Brighton Digital Festival, the UK’s largest celebration of digital culture, today announces its programme for the festival’s sixth year, which runs from 1 to 30 September.
The festival will once again bring together the city’s arts and digital communities through a range of exhibitions, performances, conferences, meet-ups, workshops and outdoor events taking place across Brighton and Hove. See the full programme atwww.brightondigitalfestival.co.uk.
High profile conferences returning includeDots andBrighton SEO. There will also be thought provoking discussions atThe Long Progress Bar, and all things audio covered atRadio // Future Sounds, which will also be live streamed ontotallyradio.
Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the most highly anticipated themes that is widely covered in this year’s festival. vrLAB is a four-day public event at The Old Market (TOM) featuring more than 15 VR experiences, demos and talks using the latest HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and GearVR headsets. Immersive tech is also the focus of the new one-day ‘Story Hack’ conference on 12 September at TOM.
This year will also feature a range of new digital performances, includingDance Artist in Residence, a new collaboration between South East Dance and social intelligence company Brandwatch. Passages of Time is a new exploration of disability and dance from a deaf perspective.
Anyone on the streets of Brighton can also interact with Hello Lamp Post throughout September - an interactive SMS platform inviting people to start conversations with everyday objects, such as lampposts, parking meters and even stuffed animals.
Family-friendly and educational events will again play a central role at this year’s festival. Including the Royal Institute and Brighton & Hove High School who have partnered for theComputer Science Master-classes (running 3, 10 and 17 September).
Laurence Hill, Brighton Digital Festival manager, said: “This year’s programme is our most diverse to date, which makes sense if you consider that digital now underpins most of our lives, hence why the areas of interest included in this digital festival continue to grow.
“Virtual Reality is one of 2016’s hottest trends and one of the festival’s biggest strands this year. It’s the perfect opportunity for people to trial and experiment with some of the world’s finest VR tech.
“The festival’s ongoing commitment to the development of new audiences that have yet to engage with the festival and its ideas, has led us to commission a range of artists to bring work to the city, and curate excellent education events. This runs alongside our continuing support of event organisers and festival-goers in the local community, who are the life force that makes this festival work.”
Donna Comerford, Brighton Digital Festival education coordinator added: “The festival’s education strand is back with what I hope is going to be another interactive, fun filled, mixture of learning, arts, digital and high technology events. We’ve commissioned more work for younger children and young adults this year who have not yet experienced the festival.”
The Brighton Digital Festival printed guide will be available across the city from 26 August and the full programme including venues, timings and prices can be found atwww.brightondigitalfestival.co.uk/events/. EDF is the festival’s premier sponsor for 2016.
