Brighton and Hove already has plenty of places to find out what is on, but Erik Selby has built another. Brighton What’s On is an independent events website for the city, and Erik says it all starts with the people.
According to the site, organisers can list events for free, keep their own booking link or sell tickets through the site, and visitors can search by date, price, interest or area.
By Tim Graichi Cucarella, founder of ImJustBrighton. ImJustBrighton sent Erik ten questions about why he built the site, what it can do and where he wants to take it. He replied in writing and supplied the photographs in this article.
How to read this article. Erik’s own words are set apart as quotes, in quotation marks, exactly as he wrote them. Everything else is ImJustBrighton’s own reporting, based on the website itself and on the sources linked in the text.
Why he started it
Asked what inspired him, Erik said the idea began with the people he has met in the city.
“For me, it starts with the people. I’ve worked with people from all sorts of backgrounds in Brighton, and what stays with me is how often they come together. There’s a joy to this city that feels quite different from anywhere else.”
He wanted to put that experience into something of his own.
“If someone’s putting on a gig, a workshop or a community event, I’d like to help people find it. It’s a way of supporting the people doing the work and helping more of us enjoy what’s happening here.”
Erik has lived in Brighton for more than ten years. He told ImJustBrighton that he moved to the city after being approached to manage the local TV station, and that he later started Witness Brighton, a community group covering local news and Brighton culture. He has also spent years producing video, from local storytelling to commercial campaigns, and has worked in employment support, helping hundreds of local people find work.
“My family and friends are here, and it feels very much like home.”
From idea to working website
Asked how the idea became a working platform, Erik said it took a great deal of effort.
“A lot of work, a lot of learning, and plenty of things that turned out to be less straightforward than I’d imagined!”
He described himself as very hands-on, with feedback from the people using the site shaping what he builds next.
“I’m very hands-on with it. People are using the site and organisers are adding events, so their feedback feeds into what I work on. You can spend ages thinking something makes sense, then a conversation with someone using it gives you a much better idea. I like that it’s being shaped by the people it’s for.”
What the site does
The rest of this section is ImJustBrighton’s own research, not Erik’s words. It comes from the site and its published pages, checked on 26 October 2026.
Visitors can browse by date, price, interest or area and save events on their device. Tickets can be booked by email without creating an account, and selected events elsewhere in Sussex appear under a “Further afield” label, according to the site’s About page.
When ImJustBrighton checked the live site, it listed more than 520 events. Quick filters cover today, the weekend, free events, this evening, £10 or less, near me, wheelchair access and a Hove weekend. Events sit in 19 categories, from music and comedy to family and kids, community and causes, and classes and workshops. They are spread across more than 30 areas, from Central Brighton, The Lanes and North Laine to Hove, Portslade, Saltdean and Rottingdean. Results can be limited to within 1, 3, 5 or 10 km and sorted by soonest, latest added or nearest.
For organisers. The organiser page says that listing an event and selling tickets are free, with no subscription needed. A free account allows up to 15 listings a month, and new submissions are usually reviewed within 24 hours. Organisers can keep their own booking link, take payment on the door, offer free tickets or sell through the site.
Paid tickets. Payments go to the organiser’s own Stripe account, and the buyer pays a service fee on top. The site’s terms give one example: a £10.00 ticket carries a £1.11 service fee, so the buyer pays £11.11 and the organiser receives £10.00.
Optional extras. A Brighton Partner membership costs £12 a month or £120 a year. It allows up to 75 listings a month, and includes one free seven-day Event Spotlight each month and event performance insights. Spotlights promote an event on the homepage and in search results, and are labelled as ads. The pricing page also invites optional one-off contributions of £3, £5 or £10, which it says do not buy features or priority.
An affordable afternoon, planned on a phone
Asked what people struggle with when looking for things to do, Erik said the main problem is often knowing where to look.
“Often it’s just knowing where to look. You might follow a few venues on Instagram, but that doesn’t mean you’ll see their posts at the right time. Then there are all the places you haven’t heard of yet.”
He gave an example from his own family life of how he uses the site.
“For me, a good example is planning an affordable afternoon with the girls. Say we’ve got a Sunday free: I can choose the date, look for family events and narrow things down by price. The map helps me see what’s nearby, and I can save a few ideas and share the shortlist before we decide.
“That could lead us to a local event we’d never have thought to look for. I’d love more families to have those discoveries without it having to be an expensive day out.”
ImJustBrighton note: the £10 or less filter in this search applies to ticket prices, not to the total cost of a day out. For more things to do with children this half-term, see our own half-term guide to family events, museum activities and Halloween.
The hardest part
Erik said the biggest challenge so far has been time.
“Finding the time to do everything properly. There’s the work on the site itself, talking to organisers, getting the word out, and all the other things that come with running a business.
