Daniel Brine is Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Norfolk & Norwich Festival, which will take place next month as a specially created, one-off adaptation. Here he talks about the challenges of putting on a Covid-safe festival, but how he’s looking forward to seeing audiences again
Every incoming artistic director is keen to help shape the future of the Festival. The arts are always changing – artists find new ways of doing things and audiences demand new forms of experience. As a festival director the challenge is to respond to the change and make sure you’re sharing new art with your audiences. Norfolk & Norwich Festival has always been good at changing with the times and I was really pleased to join an organisation where I could contribute to that.
Cancelling the festival in 2020 was a heart-breaking decision but it was something we had to do. All our team took some time off on furlough and that was difficult not being able to get on with things. We started to plan again as soon as we could and through the year have had many scenarios for the Festival on the table. The uncertainty has been tiring and stressful but the fact that the festival is here and happening means that it has all been worth it.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed working from home and spending more time with my dogs. But I really miss meeting artists and seeing new work. Being at home has made me realise how much I’m ‘normally’ out and about and I’m looking forward to being more active. In general, I’ve not enjoyed performance and art events online, so I’ve felt starved of live performance experiences.
I’m so proud of our team. Even in tough times we’ve got on with it and been creative when thinking about what is possible. We’ve created some specific projects to react to the situation like distributing arts and crafts materials to children and supporting local artists. It feels great to be flexible and to help others who have needed extra help in a difficult time.
Every Festival takes a lot of work but this year it has been particularly hard because we haven’t known if we can go ahead or not. We had to make lots of alternative plans and that means double the work. When the Government announced the Road Map it was a real relief for us because it meant that we finally had some dates to aim for (even if we know there is chance that the Road Map may change).
We always make sure we have a stand of free and outdoor work in every Festival but it’s been such a tough 12 months that we felt we really needed to make sure that everyone had a chance to enjoy the Festival. That’s the main reason we’ve offered all tickets on a pay what you want basis including a free option. We’ve also kept our programming broad so no matter what sort of art you’re interested in, you should be able to find something to enjoy.
There are so many challenges to putting on a Covid-safe Festival you wouldn’t believe it. And just when you think you’ve thought of everything, there’s something else to consider. There are some obvious things we’ve had to take into consideration like social distancing. This means there will be less people indoors and outdoors, and we need to make sure people always have space to move around. It also means that we have tickets for everything – even the outdoor events – because we need to know how many people to expect.
We’re fully committed to following all Government guidelines but sometimes there just aren’t guidelines for specific situations or the guidelines lack details. In these cases we’re making sure we do more than the minimum requirement to ensure that we’re being as safe as possible.
The thing I’m most looking forward to seeing is the audience. When selecting work for the Festival, I try and think about who I want to come and see it and I try to think about the reaction I hope they have. The Festival is then exciting for me as I see if I’ve guessed right about audience responses – whether people come away from an event, moved (from sad to joyous), thoughtful or just simply entertained. This year, the excitement of the audience joining us for the Festival celebration feels particularly pertinent.
Events and projects that I think lots of people will enjoy include Robot Selfie in which you can submit a selfie and a robot will draw your face in a large mural of faces of Norfolk and Norwich; Rider Spoke which is a bicycle ride around Norwich when you can leave stories about the city for others to listen to; the Garden Party in the middle weekend which is a fantastic fun day out to experience outdoor arts; the literature programme both City of Literature and the Future and Form events celebrating 50 years of creative writing at University of East Anglia; and we’ve got a great music line up across the whole festival culminating in the first ever Garden Sessions, a mini music festival in Chapelfield Gardens.
The Festival was established in 1772 and in 2022 we celebrate our 250th anniversary. I feel a real weight of responsibility to create a ‘special’ Festival next year but it’s going to be tricky because we don’t know how the world will change. I’d like to think that our 250th programme will include a large-scale outdoor event, something which a lot of people enjoy together, and I hope we can bring tents back to Chapelfield Gardens. We’ll have a few events which give a nod to our history and as part of this I look forward to celebrating our history as a community event.
The Norfolk & Norwich Festival takes place from May 17 – 30. Visit Norfolk & Norwich Festival (nnfestival.org.uk)
Main image picture credit: Hugo Glendinning
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