Vanessa Austin Locke: The Brighton Salon

This week I’m delighted to announce a new event on the Brighton scene, that I’m taking part in and that I hope is going to be lots of fun. The date for your diary is the 28th November, you’ll need to be at The Old Market, and here’s why…  

Some of you may remember, when the wonderful Sussex Arts Club was still the wonderful Sussex Arts Club, that Peter Mantle held an event called Art Lounge, modelled on The Paris Salon, which was a kind of symposium, bringing together some of the best multi-media arts and culture from all over the place. Well, Peter has jumped into bed with Guy Lloyd (of Juice Radio) and Peter Jarrette (of every social event on the calendar and author of Brighton Babylon) and decided it’s high time that Brighton got her hostess on again and started acting like the cultural oasis she thinks she is.

Enter The Brighton Salon. An evening of diverse and eclectic entertainment and conversation, designed to attract performers, writers, musicians, poets, filmmakers and artists from every corner of the country and the world. Peter J has kindly asked me to start things off and chat to him about the early stages of becoming a writer, and then the floor will be given to those far more interesting and qualified.

Confirmed already we have acclaimed author and journalist, specialising in sex and relationships, Emily Dubberley, who I’ll be interviewing alongside PJ about her new book The Garden Of Desires – The Evolution Of Women’s Sexual Fantasies. Emily is the founder of both Scarlet magazine and Cliterati and has written a panic-attack inducing 25 books in the last 10 years alone. She also set up Burlesque Against Breast Cancer and helps organise the Brighton Science Festival. The woman’s a machine of productivity and utterly fascinating.

“Emily Dubberley’s a machine of productivity and utterly fascinating”

There’s also much excitement at the prospect of a visit from Carol Cleveland of Monty Python fame, who’ll be performing an extract from her new play War Baby, which is an authentic diary written jointly by her parents during The Blitz and presents two opposing views of the war effort.

Jess Eaton of EatonNott will be showcasing some of her latest collections after a year that has seen her splashed across every broadsheet in the country and creating couture for A-list stars such as Emma Thompson. Daniel Beales of The Treason Show will be performing comedy monologues, and Director Nick Brice will be showcasing something from the award-winning Bite Size Theatre’s repertoire. There’s also a rumour that local favourites Kovak, who probably performed at the much-missed Sussex Arts Club back in the day, will be providing us with a little electro-pop.

The evening is designed to be a movable feast and there is already chat of holding it at Shoreham Airport and The Engineerium (how cool would that be?). The hope is to attract bigger and bigger names to the city which really should be a destination for this kind of thing by now, and create a relaxed and exhilarating evening welcoming people of excellence in all corners of the arts world.

There’s more to be confirmed so keep an eye on the Facebook page, but for now tickets are available at The Old Market and we all look forward to seeing you on the 28th November for the first in what we hope will be a long-standing, and ever-evolving event.
www.facebook.com/thebrightonsalonnights

Follow me: @vnessenvy