Alfie - award winner - pebble trust - 2017
Son-of-a-drag-queen’s Winning Streak
We are delighted to announce the Brighton Fringe 2020 bursary winners. All of the events listed below have been given some support to help them start a career in the arts and to bring their events to Brighton Fringe, many for the first time.
This bursary covers the registration fees of five winners, and is specifically designed to support acts aged over 60, in order to encourage older performers to join in with Brighton Fringe.
2020 WINNERS:
“We are delighted to have not only been accepted into Brighton Fringe, but also generously awarded the Lions Bursary. It means a great deal to us to know that the judges have faith in our idea and are giving us their support!”
"We are so pleased to be receiving the Lions Bursary to enable us to put on our Dance of Awareness experience. The Lions Bursary is helping us promote the idea that Dance is truly for everyone."
"Winning the Brighton Fringe Lions Bursary is a delight for me, partly because, despite having written several plays and been a stand up for 20 years, I’ve never won anything except £25 on a Premium Bond."
Open to all Brighton Fringe participants based in the UK, this bursary is for performers or companies who consider themselves to be from an underprivileged background, whose work draws upon their experiences. Winners to be announced.
This bursary reflects Encore Insure’s support of Fringe performance and the creative zeal of new makers to produce fantastic work without extortionate budgets. They have supported five shows in 2020:
“I'm over the moon to receive this funding. As a fledgling theatre company, making our Fringe debut, it's such a huge boost to our confidence to be awarded this bursary. We're eternally grateful.”
“We received this amazing news on the morning of our first ever work in progress performance in London. It wouldn't have been possible to do the Brighton Fringe without this bursary, so it means the absolute world… we are so very grateful and blessed!”
“It was a great encouragement to receive the bursary, a positive start to the adventure that is bringing a show to Brighton Fringe. I can invest in some sound equipment that will enable me to experiment with adding musical elements to my poetry, taking the show to a new level.”
"It means the world to me because this is my first ever international win for SHADOWS. I never expected it, the bursary came at the right time and I will forever cherish it. In life, anything is possible if you put your mind and soul into it."
"Receiving this bursary is very encouraging - it feels great to have this project supported, as it is such a familiar subject yet still not talked about in a positive way. This bursary makes it possible for Rebel Boob to reach out to more people."
Awarded to two companies, this bursary helps to open doors in the Arts Industry - making it easier to navigate and more affordable for emerging and professional artists. The first in this new series of bursaries have been awarded to: Winners are:
Awarded to community artists or groups, with a focus on African & Asian Art Forms, Urban Art Forms, Spoken Word, Physical Theatre or Visual Art – the Irene Mensah Artist Bursary has supported two events at Brighton Fringe 2020:
"Being awarded the bursary has secured our participation in Brighton Fringe, and will help deliver the message at the heart of the project to a wider audience, highlighting the positive, often life-changing mental health support found in this strong, female sea swimming community."
New for 2020, this bursary celebrates the memory of Brighton writer and creative Michael Graney who was passionate about writing, the arts and science-fiction. It is for scripted work with hope and kindness at its core. This year’s winner is:
"We are so excited and honoured to be the first recipients of this bursary. Our play uses a flavour of sci-fi/magic to shed light on something lovely about the human race, and we can’t wait to bring it to Brighton. As a new emerging company, it means so much that Cast Iron have made this support available for new writing, enabling us to share it with audiences, make them laugh and make them think."
For the tenth year running, The Pebble Trust is supporting Brighton Fringe participants by awarding three bursaries to young people wishing to put on an event for the first time. Three shows are awarded a minimum of £300 towards production costs. This year’s winners are:
The University of Brighton is supporting D/deaf, disabled and neuro-diverse artists at Brighton Fringe by offering a free registration, rehearsal space and venue for an event as part of the Brighton Fringe Freedom Season 2020. The first ever winner of this bursary is:
"We are delighted to be able to bring our performance to Brighton Fringe for the first time this year thanks to the University of Brighton Freedom Season Bursary. We cannot wait to come and we are absolutely thrilled to be part of Brighton Fringe 2020."
Make sure to check out these shows at Brighton Fringe 2020! Tickets for many of these shows are on sale now, as part of our First Release, with all shows going on sale to Friends of Brighton Fringe on 20 February. Tickets will be on general sale from 28 February.
Brighton Fringe 2020 runs from 1 – 31 May.