Are
the Open Houses part of the Brighton Festival or apart
from it?
Well,
some would say that the Open Houses are the
highlight of the Brighton Festival! Certainly, the Open
Houses are Brighton Festival's USP (unique selling point),
although you could be forgiven for thinking that the organisers
of the Festival have somehow overlooked this fact. Once
upon a time, the Open Houses were included in the 'official'
Festival brochure, albeit in a section called Umbrella.
Then in 2002 they were moved to a supplement bound into
the Festival brochure called appropriately enough, Open.
The following year they were set adrift.
Nick Dodds, the Festival Director, decided
that only the events taking place in the
Dome complex of theatres and concert halls, plus other
selected events, such as Zap Productions' Streets of Brighton,
installations at Fabrica, and the popular Children's
Parade – the so-called 'programmed events' –
should be allowed into the official Festival. Everything
else was shunted off into a
'Fringe', with its own brochure.
