This Monday, 20 October marks the start of a new year for Brighton Fringe. Everyone is encouraged to take part in England’s largest arts festival, which runs for 4 weeks from 1 – 31 May 2015; incorporating May half-term and both bank holidays.
Online event registration is open from noon on 20 October until 30 January and anyone wanting to showcase their talent at any venue from their front room to a large theatre is welcome to sign up using the online registration form here: http://registration.brightonfringe.org
Brighton Fringe are always looking for ways to make taking part affordable for participants, and this year is no different. Those that are well organised can save up to £30 by taking advantage of the Early Bird discount on registration fees by registering before 15 December.
To help with the cost of putting on a fringe show, Brighton Fringe has secured four funding schemes (with more to be confirmed) to support participants, including the returning Pebble Trust Brighton Fringe Awards, match funding from crowdfunding partners Zequs and IdeasTap bursaries.
Legal and General are also running a revamped bursary scheme, with 12 bursaries on offer to local Brighton Fringe participants over the age of 60. This is the first year of running this new scheme with the aim to engage older people with the arts.
During and after event registration, all participants benefit from professional advice, support and resources offered by Brighton Fringe, including a programme of Professional Development workshops with expert speakers and one-on-one sessions.
Brighton Fringe also runs an Arts Industry Service, which encourages Arts Industry Professionals from across the UK and the world to visit Brighton in May to look for exciting new work. In 2014 over 150 Arts Industry Professionals were accredited, and they attended 158 events. Many Brighton Fringe participants have taken their work elsewhere as a result of this service. The popular Family Guide will also be returning, expected to feature over 150 events just for families as their number continues to increase with the festival including the half term week.
Brighton Fringe are also launching a new Friends membership scheme on 20 October, to now include benefits year-round as well as during the festival period. Friends of Brighton Fringe will receive discounts at their favourite hotels, bars, restaurants and spas across the city on top of the popular 2-4-1 ticket offers, priority booking, paying no booking fees and invites to VIP events. You can become a Friend of Brighton Fringe on our website at www.brightonfringe.org/friends
The ever-popular Brighton Fringe brochure will hit the streets in early March, with the programme launching online at the end of February.
Julian Caddy, Managing Director of Brighton Fringe, said: “The beauty of Brighton Fringe’s format is that it is completely open access, meaning anybody can take part, putting on whatever you want to do, wherever you want to do it. This allows for the widest variety of events to be found anywhere in the country. The services that we provide year-round will help you at every step of the way, with ongoing professional development support, funding information and connections with other festivals, venues and events. Ultimately, our role is to help your work be as good as it can be, so you can benefit from all the opportunities that are available to you. The journey starts here and we look forward to joining you.”
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
