The programme is announced on Thursday, April 4.
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00:00 Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers, but also
00:06 from the start, Chairman of the Festival of Chichester. Lovely to speak, as I regularly
00:11 do, to our Festival Co-ordinator, Festival of Chichester Co-ordinator, Mark Elliott.
00:15 Now, we are announcing the 2024 Festival of Chichester programme. It's been a long slog
00:21 through the winter to reach this point where we have brochures and we have a line-up, but
00:25 Mark, I know you are particularly excited about it. There it is, there's the brochure.
00:30 First time seeing it in public.
00:34 People that have seen it last year are going to notice it's four pages longer this year,
00:38 so we're actually stretching it a few days longer than we did last year. It's a very,
00:44 very exciting programme. I'm excited in many, many ways, not just that I've actually got
00:50 it done. And I think people don't realise that, you know, we are a group of volunteers,
00:54 so the fact that we produce something as professional as this, I think is, you know, quite something
01:01 to be proud of. And we're very, very, very thankful to our sponsors who are, you know,
01:06 make it possible to have a printed brochure. And I know a lot of people really do care
01:12 about, you know, having something they can touch. I know I love to have it at home so
01:16 I could just flick through and actually do it.
01:18 Yeah, it's important to have that physical copy, isn't it? But between those covers,
01:23 it is a fantastic programme, isn't it?
01:25 Well, I really believe so, yes. I mean, you're putting me on the spot by saying you want
01:30 me to say what I'm most excited about.
01:32 You don't have to. You can say you're excited by all of it because there is such a...
01:35 Well, I am. But if there's one thing that I have to pick out, I am really quite excited
01:41 about Margaret Phillips playing at St John's Chapel, because I don't know if you remember
01:46 last year, St John's Chapel wasn't a venue that we could use because they've been going
01:51 through a lot of work. And this year, they have not only renovated the front of it, but
01:56 the chapel organ, which dates from the original building in 1822, has been restored after
02:05 40 years, hasn't been played for 40 years, or at least not professionally. And so the
02:10 recital as part of the festival is relaunching that historic organ. And I think that's something,
02:19 even though I'm not a particular organ fan, I think that's something really exciting.
02:22 Well, that's a clue for the festival, isn't it? So clearly a very, very significant event.
02:26 Now, if I'm allowed to say something I always look forward to, I love new theatre productions
02:31 in West End Gardens. I think that's such an important element to the festival. It's the
02:35 most beautiful setting. And they're so inventive with the plays that they choose. But it's
02:40 also the quality of the acting. It's always such a fabulous, fabulous evening's entertainment.
02:46 I always think it's sonic. Yeah, they're amateurs. And yet you forget
02:52 that, don't you? And I think if people haven't been, it is worth them understanding that
02:57 it's an outdoor thing. You get, as part of the ticket, you get to sort of have a picnic,
03:02 well, if you bring it, you can sort of picnic in the gardens at West End, which is such
03:09 a lovely thing. In fact, that's something for people to know, because the first time
03:13 I went to one of those productions, we turned up for the play, and I completely missed that
03:19 opportunity. So I always think of it as such a sort of
03:23 quintessentially English, in the very best sense of the word, isn't it? The picnic, the
03:28 grounds, the play. And I think one of the other things I love about our festival is
03:33 it's that mix of continuity. People are always at the festival, who always support us, who
03:38 are always key to it, but also new people. And when we talk about the continuity, it's
03:42 so important to us that Kate Moss, who has been with us right from the start, is back
03:48 launching a paperback this summer. Absolutely. And so she's launching her own
03:54 paperback, she launched the hardback last year, The Ghost Ship. But she's also in conversation
04:01 with Anthony Horowitz in a different event. So, you know, and he's launching the next
04:07 in the Alex Rider series. Kate's husband, Greg, is doing a sort of a workshop, a whole
04:15 day workshop at Westin. Writing a history novel, yeah, in one day.
04:20 Yeah. I mean, vicious. Yeah.
04:23 That's quite a lot to do in a day, isn't it, really? You were saying, though, about people,
04:29 new stuff. I'm excited again to hear Julian Chan, who's, you know, he's a prize-winning
04:36 pianist. I haven't heard him, but we've been sort of communicating quite a lot about him
04:42 having wanted to be in the festival. And I think that's going to be a rather lovely thing.
04:47 And another thing, you know, I'm a real blues fan. So, you know, we often tend to talk a
04:52 lot about the classical music, but Will Johns, the blues performer who's going to be playing
04:57 at in the Havana. Now, the Havana has been under new management for just a little while.
05:05 And they've got some really exciting stuff coming up. So, yeah, so Will Johns is a blues
05:11 performer, but they're also doing some really interesting events, which are spoken word
05:18 things to do with authors and history. And I mean, it's really, that's an exciting set
05:24 of new set of things to look forward to as well.
05:28 And we've got around 100 events. And it is a lot of work, isn't it? We meet as a committee
05:34 of nine every month for 10 months of the year. There's always lots to plan. But when you
05:39 hold up that brochure, as you just did, you think, wow, that's what I'm doing.
05:45 And Jen, just a shout out for the designer who, she's done a beautiful job there. It
05:51 really is a lovely, it's a striking piece of artwork. You know, just to let people know,
05:59 these are, there are 15,000 of these printed. If for some reason one hasn't come to your
06:07 local shop or pub or something, you can always get a copy after April the 5th from the Novium,
06:16 the museum in Chichester, just a minute's walk from the cathedral.
06:21 Which is also a box office.
06:23 And they double as the box office, exactly. So, the large proportion of the events sell
06:28 the tickets through the Novium. So, you can buy, so you can pick up your physical copy.
06:33 But that'll all be online as well. So, for people who don't live in the centre of Chichester,
06:39 that's also very, very easy.
06:40 So, after all the hard work, it's time to get a bit excited, isn't it? And Mark, I know
06:45 you've worked ludicrously hard on that brochure, pulling things together.
06:49 Well, it's not about that. It's about, you know, I love this city. And I want, you know,
06:55 there is so much energy and so much creativity in the city. And I'm just, I feel privileged
07:00 to just be that tiny little part of helping it to happen.
07:05 So, bring on the 2024 Festival of Chichester. It's going to be great, isn't it? Lovely to
07:11 speak to you, Mark. And thanks for taking the time.
07:12 You too, Phil. Yeah, lovely to talk to you.
07:13 Thank you.
07:14 Bye bye.
07:14 Thank you.
07:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]