This year’s Brighton & Hove Pride was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic; organisers are currently in discussion with artists about the rescheduled dates and will relaunch the 2021 festival and tickets later in the year.
In a statement, the organisers say: “As a Pride with Purpose whose sole aim is to provide benefit to the community or to trade with a ‘social purpose’, we are overwhelmed that so many ticket holders have chosen to retain their tickets for next year’s events or donated them back to support Pride going forward and our essential fundraising for local community organisations.”
In the past six years, Brighton & Hove Pride has raised over £920,000 for community good causes thanks to the support of businesses, sponsors and the many thousands of attendees that purchased tickets for the Pride Festival in Preston Park and Pride Village Party. Brighton & Hove Pride has supported hundreds of community organisations with grants through the Brighton Rainbow Fund, Pride Social Impact Fund and Pride Cultural Development Fund. To read about where the money went and some testimony from recipients, click here.
Many local charities and community organisations rely on Pride for fundraising to get them through the year. If you are able to donate your ticket from this year’s event to support Pride going forward and its essential community fundraising, click here. As a thank you, those who donate their tickets from this year’s Pride will receive priority purchasing options in next year’s pre-release ticket sale.
If you would like to support the essential work of local community organisations, you can donate to the Brighton Rainbow Fund, which gives grants to local LGBTQ+/HIV groups who deliver effective frontline services to people in the city. To do, so click here.
Brighton Rainbow Fund is aware of what a difficult decision it has been for the organisers of Brighton & Hove Pride to postpone the planned event.
In a statement, Brighton Rainbow Fund say: “Under the current stewardship, since 2013, the annual event has raised just under a million pounds for good causes in Brighton & Hove, the vast majority of it distributed through the Brighton Rainbow Fund to local LGBTQ+ specific projects, which make a fundamental difference to the lives of hundreds of people in our communities.
“On behalf of the projects that we support, and the people that they support, we are asking ticket holders to consider the option of not claiming a refund….in effect making a donation to allow them to continue their valuable work for another year.”
You can read the full statement from the Brighton Rainbow Fund by clicking here.
In a statement, the Pride Social Impact Fund say: “Thanks to the generosity of Pride and its supporters, the Social Impact Fund has donated tens of thousands of pounds of crucial funding to dozens of community groups and good causes over the years. While it is undoubtedly disappointing that Pride 2020 has been cancelled, we hope that those who can continue to support it as much as possible so that the positive messages of Pride continue to be heard across Brighton & Hove all year round.”
