Brighton Festival announces theme of 2019 children's parade

The colourful event will take place on May 4, with about 5,000 set to take part wearing costumes and with carnival structures.

Brighton Festival’s children and family programmer Pippa Smith said: “Folk tales are typically stories that are passed down from generation to generation and are often linked to childhood memories, when parents or grandparents would tell them at bedtime.

"There are so many fascinating folk tales to explore, from the Anansi tales of West Africa to European tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.

"We can’t wait to see the wildly imaginative creations that participating schools and community groups will present.”

Each year the parade, which opens the Brighton Festival, has a different theme. This year it was 'paintings', in 2017 it was 'poetry in motion' and in 2016 it was 'Brighton celebrates'.

Schools will now be allocated a folk tale to study and explore from a selection - said to have been chosen to reflect the diversity of artists taking part in the festival.

The news of the theme comes after it was announced last month that the 2019 guest director of the festival would be Malian singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rokia Traoré.

Brighton Festival says the theme of the parade 'connects strongly' with Traoré, who will present the UK premiere of her project Dream Mandé Djata, a musical monologue based on West African oral history storytelling, during the festival.

She is set to lead the parade with schools representing folk tales originating from West Africa.

Brighton-based community arts charity Same Sky jointly produces the children's parade, working with teachers to, among other things, create the carnival structures and compose routines.

Its artistic director John Varah said: “Same Sky is excited to be working again with 70 local schools to create next year’s Brighton Festival children's parade.

"The theme of folk stories is a rich and colourful seam for us to mine and we think the schools will find something unique and wonderful to celebrate with their students."

For the second year, the University of Brighton will sponsor the event, which its vice-chancellor professor Debra Humphris said she was 'absolutely delighted' about.

She said: “The children’s parade is a real high point of the year in the city and it is always a great way to start the Brighton Festival.

"I am absolutely delighted that the University of Brighton will once again be sponsoring this wonderful and joyous event that does so much to bring the whole community together and is enjoyed by everyone, young and old.”

As well as the theme of the children's parade, Brighton Festival and reader development organisation Collected Works CIC have also today (November 12) revealed the 2019 title for its Young City Reads project, which puts forward one book for all to read and engage with.

It will be Onjali Q Raúf's The Boy at the Back of the Class, which tells the story of Syrian refugee Ahmet from the perspective of a nine-year-old classmate.

Raúf, founder of human rights organisation Making Herstory which works to end the abuse, trafficking and enslavement of women and girls, said she was 'utterly thrilled' the title has been chosen.

She added: "I hope all human ‘beans’ (of every age) reading and engaging with it, reach its end feeling a little more understanding and hopeful about what we can all do to ease the plight of refugee children the world over."

The Brighton Festival will run until May 26. The full programme of events will be announced on February 13.