Dream Lab

BREMF is launching a new initiative called Dream Lab, and the first session is at Saint Augustine's Arts and Events Centre on Sunday 4 October. It's an afternoon of early music, but not in the usual way you'd expect from the genre. The name comes from the line 'We are such stuff as dreams are made on', and the format is built around three short performances of innovative, early-stage projects. These aren't polished, finished pieces; they're works in progress, proposed and performed by established musicians in the early music field.

What sets it apart from a standard concert is what happens between the music. The afternoon leaves room for collaborative feedback sessions between the audience and the artists, so you're not just sitting and listening — you're invited to talk back and weigh in on what you've heard. It's a chance to see early music being worked on in the open, with the musicians sharing where these projects are coming from and the audience getting a say in how they develop.

It's a small-scale start for BREMF, and it sits within a city that's used to arts on a much larger scale. Brighton's wider scene is anchored by Brighton Festival, one of the UK's largest and most established arts festivals, which runs for three weeks every May and has been led by guest directors like Anish Kapoor, Vanessa Redgrave and Michael Rosen. Alongside it runs Brighton Fringe, the largest open-access arts festival in England, and Brighton Pride, which takes over the first weekend of August and has drawn headliners like Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and Pet Shop Boys. Dream Lab is a different kind of thing entirely — a quiet, focused afternoon for early music rather than a city-wide takeover.

It runs from 13:30 to 16:30 at Saint Augustine's Arts and Events Centre on Stanford Avenue, BN1 6EA. Tickets are £20 standard, £10 concession, and children go free.