Kemp Town Carnival organisers are calling on Brighton residents to raise money to make their festival “bigger and better than ever” as it returns to the streets this summer. Organisers are looking to raise £7,500 through their new crowd-funder. The appeal comes shortly after the Arts Council awarded funding to the festival to increase the parade to eight times its normal size.
Organiser Mat Cook said fans of the event would back the new funding appeal so the festival could remain free for entry in the coming years. Should the funding target be reached, it will allow for an 800 strong parade of performers from 17 different troupes to help open the carnival. The carnival will be expanded to include a further eight live music stages, performance areas, creative workshops and children’s activities. This good news comes after the event did not go ahead last year, as the organisers sought more “sustainable funding” for the much loved street event.
Kemp Town Carnival attracts up to 25,000 people each year so there is no doubt that the crowd-funder target will be met. Cook told The Argus that there had already been “significant sponsorship” from local business including Hartleys Wine, BN1 Magazine, Sawyer and Co, Brighton and Hove Buses, The New Steine Hotel and Cup of Joe, who have all helped meet half of the event costs.
There will also be a series of fundraisers in the coming weeks to help meet the cost of the festival. This Saturday the Concorde 2 will host the Botanical Ball and on April 16th St George’s Church are putting on a cake bake and tea party. Cook said “We’re looking for the carnival to become bigger and better. We are extending the footprint to allow for more people and to allow for more stalls, we have more traders than we have had before. It will be the biggest parade we have ever had the carnival by far. A lot of people didn’t think we could bring it back but we are. We are the last of our kind as a completely free event in the city and we are fighting to keep it that way but if we can’t find the funding this way people donate may find themselves paying to get in, in future years.”
You can donate to the crowd-funder here.
Holly Martin