Past events

7.30pm: Guided meditation with Alistair Appleton 

8.30pm: Performance by Collectress followed by open improvisation invitation (bring an acoustic instrument)

The evening will open with a guided meditation with Alistair Appleton leading a simple listening meditation within the sound installation. Trained mainly in the Buddhist tradition, Alistair draws from Thai Forest, Shamanic and Vajrayana traditions and practices to bring the basic practice and benefits of meditation, or mindfulness, to people across all walks of life. This is followed by a short acoustic performance by Alice Eldridge’s all-female multi-instrumentalist chamber music collective Collectress, before the public are invited to join an improvisation with the band - and the birds - using their own acoustic instruments or voice.

This event is part of Bird Bath. Created by meditator and broadcaster Alistair Appleton (Mindsprings) and musician and ecoacoustician Alice Eldridge (University of Sussex), Bird Bath transforms beautiful buildings into restorative spaces by inviting you to pause, rest and ‘bathe’ in the sound of local birdsong.Throughout the first week of the festival, St Peter’s Church in Preston Park will be open to the public and filled with spring bird song recorded in local nature reserves and recovery sites

A collaboration with the School of Media, Arts and Humanities, University of Sussex, The Festival of Ideas harnesses the transformative power of the arts and humanities to fashion new ways of thinking about the past, present and future.

Bird Bath is a Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, Experimental Ecologies project, working in partnership with the Living Coast UNESCO Biosphere, produced by Sound UK and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Account. Thanks to Churches Conservation Trust.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Account and School of Media Arts and Humanities.

Part of Brighton Festival.