Children’s Parade celebrates Year of Biodiversity in Brighton Festival 2020

Brighton Festival Children's Parade 2019 David Bracey www.titlesussex.ac.uk

Produced alongside award-winning community arts charity Same Sky, the Children’s Parade will take place on Saturday 2 May to kick start Brighton Festival, the three-week arts and culture festival celebrated annually in the city.

The Children’s Parade will be following the theme of Nature’s Marvels to celebrate the variety of flora and fauna from around the world, as well as reinforcing the urgent need to protect and conserve the planet’s natural environment.

Brighton Festival Children's parade www.titlesussex.ac.uk

2020 marks the end of the UN Decade on Biodiversity and the Nature2020 initiative will see organisations across Sussex engaging in events to celebrate Brighton and Lewes’ Downs biosphere and the living coast.

Nearly 60 schools and groups from Brighton and Hove will work together with our artists to create a moving pageant that celebrates nature’s wonderful ecological diversity.

The largest of its kind in Europe, around 10,000 people comes to see the family-friendly, free parade and be a part of the vibrant procession. With a different imaginative theme each year, previous parades have seen children dress up as folk tales, paintings, letters of the alphabet and street names.

John Varah, Artistic Director of Same Sky, said: “Next year recognises the importance of biodiversity and will provide a rich topic for school pupils to learn about and to get creative. Nearly 60 schools and groups from Brighton and Hove will work together with our artists to create a moving pageant that celebrates nature’s wonderful ecological diversity.”

Brighton Festival 2018, Children's Parade photo by Vic Frankowski www.titlesussex.co.uk

Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Festival, added: “We’ve seen how passionate children and young people are about protecting the planet and it seemed such an obvious choice that the 2020 Children’s Parade should reflect what’s happening across the world but also to celebrate the biodiversity right here on our doorstep.”

Established in 1967, Brighton Festival is the largest and most established annual arts festival in England. Same Sky is the largest community arts charity in the South East.

The Brighton Festival 2020 programme launches on Tuesday 11 Feb 2020 and online here.

Brighton Festival, Children's Parade, crafted animal photo by Vic Frankowski www.titlesussex.ac.uk

 

About Carly Pepperell
Carly gets to do everything under the sun at TM including writing, editing, taking photos, creating stories, and swanning around at launches. She can down a glass of Prosecco without pausing for breath, and aims to be the youngest Pulitzer winner ever.