Bridging the Gap

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Leicester is a diverse city - it’s well known that people from all over the world have made it their home. That is why it’s important for a festival such as ours to take what steps we can to improve representation at our festival to help us welcome as many people as possible from across Leicester into our venues, helping them enjoy the benefits of live comedy.

This is a mission we share with our patron Eshaan Akbar, who, when asked to take on that role, immediately asked how we can support comedians from underrepresented groups to come and perform at the festivals.

To do this, Big Difference Company is creating a fund called Bridging the Gap which will bring comedians from underrepresented groups, in particular comedians from working class backgrounds, to Leicester Comedy Festival. The fund will cover costs such as transport, accommodation and festival fees. Earlier this year, we ran a fundraising campaign as part of the Big Give Arts for Impact to support the pilot version of this project.

We are planning to support 6 comedians to come and perform at Leicester Comedy Festival 2025 their show, and be part of a mixed bill. Each of them will get for their own show:

• The festival participation fee waived for their show (value between £72 - £88 depending on their venue size)
• A hotel room (value approx. £80-£100). They will be offered a room at one of the festival’s hotel partners in the city. 
• £150 to help cover their costs. We know travel is one of the most common barriers acts face when deciding to participate in a Festival. This fund could cover their train fare for example. If travel isn’t an issue for the participant, they can choose to use this fund for any other festival-related cost, such as marketing, or getting a baby-sitter or carer for the evening, etc. 
• Each of them will be asked to perform in a showcase on the first Friday of the Festival, which will be produced by us. 
• All acts will get a fee for their set.
• The showcase will be at the start of the festival, so they can use the opportunity to plug their own shows. 
• The show will be on a low ticket price to make it affordable and accessible to the general public. 
• Any surplus from the show will be invested back in this project.

We hope the success of this first year will help us raise more funds next year to grow the project and allow us to support performers even more!

To be eligible for the Bridging the Gap initiative, you will need: 

• To have a show ready to bring to Leicester Comedy Festival 2025
• To be available on Friday 7th February 2025 in Leicester to do a 10 minute set as part of the Bridging the Gap mixed bill showcase
• To be part of an underrepresented group or community, which you think adds a barrier for you to attend the festival

The deadline to apply for the pilot project is Friday 13th September 2024, and successful applicants will be notified in the week commencing 16th September to give them enough time to register their festival shows on Eventotron before the registration deadline on 27th September.

If you'd like to apply for Bridging the Gap, the button below will take you to a short application form to fill in before the deadline.

If you have any queries about the initiative, please email info@bigdifferencecompany.co.uk