The Brighton Fringe, the largest arts festival in England today announced the event this year will be postponed until September/October 2020 with the following statement:
We will be back and we can’t wait for you to be able to finally dive into the best Brighton Fringe that we can create
Following the announcement by the UK Government urging the general public not to visit “pubs, clubs, or theatres” and advice from Brighton & Hove City Council, Brighton Fringe has announced that it will be postponing the festival, due to run 1 - 31 May, until September/October 2020.
Brighton Fringe has contacted participating venues, artists, staff, partners and funders and issued a public statement from Brighton Fringe CEO Julian Caddy:
“On behalf of the thousands of people who have invested so much in putting on Brighton Fringe, I am devastated to say that we are unable to proceed in May due to the Coronavirus outbreak. I would like to thank you for all the work that you have done and also to thank all our funders, partners, sponsors, patrons, friends and the ticket buying public for your ongoing support, trust and patience at this difficult time.
It is incredible to believe that a mere three weeks ago we launched our brochure and ticket sales for 1,035 events in 170 venues, with more than 5,500 performances due to take place across the city of Brighton & Hove. We were ready to welcome 160 international events from 32 countries with 50 international collaborations. Over that time COVID-19 has grown from being a far-away news story to a pandemic affecting everyone, all over the world.
But we won’t give up that easily. After consulting with key stakeholders we are looking to reschedule Brighton Fringe to take place in September and October, when we have been advised that it will be again safe to proceed. We do not know yet what this Brighton Fringe will look like but we will now work with all our participants, venues and partners to make it the best it can be- for all involved.
In the meantime, please do bear with us while we take stock, rebuild and return. We are a universal platform for artists to put on work and we are determined to do our bit to stand up in the face of an invisible threat never before seen in modern times.
Finally, please take care of yourselves and those around you: self isolate, work from home, go offline and also try to take advantage of these strange times ahead. We will be back and we can’t wait for you to be able to finally dive into the best Brighton Fringe that we can create, for all of us. By September and October, I think we will definitely need and deserve it!”
Ticket buyers:
Brighton Fringe is offering ticket buyers the opportunity to hold their tickets on account to be reused for either the rescheduled festival dates or Brighton Fringe 2021. In some cases, we will be offering audiences the option of converting their ticket into a donation that will be given to participating artists to help mitigate the financial impact. If events are unable to reschedule and therefore have to cancel, ticket buyers are entitled to a refund. If you have any questions regarding your tickets please contact [email protected]. We are a very small team, so appreciate your patience at this time.
If you would like to donate to Brighton Fringe at this difficult time, you can do so here: https://www.brightonfringe.org/donate
Participants / Venues:
We’re encouraging companies to liaise directly with their venues about the possibility of delaying their event to this later Autumn festival. We’ll be in touch soon with next steps for rescheduling events and the process for doing this.
Registration fees for Brighton Fringe 2020 (May) can be rolled over to these later dates and we’re looking forward to welcoming as many of you as possible then.
If you have any questions, please do get in touch at [email protected] or call us on 01273764907.
Advertisers, Stall Holders and Other Commercial Partners:
We will endeavour to contact all advertisers, stall holders and commercial partners. However, if you have any immediate questions, please email [email protected]
Friends of Brighton Fringe
Because your support is what sustains the festival, your Friends benefits will be protected. Any unused 2 for 1 offers you were entitled to during the May 2020 festival will roll over to the new dates in September / October. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected]
