This year's festival is set to include 150 events, exhibitions and installations from May 7-29. Of those, 36 events are free, 124 events or installations will take place indoors across multiple venues and 26 will take place outdoors across multiple sites or locations.
There will be 101 performances with tickets costing £10 or less and 10 events or digital projects will take place online.
All events can be booked online at brightonfestival.org where people can also explore the festival's full programme.
Flick through our gallery below to see what events and performances are taking place over the opening weekend.
All events can be booked online at brightonfestival.org where people can also explore the festival's full programme.
5. Emma Critchley: Witness – Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8 (until Friday, May 13)
Created by Brighton based award-winning artist filmmaker Emma Critchley following time spent with climate scientists studying rapidly disappearing glaciers. Witness is a film installation linking the human body to ice, through underwater dance, spoken word and scientific imagery. Venue: The Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) at the University of Sussex, Falmer. Photo: Emma Critchley
6. Kate McIntosh: Worktable – From Saturday, May 7 (until Sunday, May 15)
Worktable is a live installation, constantly shifting and changing. You’re welcome to stay as long as you like. It's up to you to decide how things come apart: we give you the hammer, you do the rest. A version can also be adapted for young people. Venue: The Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA) at the University of Sussex, Falmer. Photo: Brighton Festival
7. Maborosi: Sunday, May 8
The award-winning debut fiction feature film from the director of Palme d'Or-winning Shoplifters is an exquisite meditation on uncertainty and coming to terms with the past. Venue: Depot cinema, Lewes. Photo: Brighton Festival
8. The Battle For Home: Saturday, May 7
Four of the most viscerally moving poets working in the UK today share a stage for the first time to share work that expresses the eternal human battle for 'home' as experienced through place, memory, living spaces, in our bodies, and in the built and natural environment. Venue: Brighton Girls, Montpelier Road. Photo: Brighton Festival