The debut Living Record Festival in January 2021 was a month-long digital arts festival of over 45 original pieces from a range of art forms by independent companies and freelance artists. Spurred on by the catastrophic effect Covid-19 has had on the theatre and live performance industry, The Living Record wanted to build a virtual space for audiences to safely access a range of digital culture, sharing communal online bar spaces, and making recommendations of shows they have enjoyed to one another. After the success of their debut festival, the company have moved closer to their Sussex home and become a purely online and on demand venue at the Brighton Fringe.
The current programme is available to book online now, and includes Exchange Theatre’s Cat In (re) Boots, Oddbodies with their three camera adaptation of King Lear, Petrichor in immersive Virtual Reality, Winner of Four Melbourne Fringe Awards RECKŌNING “Te Waiata Paihere Wairua -The Sounds of Woven Souls” and the critically acclaimed performance art film Ram Of God by Theodora van der Beek.
Living Record is set up to enable artists to make the most out of digital participation in the fringe. The platform is dedicated to protect artists from some of the financial risks of presenting their work, so they can focus on what’s important and reclaim the spirit of experimentation within the fringe festival setting. Companies receive 100% of the box office, and aside from registration and what is spent to make the work itself, there is zero expenditure (no accommodation, travel or running costs), meanwhile events are available for purchase for every minute of the festival – day and night – for an unlimited capacity of audiences. These factors ensure you can experiment with ideas, build audiences, get reviews, fundraise for a digital tour and become part of the Brighton Fringe conversation without risking six months of your rent or mortgage to do it. Applications to take part are still open and can be made here: https://www.livingrecord.co.uk/the-living-record—brighton-fringe-21-
Artistic director Ross Drury said, “Coming to the Brighton Fringe takes on quite a few meaning for me personally, having grown up, lived and directed my first professional shows at the fringe. I love this place and have enjoyed watching the Fringe take on a life of its own over the years. The idea of being one of the three new digital venues is in and of itself reflective of the innovative culture I’ve come to attribute with this festival and one that allows us at the Living Record to create a varied programme with both a local and global view. I’m so very proud to host artists from Brighton with rich stories behind them, and delighted we are connecting this with artists around the globe too. I’ve no doubt this digital collaboration will breed a rich experience for our audiences and we look forward opening our doors very soon. Our last visit to Brighton Fringe as company was as Excellence Award winners with Jodi Gray’s Thrown cut in Binaural Sound using wireless headphones. This was the very start of our digital journey and one that led us to becoming a platform and home for digital art, so in more ways than one this is festival is our full digital circle and after all the challenges we’ve faced in the last 12 months, it’s good to be home.”
The Living Record Festival, a month long celebration of digital arts, was launched in January 2021, presenting over 40 pieces, followed by The Living Roots festival of seed commissions in March. Applications for the 2022 festival are already open here: https://eventotron.com/allseasons.php
