Brainchild - a tiny festival with a huge heart

The second weekend of July saw, for the fourth time since 2012, Bentley Wildfowl and Motor Museum in the heart of Sussex transformed into a space dedicated to the coming together of a group of like-minded young people for Brainchild - two and a half days dedicated to discussion, collaboration, improvisation and inspiration.

 

 

The crowd was almost exclusively young: I met nobody over the age of about 28.  Interestingly, and perhaps as a result of the festival's still being in a fairly nascent stage, the majority of these people were from or studying in London.

 

Youth, however, should not be conflated with immaturity. Many festivals suffer from a subsection of the crowd who are intent on engaging in a tomfoolery binge, whether or not to the detriment of other festival-goers. While there was certainly no shortage of tomfoolery at Brainchild, the hedonism on display was largely both considerate and considered. 

 

The atmosphere was, at all times, incredibly warm and friendly - I never felt uncomfortable in striking up conversation, and it was always well-received. People would, without fail, apologise after bumping into you - which itself rarely happened. The mornings saw lost property baskets overflowing with lost phones and wallets that had been dutifully handed in. I even overheard a conversation among a group who, at other festivals, were in the habit of 'borrowing' other groups' camping chairs - "but everyone's so nice here I'd feel really bad doing that".

 

Mention must be made of the security team. The mood on the first night was, unfortunately, dampened by the actions of one particularly officious security guard. As I have indicated, Brainchild is not a festival that attracts troublemakers - but rather a crowd with a responsible attitude to drinking and smoking - and so to watch as a member of festival security stopped someone, sniff his freshly rolled cigarette, and take him aside was totally baffling. I had a quiet word with other members of festival staff, which seemed to do the trick - there were no similar issues on subsequent nights.

 

The Food

 

Choice of food at tiny festivals will always, and understandably, be limited. Nevertheless, on offer was a pleasing selection of vegetable and meat curries, kofte and falafel, barbecue pulled pork, and an assortment of vegan bowls, as well as coffee, juice, and smoothies. For the size of the festival, the choice of food was very satisfactory. 

 

The Events

 

No form of artistic expression went uncatered for. Although music was heavily featured, thanks to two live music stages and a DJ booth, also on offer were a cinema and two smaller stages used for works of theatre, dance, and poetry, as well as to hold discussions, storytelling workshops, and arts and crafts sessions. Dotted around the field were also a number of larger art installations courtesy of current art school students and recent graduates.

 

The most interesting of the installations was a 'sound and light room', constructed entirely from wood, which could accommodate ten or so people and which react dynamically to sounds collected by a central microphone. The result was truly fascinating - even after several lengthy visits, I was not able to work out the causal relationship between an input and a given audiovisual output. 

 

The music, too, was exceptionally well curated. Particular highlights, for me, included emerging DJ Maxwell Owin,, who bookended the festival with a pair of masterful sets; Alice Phoebe Lou, an ethereal South African street musician who captivated her audience with a set demonstrating enormous vocal accomplishment and musical versatility; the South East Dub Collective, a 'supergroup' of some of the cream of the crop of young jazz and hip hop musicians from the south London scene; and Sarathy Korwar (and his band), a phenomenal Indian-influenced percussionist and composer; and Vels Trio, a virtuosic modern jazz group.

 

The only issue - and the only reason I feel the need to give Brainchild just a fraction less than 5/5 - was the volume of the sound at the stages later at night. The live acts finished at 10pm or 11pm to give way to DJs, who played through till 2am. Presumably as a consequence of licensing restrictions, the volume of both stages was low - sometimes too low to be truly enjoyable from anywhere but very close proximity to the speakers. This was a great shame, as the music being played was often superb.

 

Conclusion

 

A large part of what makes Brainchild so special is its atmosphere of collaboration and openness. This comes, I think, with its size and demographic - I would suppose that there was no more than two or three degrees of separation between any pair of people at the festival. The size is, therefore, something I would urge the organisers to maintain rather than seek to grow.

 

The weekend was truly inspirational - one of the most enriching experiences I've had in at least the past year. I would urge anybody with a latent creative streak to consider it. Brainchild is the perfect opportunity for any seeds of creativity to germinate.