BRIGHTON

Arundel Castle Announces Outdoor Events

Featuring a wide range of exciting and engaging activities for visitors of all ages, Arundel Castle has unveiled its 2023 events programme. From historical reenactments and guided tours to familyfriendly demonstrations and activities, live performances and even jousting, there is something for everyone.

Visitors can step back in time and experience the grandeur and pageantry of medieval England and explore the castle’s beautiful gardens and grounds at a Medieval Festival over the Easter weekend. On Fri 7 – Sun 9 April King John and his loyal followers will put down a rebellion and fend off a potential invasion from France. Set within a large, tented encampment on the lower lawns of the castle, the event offers spectacles like axe throwing, archery, falconry demonstrations and combat re-enactments, period crafts and live music.

During April and May (subject to flowering time) there’ll be a tulip festival like no other. Set against the breath-taking backdrop of the castle’s gardens, a sea of colour awaits with over 100,000 tulip bulbs planted by the castle’s award-winning Head Gardener, Martin Duncan, and his team.

Sun 23 April and Sun 2 July will see Arundel Castle welcomes its popular plant fairs. Organised by a collective of specialist nurseries, these will offer a wide range of locally grown, garden-worthy and often unusual plants. Visitors can also receive free advice from the growers and the event’s resident Plant Doctor.

May is Allium season, and the grounds of Arundel Castle will see the flowering of thousands of vibrant, pom-pom-shaped blooms. Known as the ‘fireworks of gardening’, these towering plants will add a surge of colour to the castle’s gardens. Visitors can admire the long-stemmed plants in the English herbaceous borders and see the white blooms of the Cowanii and Mont Blanc complementing the Fitzalan Chapel’s White Garden. Don’t miss this explosion of colour and beauty at Arundel Castle.

The Castle returns to Medieval times on Sat 27 – Mon 29 May, as we’re plunged into a 15th-century Wars of the Roses family event. King Edward IV, Duke of York, faces rebellion from the supporters of the former King, Henry VI, Duke of Lancaster. For one weekend only, Arundel Castle serves as the backdrop for an imaginary Lancastrian raiding party engaging with Yorkist forces. The event showcases 15th-century crafts, forging, leather work, cooking, weapons, and armour. In addition, visitors can participate in hands-on activities, such as archery, axe throwing, and warrior training, as well as Arundel Castle’s renowned ‘Kids battles’.

You experience even more bygone days on Sat 8 - Sun 9 July with Arundel Castle’s Medieval Festival. This weekend event will be set in 1474; as the Earl of Arundel celebrates the birth of his first grandson with a knight’s foot tournament and an archery contest featuring teams from England, France, and Poland. Visitors can explore a tented encampment and see demonstrations of historical crafts, including pewter casting, forging, cooking, leather work, as well as combat, falconry and the Knights Tournament. For those looking to get hands-on experience, there will be plenty of activities such as crossbows, archery, medieval music from performers Myal and Peg, and storytelling.

BIRDS AND BEASTS COME TO CHICHESTER’S PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY

the natural world and understanding of our place in it through the Gallery’s ‘Birds and Beasts’ and ‘Sussex Landscape’ exhibitions. Workshops will take place in the studio at the Gallery and on location in the South Downs, delivered in partnership with the South Downs National Park Authority and Goodwood Education Trust. Creative responses and Climate Protection Pledges made by the children will be unveiled during a weekend of activities for all ages on Earth Day 2023, coinciding with the Gallery’s free Open Weekend on Sat 22 – Sun 23 April.

England, The Wild Escape will empower families and children across the UK to visit and discover our wonderful museums, whilst taking positive action to picture a better future for our wildlife.”

Running until Sun 23 April, a new exhibition celebrating Britain’s wildlife has come to Chichester’s Pallant House Gallery. The free exhibition, Birds and Beasts: The Wild Escape, presents works from the Gallery’s collection. Every piece has been inspired by an array of magnificent creatures, from the humble beetle to imperious falcons, by artists like Pablo Picasso, Elisabeth Frink and Graham Sutherland. The Gallery hopes the exhibition will raise awareness of biodiversity and invites visitors to join them in celebrating the amazing nature on our doorstep.

The exhibition will connect with the Art Fund’s The Wild Escape project, the largest ever collaboration between UK museums with more than 500 taking part. The Wild Escape aims to bring museums, schools, families and communities together to engage young people with the UK’s natural environment, drawing inspiration from the art and objects in our public collections and the creative and learning opportunities they can offer. The exhibition will be accompanied by fun activities for children to help them to engage with the art.

Pallant House Gallery will also be working with around 100 pupils from three local primary schools based in Chichester and Bognor. The children will be exploring our appreciation of

“I’m thrilled that Pallant House Gallery is joining hundreds of organisations from the Outer Hebrides to Folkestone to connect thousands of children with the natural world through the UK’s truly great museums,” Art Fund Director, Jenny Waldman. “Thanks to the invaluable support of Arts Council

Pallant House Gallery in Chichester is a leading UK museum that stimulates new ways of thinking about British art from 1900 to now. As well as an original and criticallyacclaimed exhibition programme and a public programme with inclusion at its heart, the gallery houses one of the best collections of Modern British art in the country - all within the distinctive setting of an 18th century townhouse and a 21st century gallery.

For more details, head to: www.pallant.org.uk

Brighton International Animation Festival is back for 2023 with a difference – Curator and Founder Kate Jessop has been successful in securing Arts Council funding for the 2023 programme in April.

A two-day annual not-for-profit event run by animators for everyone, the festival embraces international partnerships and encompasses a global perspective, in addition to providing an accessible place for people to learn about the medium.

The 2023 programme is soon to be announced with submissions now closed. There is still an open call for the Augmented Reality exhibition. This will be held for guests to experience between the film screenings. The theme of the exhibition is No Planet B, and animators are invited to submit work based on this theme utilising any animation technique or style.

In addition to film screenings of both specially curated and in competition programmes, the festival offers hands-on animation workshops and talks from industry speakers. This allows both animators and non-animators alike to come and learn about the medium in both an artistic and commercial context.

As well as hosting an annual live event in Brighton, it offers selected filmmakers the opportunity to screen on community, not-forprofit local TV channel Latest TV in Brighton. The channel serves over 350,000 households, so gives the film an even bigger audience and a broadcast credit. The Latest TV venue

For 2023

Founder Kate is incredibly excited to have won funding for the 2023 festival: “I am completely ecstatic to be curating the Brighton International Animation Festival again for its second year. From basically no budget in 2022 to securing Arts Council funding for 2023 means the world to me –it’s so amazing that our hard work has been recognised and that this year will be bigger and better!”

For more details about Brighton International Animation Festival, head to: www. brightoninternationalanimationfestival. com