This is an idea that’s been knocking about in my head for the last few years, a festival of festivals, and I’ve mentioned it during that time to several organisers..
Used with permission, Thanks lomokev!
In Brighton there is a lot of event activity at the end of each year, here’s a list:
- Develop – 14th-16th July 2009
- Beachdown Music Festival – 28th-31st August 2009
- dConstruct – 4th September 2009
- Barcamp Brighton – 5th-6th September 2009 TBC
- Flash on the Beach – 20th-23rd September 2009
- Mix UK – September 2009 TBC
- Amplified (new) – September 2009 TBA
- Head – October 2009 TBC
- Brighton Comedy Fringe – 15th-31st October 2009
- Paramount Comedy Festival – 15th-31st October 2009
- Full Frontal (new) – 20th November 2009
- CINECITY – Novemeber 2009
- DiMAS (web awards) – November 2009 TBC
- Twestival – September 2009? TBC
- Farm Hack Day – 2009? (might have been a one-off last time)
And other regular, smaller events, all year round, such as:
So how about joining them together, informally at first, under one umbrella group of events, a festival of festivals if you will! A month (or 2?) of events and activities, strung together, collaborating on parts, and going beyond the normal boundaries. It’s when fringes blur into each other that things get really interesting.
Ok so the dates are a little far apart for some of those events, but others are so close together that maybe other events will appear in between. We’re way off having a single ticket for everything, but a single banner could be achievable.
I can imagine creating an atmosphere of creativity and learning, mixed with music and relaxation, not to mention the meeting people and spending real time exploring ideas in between events, not being rushed, or leaving town the next day..
So would this be a good idea? Would we risk dilution? or would it raise the profile of the events and the city?
What do you think?
(Oh, and any events I missed that would fit in well?)
UPDATE:
Here’s some more groups that meet regularly.. I’m sure they could organise something during the festival too :)
Brighton Bloggers, Freelancers Farm, Girl Geek Dinners, UX Brighton, Geek Wine Thing, Brighton Flickr, Open Coffee Sussex, Likemind, Skillswap, Sussex Geek Dinners, Brighton Illustrators, Brighton Vine, Freelance Journalists…
What else is going on in art, music, film or literature that the geeks don’t know about? I’ll add to the list. This is also relevant to Amplified09 too, which will be a one day meeting during this period, of all these groups and networks.
UPDATE 2:
Two other music festivals to add to Beachdown are Loop and The Great Escape, I don’t think they’ll move from the summer, but maybe they could all collaborate on a weekend in September? :)