Latitude Festival asks “What defines me?”

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Glass is very excited to speak to Tania Harrison, the Creative Director behind Latitude Festival, who gives us an intriguing insight into how it’s put together and the thought process behind this year’s theme, “Neuroscience vs Sexuality: What Defines Me?”
The Latitude Festival is now in its eighth year and is based in the beautiful Henham Park, Suffolk, England. This year’s festival contains a world-class collection of theatre, film, dance, comedy, spoken word, literature, performance art and music.
This artistic diversity has become synonymous with the Latitude brand, and has forged a unique area in the festival scene. Some say this makes Latitude one of the most influential events in the arts calendar today.
How did you get involved in the Latitude role of creative director?
Well, we used to organise Reading and Leeds festivals for which I did the Alternative Stage programming, and I mentioned to one of the other guys, “I’d quite like to go to something different. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a festival where there was a theatre, arena…” So I went to see my CEO and he came back and said, “I think it would be a good idea,” and asked me what stages I would choose, what the budget would be and so on. And that was how Latitude was born.
Yes, Latitude is very diverse as a festival, acknowledging such a variety of creative disciplines …
Yes, and I think the people are generally interested in so much more than just music – in literary and film and so on – so I think I wanted to envisage a live version of a Sunday culture section. It’s also a very diverse audience, and that’s interesting when you’re programming. A lot of people have never been to a festival, but they’re drawn in by the arts and the Royal Court and literary names – people like Sebastian Faulks and Hanif Kureishi – so when I programme for Latitude I think of all the different demographics. If there is a particular band on, I will have something else on an Arts stage that is for a different audience at the same time. We try to think of what people call “tribes”, and trajectories made around the festival for the different audiences.
What does programming and curating the whole arts side of the festival involve?
It covers a lot really. I go to a lot of shows and performances all over the country, sometimes in Europe, sometimes in the States, to see what’s working. I also read magazines and newspapers and watch the news to see what trends are emerging, to really absorb as much culture as possible.
I’m very interested in neuroscience – it’s very relevant right now because we’ve made so many discoveries through MRI imaging. It’s a fascinating area because for the first time since the 1950s when Freud and psychoanalysis burst through we can kind of look at how the brain works. I watched a TV programme on a group of American gay-curers and I thought, “Oh my God, that’s horrifying,” and I thought about the concept of gay marriage and the Stonewall campaign – and the idea of what defines me, which is the theme for this year, came from that really.
The first question that anyone asks about a baby is, “Is it a boy or a girl?” and we start labelling or boxing people, and yet interestingly I think when I meet someone new I don’t think, “Are you heterosexual, are you homosexual, are you transsexual, are you autistic, are you bipolar?” – any of those labels. To be honest, I just think, “Do I like you?” And I’m very keen to explore that idea in all of its avenues, so I just wanted to raise the dialogue about who we are at a festival.
It’s at a festival that we think back to, I suppose, the “tribe” things – our common ground – what we like – what we are interested in as a person, and what makes us interesting. People are just endlessly fascinating, but we make it our business to define and label people, and once you’ve labelled somebody you’ve then got to get over that.
Is this part of the reason for Latitude’s link with the Wellcome Trust?
I wanted to work with the Wellcome Trust because I love Wellcome and I love all the work that they do and I go there a lot, so I said to them, “Could we look at consciousness and how the mind works, and brain chemistry? Also have a look and see if the hypothalamus is a different shape depending on your gender or your sexual orientation – and those sort of facts actually can change the whole nature-nurture debate.” So really it’s just bringing it all into a mainstream festival – opening it up, but also exploring it in an interesting and fun way. There’s the neuroscience hotel I’m exploring, and I’m turning the Faraway Forest into Amsterdam…
Yes that was something I really wanted to ask you about because I heard that the Faraway Forest is the hub of the idea …
It is, yes …
… for example during the day it’s completely different from during the night and this showcases the two sides of the theme …
Yeah, I think the festival theme reflects the fact that “you” may have things that your parents have contributed, or that came from your environment or your brain – and also you go through another stage in your teens when you think about who you want to become. Or it might be religion that defines you, or your brain chemistry, or certain aspects of your neurology or your neural pathways and how you create memories …
I chose Amsterdam because I felt that it’s somewhere where people go to either express themselves sexually or to mind-alter themselves. I was also quite fascinated by 1970s New York because last year’s Festival theme was Pagan to Occupy – all about revolution and what happens after an economic crisis – and what happens is that there is often an art explosion like there was in the 1970s – Leigh Bowery, David Bowie, you know these people are phenomenally creative. It’s a very different feeling from what we have now, which feels quite prescriptive and restrictive.
So I wanted to smash all of that open and have an explosion, a party, where you can just be whoever you want, and express yourself – whether you want to turn up covered in body paint, or be a spider from Mars, or assume a Lady Gaga persona – or just be yourself in a cagoule – whatever it is, it’s cool. And we all just connect, just by accepting that – and a festival is the place where you can do that – it’s about party, it’s about hedonism, it’s about being a little bit wild for a weekend.
That’s very interesting. So how does this theme get fuelled into the festival? Obviously the Faraway Forest – that’s a prime example, but …
I’ve got installations in the Faraway Forest, I’ve got artwork and artists that work specifically with the idea. There are other artists who also have been feeding in the idea – Sylvia Rimat had already worked with neuroscience and neuroscientists, and hers is an artistic piece – Marcus du Sautoy, in his consciousness piece he’s working with music and with James Holden. And so there are pieces that actually work with the idea.
It’s a real privilege to work with such incredible people and to be able to have a dialogue with artists so closely. It’s a very exciting thing to work with artists that are exceptionally creative – they do something that’s borderline magic. There’s an alchemy with what an artist creates, and you think, “Wow, I really want to share that with everybody else.”
And the Latitude audience are quite incredible in that they take risks – they’re happy to explore and to discover, and I really love that about them. The challenge for me is to create something I really hope they discover so they will have that wonderful moment that I’m hoping they’re going to have.
For all the festival goers, what would you say is a good tip for getting the most out of Latitude?
I would say, “Make sure you try something new.” Doing something new is very closely linked to pleasure in your brain chemistry, and you get a very similar response. This is often why people get excited by new people or affairs – I read a fascinating neuroscientific paper which suggests you should do something new with your partner, because pleasure is linked to the new.
 
I watched a programme on how that inspires creativity – even if you walk a different route to work, or talk to a different person, or make a coffee instead of your routine tea …
… because you’re creating a new neural pathway – also, to challenge your mind like that you need to do something for over three weeks. Are you right or left handed?
I’m right handed 
OK – clean your teeth for three weeks with your left hand …
 
I’ll give it a go …
… because it creates a new neural pathway and it’s a new experience so it’s a really good way to wake your brain up in a morning.  So I would definitely say do something new and talk to somebody new over the weekend – it’s amazing!
And finally what would you say sets Latitude apart from other festivals?
What stands out is that it’s a very beautiful site, and it’s very easy to get round. So you don’t have to carry everything around with you – you could just say, “I’m going into the Cabaret arena. I’ll meet you in five minutes in Comedy,” and that is very easy to do. And it’s beautiful. We spend a lot of money on all of the production and lights and decor. Each stage has its own set and decor, and there are beautiful things all the way through the woods and through the forest. So primarily I think it’s that. And obviously, hopefully, that there are really such high quality wonderful, wonderful artists on.
 
by Ben Slater
Latitude Festival takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk from July 18-21

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