“I’ve got twin girls too, so there’s a lot of fitting work around family life. I’ve put a lot of myself into it, and I want to give it the time and care it needs. It’s a juggle!”
Easier on the eyes
Asked what visitors might not realise, Erik spoke about accessibility.
“I’m neurodivergent myself, so accessibility is something I care about personally. Working with charities over the years has reinforced that.”
He highlighted one small feature he is pleased with.
“One small thing I’m pleased with is that the site follows your phone’s light or dark setting automatically. There’s nothing worse than lying in bed with your phone on dark mode, opening a website and getting a bright white screen in your face! You can choose light or dark yourself too. I like those little touches that make it more comfortable to use.”
What ImJustBrighton found. The site’s display and accessibility panel goes further. Visitors can choose system, light or dark appearance, and switch on larger text, higher contrast, more text spacing, underlined links and reduced motion. The filters can also narrow events by confirmed facilities, including wheelchair access, accessible and gender-neutral toilets, baby changing, hearing loop, BSL interpreted, captioned, quiet space, relaxed or neurodiverse friendly, no strobe lighting, pushchair friendly and assistance dogs welcome.
How organisers have responded
Erik said the response from local organisers has been encouraging.
“It’s been encouraging to hear from local organisers and see them adding their events. I’ve been having some good conversations with people about what they’re putting on and what would help them.”
He said he wants organisers to feel they can talk to him directly.
“I want people to feel they can talk to me about it. Their feedback helps me see things I might have missed. And I get to hear about the person behind an event, which is a part of the work I’ve always enjoyed.”
See what is happening nearby
ImJustBrighton’s look at the map. The site’s map view lets people pick a part of the city and see events pinned across Brighton, Hove and Kemptown. In the screen below, captured on 26 October 2026, the All events map showed 527 results. That number changes as events are added and pass. No pins have been added to the image, and the map is credited to OpenStreetMap.
Where it is heading
Asked about his bigger vision, Erik said he hopes the site helps people find places and groups they want to return to.
“I’d love someone to find an event through it, go along and discover a place or a group of people they want to come back to. There’s so much happening here, and it would be lovely to help people feel more connected to it.”
He also spoke about the business behind the site and where he hopes it will be in a few years.
“I also want to build a local business that can keep going and keep free listings at its heart. In a few years’ time, I’d like organisers to feel it’s useful to them and people in Brighton and Hove to think of it when they’re making plans. That would make me very proud.”
A message to organisers
Asked what he would say to a venue, independent business or organiser who has not listed an event yet, Erik’s advice was to start small.
“Give it a go with one event. It’s free to list, and you can keep your usual booking link. If you’d like to sell tickets through the site, that’s an option too.
“I know there’s already plenty to do when you’re putting something on. I want this to be useful, so if something’s unclear or you’ve got an idea that would help, tell me. You can get in touch with me directly.”
The concert Erik wants more people to hear about
Finally, ImJustBrighton asked Erik what is happening in Brighton that more people should know about. He chose a concert by New Note Orchestra.
“New Note Orchestra’s Winter Chill concert on 1 December at St Luke’s Prestonville. I’ve been speaking to Molly at New Note and would love more people to hear about their work.”
Erik described what the orchestra does and why it matters to him.
“They use music to support people in recovery from addiction, bringing people together to create and perform. I think that’s a wonderful thing to have happening here. The concert sounds like a lovely evening, and a chance to support the work behind it.”
He said tickets would be listed on Brighton What’s On soon.
Background from ImJustBrighton, not from Erik. New Note Orchestra describes itself as the world’s first orchestra for people in recovery, and its projects are free and open to anyone affected by addiction. It was founded in Brighton by Molly Mathieson, a former TV producer who had worked on Channel 4’s Addicts’ Symphony, and its first rehearsals began in July 2015, according to Nesta’s profile and a 2018 New Statesman feature. The New Statesman reported that members improvise together rather than reading traditional notation, which keeps the orchestra open to people with no musical experience. It is the first project of the registered charity New Note Projects.
The Winter Chill concert is on Tuesday 1 December 2026 at 7pm at St Luke’s Prestonville, with a fundraising raffle. The charity’s website says tickets are “on sale soon” and gives no price yet. St Luke’s is a Church of England church at 64 Old Shoreham Road, near Seven Dials and Preston Circus.
There is another chance to see the orchestra first. The church’s website lists a free Project Kindness evening at 7pm on Saturday 14 November, with the author Ellen Loudon, participants from the Sussex Department of Kindness and the Newnote Orchestra.
Where to find it
Brighton What’s On is at brightonwhatson.app. Organisers can submit an event from the site, and anyone who spots a missing event can tip the team off.
Erik closed his answers with a note about the site’s roots.
“One other thing I’m proud of is that Brighton What’s On is independently run and rooted here. This city has given me a home, friendships and so many opportunities. Building something of my own that can help local venues, creatives and community groups feels like a lovely way to put something back.”
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