Churchill Travel Fellowship

Expedition into the entomological unknown

In 2023–24, our founder, Bridget, travelled through Asia and the USA on a Churchill Travel Fellowship.Her mission was to learn various new ideas and stories about insects and their importance to human cultures. A documentary of her journey is now in the making.


 

Events

Pestival’s Zombie Ant Fungus on BBC Radio 4

The Art of Being a Zombie Ant Fungus

BBC Radio 4’s The Art of Being a Zombie Ant Fungus explores the extraordinary fungus that takes control of an ant’s nervous system, altering its behaviour so it can reproduce. Presented by cultural entomologist and Pestival collaborator Bridget Nicholls, the programme brings together science, philosophy, music and sound art to examine questions of autonomy, control […]

Featured

Zombie Ant Fungus at The Royal Institutition

The response from audiences, writers, scientists and performers was extraordinary.

Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control brought together science, theatre, music, performance and visual storytelling in a wildly imaginative exploration of one of nature’s strangest phenomena: the parasitic fungi that manipulate the behaviour of ants.

Events

Bridget Nicholls at Catalyst Club

Introducing Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control

Introducing Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control Pestival creator Bridget Nicholls joins Catalyst Club to share the thinking behind a bold new Pestival commission: Zombie Ant Fungus: The Chemistry of Control. Blending science, performance, and cultural enquiry, Zombie Ant Fungus explores the real biology of Ophiocordyceps – a parasitic fungus that can hijack the […]

Featured

Pestival Turns 20

More bugs. More love. More life.

In 2006, Pestival began with a simple idea: what if insects were not something to swat away, but something to celebrate?