Anoushka Shankar announces line-up for Brighton Festival 2025

Brighton Festival has announced its 2025 programme, featuring a diverse line-up of performances and events across multiple art forms.

The festival, which runs from 3rd-26th May, is one of the largest curated multi-arts festivals in England and includes contributions from international and local artists.

This year’s Guest Director, musician and composer Anoushka Shankar, has worked with the festival to develop a programme around the theme of ‘New Dawn,’ focusing on resilience, change, and collective action. The festival will present 120 events spanning music, theatre, dance, circus, visual arts, film, literature, debates, and community activities, with artists from countries including India, the US, Australia, Peru, and Italy.

One of the key participatory projects, ‘How dark it is before dawn’, invites members of the public to contribute drawings representing their vision of a “new dawn.” The artworks will be displayed at The Old Courtroom, forming a collective exhibition of community perspectives. Drawing materials will be available at locations throughout Brighton, encouraging widespread participation.

Anoushka Shankar says: “For Brighton Festival 2025, we look towards a new dawn. Together with the Brighton Festival team, I’ve been shaping a programme that envisions a hopeful future – an emergence from the dark of night into the glow of early morning. For years now there have been many reasons to worry, to lose hope. But we have the power within us to create an alternate future. That’s what Brighton Festival 2025 is about – let’s come together to reflect, lift each other up and take action. This is a festival for everyone to participate in, to connect with, to feel part of. I can’t wait.”

Shankar has invited artists who have influenced her, including Pakistani-American vocalist Arooj Aftab and Mercury Prize-nominated singer-songwriter Nadine Shah. Among the festival’s highlights is Wembley, a world premiere and Brighton Festival commission written by author and screenwriter Nikesh Shukla, with actors Nikesh Patel and Himesh Patel. The performance explores identity and belonging in the aftermath of the UK’s 2024 race riots.

Shankar will also perform her new album, Chapter III: We Return to Light, completing a trilogy that reflects on transformation and renewal. She will co-host Brown Girl In The Ring, a platform celebrating female talent across music, film, and culture, featuring figures such as Mona Arshi, Nikita Gill, Asha Puthli, Meera Syal, and Indira Varma.

Other festival highlights include Room-i-Nation, a multimedia performance by Aditya Prakash blending live music, sound, and video projections to explore cultural identity. In dance, Aakash Odedra’s Songs of the Bulbul merges Indian classical dance with Sufi kathak and Islamic poetry, while Mythili Prakash’s Jwala examines fire as a symbol of destruction and renewal.

The festival is supported by organisations including the Bagri Foundation, Dishoom Permit Room, and The Pebble Trust.