Brighton Festival invites audiences to celebrate UK Pay-It-Forward Day
In celebration of UK Pay-It-Forward day on Sat 28 April 2018, Brighton Festival is inviting audiences to join the global philanthropic movement and enable more people to enjoy ticketed events at Brighton Festival. This is the second year that the scheme has run following a phenomenal response last year, with over a thousand people choosing to pay tickets forward in the lead up to Brighton Festival.
Those booking tickets for Festival events are given the option of paying an extra £5 (or an amount of their choosing) as they complete their purchase, which Brighton Festival will match fund in order to give a free Pay-It-Forward Festival Ticket Voucher to someone who may otherwise be unable to experience Festival events.
All Brighton Festival ticketed events have Pay-It-Forward Vouchers available to book online or in person. The vouchers will be distributed at Your Place (our community-led, free performance programme in Hangleton and East Brighton running over two Festival weekends), local schools and through our partner community organisations.
Andrew Comben, Chief Executive of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival says: “From our regular free participatory events such as the annual Children’s Parade, City Reads and Young City Reads, Weekend Without Walls and Your Place – two weekends of free cultural events programmed by and for the communities of East Sussex and Hangleton, to our partnership with Brighton City College to live-stream many of our shows to audiences around the world for free, Brighton Festival has always been dedicated to making the arts accessible for all. This year’s Brighton Festival is our most diverse and wide-ranging Festival yet, with more opportunities than ever for everyone to get involved and participate. Last year we introduced Pay-It-Forward and were overwhelmed by the generosity and enthusiasm of our audiences. A donation of £5 on top of the price of your tickets is matched by Brighton Festival to create a free ticket voucher for someone unable to afford the opportunity. We want Brighton Festival to be for everyone, and by contributing in this way you can help us make it even more accessible.”
Nadine Strasman, Chair of the Sussex Syrian Community Group, who were recipients of the scheme last year says: “The Pay-It-Forward Scheme has enabled the Syrian members of the community and their children to attend a number of events in Brighton Festival last year. This experience has helped the community members to learn about the British culture and has made them feel welcome and included. Many thanks for the generosity of people who donated the tickets and for organising the scheme. Without those tickets people would not have been able to attend any events in Brighton Festival. We look forward to attending more events in the forthcoming festival.”
The inspiration for Pay-It-Forward comes from the global international Pay-It-Forward Day, which is now in its 11th year, and hopes to inspire millions to experience the power and positive energy of giving by buying something in advance for someone else. Pay-It-Forward is about all people, from all walks of life giving to someone else and making a positive difference. At last count, there were more than 5 million people in 80 countries around the world participating on the Pay-It-Forward Day.
More than half of the ticketed events in Brighton Festival 2018 have prices generally available for £10 or less. There are also 15 free events and workshops including Weekend Without Walls (Sat 26 May, Easthill Park, Portslade and Sun 27 May, Beach Level by the i360) and visual art installations at Fabrica Gallery, on the Beach Level by the i360 and Phoenix Gallery running throughout the Festival.