence that addresses LGBT+ equal rights and reduce possible discrimination.
The theme for this years festival which runs from November 12-to 24 is #SociallyEQUAL.
For the launch event organisers are presenting a free entry evening full of live acts presenting music, dance, acapella and performance poetry.
GFEST artistic director Niranjan Kamatkar is excited about presenting the festival in this new format.
Niranjan Kamatkar
He said:“After 10 successful years of GFEST, we are opening up the programme. The new GFEST format enables other artists, groups to organise their own LGBT+ arts events and promote them via the GFEST website. This is just the start for the new GFEST and we have some more plans for the future. We plan to make it more interactive and far-reaching by using the online tools.”
Organisers are inviting audiences to engage with the festival by booking the GFEST 2018 Launch event, featuring a spirited star-studded soiree by performers of The Cocoa Butter Club, artists Alice Boland-Rhodes, Charan Singh, dancer Sanjay Shetty, digital artist Katy Jalili, acapella act TStarNay, and many more… It is billed as an absolutely “unmissable and MUST” evening full of LGBT+ arts, videos, music, performers, spoken word and live acts.
Find out how to become a local councillor for Brighton & Hove City Council at the May 2019 local elections and what being a councillor involves.
Photo by Tony Mould
IF you’ve ever had concerns about where you live or you want to get involved with the public services Brighton & Hove City Council provides, becoming a local councillor is one way you can become a voice and a decision maker for your local area; and the city.
On May 2 2019 voters in Brighton & Hove will choose the local councillors they want to represent them on Brighton & Hove City Council for the next four years and the council want to make sure that anyone interested in becoming a local councillor can find out more about the election process and the crucial community role.
To ensure that people from a broad range of backgrounds will stand for election to reflect the diversity of the cities varied communities they’re holding two meetings for you to discover if you want to become a councillor.
Geoff Raw
There will be two public meetings in November on:
♦ Thursday, November 8, from 6pm to 8pm at Hove Town Hall council chamber
♦ Tuesday, November 13 from 10am to 12 noon at Hove Town Hall council chamber
where you can hear from the council’s Chief Executive Geoff Raw and the senior management team about the services the council provides and you’ll also have the chance to meet current councillors who can tell you what it’s really like being a councillor, what you’re likely to get involved with and what you’ll have to do if you’re elected.
It’s also your opportunity to ask questions such as “Do I get paid?”, “What support will I get if I’ve never been a councillor before?”“What is the statutory role of a councillor?”, “What can I actually change?”, “how do local government finances work?” and “do I have to join a political party to become a councillor?”
You don’t need to let them know that you’re coming to one of the sessions and you’re more than welcome to drop in at any time during the meetings.
Contact the council if you need any assistance. They can’t provide transport to get to the sessions but if you need any help once you arrive at the town hall there will be plenty of people on hand to help you.
If you need any assistance at the sessions or can confirm attendance in advance email: the democratic services team on: democratic.services@brighton-hove.gov.uk OR telephone: 01273 291066
Discover what it’s like to be a councillor by following them on social media
If you have any questions about being a councillor you can also use their Facebook page and Twitter accounts.
Over the next few weeks, the council will be sharing more information about being a councillor on their website, their Facebook page and their Twitter account.
Make sure to follow them to help you decide if being a councillor is something you’re interested in and can do.
If you have any questions, then get in touch with the council on their Facebook page and Twitter account. They’ll be more than happy to help!
Malian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Rokia Traoré, to be Guest Director of Brighton Festival in 2019.
Rokia Traoré: photo Fototala King Massassy
AWARD-winning Malian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rokia Traoré will be the eleventh Brighton Festival Guest Director.
She follows in the footsteps of among others, David Shrigley (2018), Kate Tempest (2017), and Laurie Anderson (2016).
Regarded as one of Africa’s most inventive musicians, Rokia is known for her unique sound and liberating style which have led her to be described as one of the world’s great synthesisers, combining the rhythms and traditions of diverse cultures from Africa and Europe into a complex sound that only she could create.
Born in Mali to a diplomat father, Rokia had a nomadic upbringing that exposed her to a wide variety of international musical influences from Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong, to Wagner, Serge Gainsbourg, and the Rolling Stones.
A protégé of the legendary guitarist Ali Farka Touré, her breakthrough came in 1997 when she was hailed as the African Revelation by Radio France Internationale.
Frequently collaborating with world-renowned artists such as Damon Albarn, Devendra Banhart and the Kronos Quartet, her diverse output has also included a number of theatre performances, most notably the acclaimed Desdemona by Toni Morrison, a reimagining of Shakespeare’s Othello directed by Peter Sellars.
A dedicated humanitarian, in 2009 she set up the Foundation Passerelle in support of emerging artists amidst the social crises in Mali.
Rokia Traoré: photo Danny Willems
On her appointment as Brighton Festival Guest Director Rokia said:“I knew Brighton Festival and how well organised it is and being part of the team and exchanging ideas about which artists will be performing and why is an interesting experience for me. It is an opportunity to take the time to look at and to think about other artists’ work. These are circumstances you cannot usually create when you are working as an artist, but programming a festival is another experience – you do it from a different angle.”
“I’m excited, curious and enthusiastic about the journey. There are lots of things to learn from the city and the audience and the Festival itself and it’s going to be a very exciting and rich few months spent together.”
Andrew Comben
Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Festival added: “We are delighted to announce Rokia Traoré as our Guest Director for Brighton Festival 2019. She is a remarkable artist who deserves to be recognised for the great breadth and range of her output – from her theatre work with Toni Morrison and Peter Sellars to her musical collaborations with Damon Albarn and the Kronos Quartet. She also has a great preparedness to think beyond her personal practice and engage with and comment upon the world around her – qualities which ideally suit her to the role of Guest Director. I look forward to the engaging, stimulating and eclectic Festival which I have no doubt she will inspire.”
Brighton Festival 2019 will feature the UK premiere of Rokia Traoré’s theatrical and musical project Dream Mandé Djata– a musical monologue structured around the griot tradition of oral history storytelling, interwoven with classical songs of the Mandingo epic history.
The Festival programme will also feature appearances from some of Rokia’s favourite Malian artists and musicians including a selection of those backed by the Foundation Passerelle.
Other programme highlights include Brighton Festival Commission and world premiere of a new choral work about motherhood and childhood created by theatre-maker Sheila Hill, Eye to Eye, featuring an intergenerational chorus of women and children recruited by Glyndebourne and featuring Glyndebourne Youth Opera; and a new commission, True Copy, based on the story of legendary Dutch painter and art forger Geert Jan Jansen by BERLIN, the international theatre company behind former Brighton Festival events Perhaps All the Dragons (2014), Land’s End (2012), and Zvizdal (2016).
This year’s Festival will also see the launch of an extended Children and Young People’s programming strand that will include new partnerships and participatory activities in the run-up to the Festival.
These will join returning projects such as the 26 Letters Young People’s Literature events, Adopt an Author and Young City Reads (presented in partnership with Collected Works), the Children’s Parade (produced in partnership with Same Sky), Without Walls, Peacock Poetry Prize, Guest Director’s Guests, and Your Place – free performances and arts activities programmed by and for the communities of Hangleton and East Brighton, delivered in partnership with Brighton People’s Theatre and community steering groups.
The full programme of events will be announced on Wednesday, February 13, 2019.
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