At a time when much of the conversation around grassroots music focuses on venue closures, rising costs and the challenges facing emerging artists, Brighton’s festival season offered a reminder of something else entirely, its role in developing, showcasing and celebrating emerging talent from across the UK and beyond.
Throughout May, as Brighton Festival, Brighton Fringe and The Great Escape transformed the city into one of the UK’s cultural hotspots, emerging artists performed across a series of showcases, livestreams and grassroots events that connected local talent with industry professionals, international audiences and new opportunities.
Among them were artists performing at the WaterBear Venue and WaterBear Music Bar during The Great Escape, where acts including Lily Moore, Charlotte Plank, Bimini, Matt Hennessy, Milly Pye, Boudicca and SPIKEMYHEART shared stages alongside international showcase artists from Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Portugal.
The momentum continued when DJ AG brought his livestream platform to Brighton, creating another high profile opportunity for local talent. The event featured WaterBear students and alumni alongside artists supported by AudioActive, the Sussex charity that uses music as a tool for social change and supports young people across the region.
For singer songwriter Milly Pye, who performed during The Great Escape programme, the experience captured the spirit of the month.
“It means so much to be picked for an opportunity like this. You feel appreciated, you feel heard and it’s a sense of community. We couldn’t ask for more.”
Asked what advice she would give to other emerging artists, her answer was simple:
“Be brave.”
The partnership between DJ AG and WaterBear has also extended beyond the livestream itself through the launch of the DJ AG Scholarship, which will fully fund a BA (Hons) degree place at WaterBear for a talented young artist, alongside mentoring and industry support.
Eve Massaad, Chief Marketing Officer at WaterBear, said:
“When people talk about Brighton’s festival season, they often focus on the artists at the top of the poster. What excites me is everything happening underneath that.
Throughout May we saw emerging artists sharing stages with international acts, building audiences, making connections and gaining experiences that can genuinely shape their futures. Brighton remains one of the best places in the UK to be an emerging artist because there is a community here that genuinely wants to see people succeed.”
As the city’s festival season comes to an end for another year, the artists who stepped onto stages throughout May are a reminder that while the challenges facing grassroots music remain real, the pipeline of talent coming through Brighton shows no signs of slowing down.
