Brighton Fringe Opens Registration Until 31 Jan

Brighton Fringe, England's largest mixed arts festival, has recently opened registration for next year's event. It runs for four weeks from 3 May - 1 June 2014.

The charity is committed to supporting thousands of participants and venues in bringing people together and celebrating in their talent, thereby enriching the lives of performers and audiences alike.

The team works closely with partners to deliver awards and bursaries to assist with production overheads each year. For 2014, funding and bursaries have been secured from five commercial and charitable organisations: three more than last year, with more than 30 pots of funding available, representing a cash value of more than £11,800. This is both a record in total number of awards and funding value in the festival's history. Many awards also include artist development support such as one-to-one mentoring and expert advice.

Many of Brighton Fringe's participants are Brighton & Hove residents, which makes the festival unique. Two of this year's partners are keen to encourage home-grown talent:

For the fifth year running, Brighton Fringe and Legal & General have entered into a partnership. Twelve bursaries will be awarded to three events from four categories: Comedy, Kids and Youth, Theatre and Music, on a first come, first served basis to local registrants with a BN postcode registering one event (which may have multiple dates). Successful applicants receive a free registration (usually costing at least £126), additional profile in the Brighton Fringe 2014 brochure (available from early March 2014) and other promotional assistance.

In addition, The Pebble Trust has supported Brighton Fringe for four years and, for the first time, is offering three Pebble Trust Brighton Fringe awards to applicants putting on an event in any of the 11 categories. An expert judging panel will pick three winners who will benefit from their registration fees being met, £300 towards production costs plus up to three mentoring sessions with one of the judges. Applicants should be residents of Brighton & Hove, and under 25 at the time of application. The closing date is 29 November 2013.

Open to all suitable candidates are the following three opportunities:

Crowd-funding specialist, Zequs has partnered with Brighton Fringe to create an exclusive match-funding award for Brighton Fringe participants. Ten participants who successfully raise £1000 through Zequs.com will be awarded £500 each. There are no artistic criteria or age limits for this award - just create a crowd-funding campaign through the Zequs website - the only UK based platform that doesn't charge commission on money raised.

IdeasTap is offering four prize funds of £1000 to be awarded to quality new work across all categories. In addition to this financial support, a series of workshops and bespoke mentoring sessions will be provided to each of the selected companies.

All candidates will benefit from guidance workshops and one-to-ones about taking their show to Brighton Fringe, funding and marketing their show. This is the second year that IdeasTap has teamed up with Brighton Fringe, following a successful collaboration in 2013.

Brighton Fringe has also hooked up with O2 Think Big to become an official Youth Partner: 13 - 25 year olds may apply for £300 towards the cost of their event or project, and receive marketing support, advice and entry into Brighton Fringe Workshops. Some applicants may be given the chance to apply for the O2 Think Bigger fund of £2500. Apply via the O2 website, having first requested the application code from Brighton Fringe.

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