The Great Escape

Each year we invite delegates from around the world to soak up the sounds of the UK at The Great Escape festival in Brighton. We also host our own Selector Radio stage at the festival, at the coverted church venue, Fabrica, showcasing emerging talent.

Man with short hair pulling a hoodie up around his chin.

The multi-award-winning corto.alto, who performed for us at The Great Escape in 2025. Credit: Michal Augustini

The Great Escape

Welcome to The Great Escape festival, 'the UK’s most exciting and eclectic new music festival' (NME) and 'the best place in Europe to discover new bands’ (The Times). It's been running for over 20 years and, for many of those years, we've been there soaking up the music, inviting guests from around the world and hosting our own Selector Radio stage packed with UK talent.

Meet The Great Escape delegates

Meet the delegates who joined us at The Great Escape 2026 to discover new music and make connections with the UK music industry.

The Great Escape 2026 - British Council Delegates.pdf

Selector Sessions at The Great Escape

Selector Radio is our weekly radio show that goes out around the world to millions of listeners each week and has been doing so since 2001.

Selector’s weekly host, and Radio 1 DJ, Sian Eleri, hosted our Selector stage at The Great Escape as these fantastic UK acts performed at the inspiring Fabrica venue – a former church – on 15 May 2026.

KuleeAngee
MORN
Eaves Wilder
Dolder

For highlights, explore our Selector Radio shows and YouTube channel.

'The Cannes of the music world'

The Great Escape is the renowned UK music festival that BBC DJ Steve Lamacq calls 'the Cannes of the music world'. It's hosted in Brighton on the south coast of England each year – ready to bring 450 emerging acts to the attention of crowds, packed with music industry figures and fans, around the city. Brighton will be awash with new music in venues from 13-16 March 2026 and there will be a pop-up festival site on Brighton Beach itself. There’s also The Alternative Escape, which offers emerging local artists an opportunity to reach new crowds, and, if the days themselves are not long enough to discover ‘the next big thing’, there are secret gigs, club nights and spontaneous collaborations that keep the music going, deep into the wee small hours.

2026 is a special year for The Great Escape as it celebrates its 20th birthday. Here at the British Council, we've been at the festival for many of those years, inviting guests from the music industry all around the world, and watching it grow up!