Changing the conversation about death and dying - a new Brighton Festival

Spokeswoman Jo Finn said: “Bookending the lives of every single one of us, birth and death are the core elements of the human condition and something that unites us all. Yet, whilst births are commonly celebrated, we remain reluctant to face up to death and dying. Death Festival encourages us to consider death and dying through two days of talks, concerts, performances, workshops and installations.

“The brainchild of Jude Kelly, founder and CEO of The WOW Foundation, the inaugural Death Festival has been programmed by Jenna Mason in collaboration with the writer and activist Catherine Mayer, theatre director and ACCA patron Michael Attenborough and artist, social innovator and University of Sussex researcher Louise Harman. Respectful and at times irreverent, the packed programme invites audiences to share their own stories and hear from academics, artists, undertakers and broadcasters, airing their different perspectives on death.

“Programme highlights include: an installation of portrait photography by world-renowned photographer Rankin; an evening of performance of letters to the lovely and beloved dead by those mourning them, including author Catherine Mayer writing to her close friend Paula Yates, whose death was treated as a tabloid sensation; a Jude Kelly in conversation event with Mina Smallman, who will share her journey of grief, rage, faith and activism following the murder of her daughters Bibaa Henry and Nicole in June 2020; a workshop on honouring and remembering loved ones with @thegriefcase founder Poppy Chancellor; Amber Jeffrey, founder of The Grief Gang podcast, in conversation with Anna Burtt, co-host of The Mother Of All Losses, how podcasting has enabled them to find a community as they share their experiences of grieving their mothers and maternal figures. In the way that a fitting memorial can be revelatory, or the presence of humour in a well-observed wake can lighten the load, Death Festival aims to shed some light on a subject too often consigned to the shadows.

“The inaugural Death Festival is at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) in Brighton. Hospice UK is the charity partner of Death Festival, bringing voices, experience and expertise from its Dying Matters campaign to help change the conversation about death and dying.”

Programme highlights include:

● See an installation of portrait photography by photographer Rankin.

● Hear Jude Kelly in conversation with Mina Smallman, mother of the Smallman sisters who were brutally murdered in a north London park in June 2020, who shares her journey of grief, rage, faith and activism.

● Join Louise Harman and Cara Mair, founder of Arka Funerals to find out what choices we have about the body, burial and memorial of a loved one.

● An evening of letters to the lovely and beloved dead by those mourning them including author Catherine Mayer writing to her close friend, TV presenter Paula Yates.