Grants available for Brighton Digital Festival events

Brighton Digital Festival is offering 10 grants of £500 to organisers of events that celebrate digital arts and culture.

Organisers will use the festival's Grassroots Fund initiative to provide the funding to independently-organised events after also receiving backing from Brighton and Hove City Council.

The 10 awards, intended to support members of the community by contributing towards the costs of organising events for the festival, are open to all. Applications must be received by Friday, July 4.

Grassroots Awards given last year supported a wide range of events, including an alternative exploration of the Royal Pavilion from singer-songwriter Christ T-T. It also supported a body-scanning and 3D-printing installation from 3Dify, and a night of competitive video-gaming as performance art from The Fight Lab.

The Grassroots Fund has been created to support projects that will engage a diverse public audience. To qualify, events must take place in Brighton and Hove between September 1 and September 28, be open to the public, show consideration of audience development, and report back on audience engagement.

Jesse Black Mooney, festival manager for Brighton Digital Festival, said: 'The passion and innovation of the Brighton community is the driving force behind the richly-diverse programme of events that take place as part of the festival in September.

'Thanks to the amazing contributions from supporters like Brighton and Hove City Council, we are incredibly happy to be offering up these awards of £500 to support outstanding community-led grassroots events for Brighton Digital Festival."

Brighton Digital Festival is a month-long celebration of digital culture, which takes place throughout September. The broad festival programme includes conferences, exhibitions, installations, workshops, outdoor events and meet-ups, alongside an education programme.

Last year's festival featured more than 170 events and was attended by more than 40,000 people. The festival is supported by - and receives funding from - Arts Council England and Brighton and Hove City Council; sponsors include local businesses, Pure360, Brandwatch, and Brilliant Noise.

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To apply for a Grassroots Fund award for Brighton Digital Festival 2014, visit: www.brightonfestival.co.uk

Applications close on Friday, July 4. Any questions should be emailed to: jesse@brightondigitalfestival.co.uk.

Follow: @DigitalBrighton.