Eighteen community groups have been awarded Pride grants by Brighton and Hove City Council.
The voluntary groups have been given £11,000 in total with sums ranging from £420 to £1,000 to help them to stage events or activities as part of the Pride weekend.
Among those to benefit are the Brighton and Hove Federation of Disabled People, Brighton Women’s Centre and the Calabash community group.
They have each been awarded £1,000.
The grant to Brighton and Hove Federation of Disabled People will go towards the cost of an access tent at the event in Preston Park. It will include sign language interpreters, scooter charging points and accessible toilets.
The £1,000 for Brighton Women’s Centre and Calabash will fund performance tents in the park.
The Calabash tent will feature live music of black and Asian origin, along with a black history display, and the Women’s Centre tent will showcase live music and art by female artists.
The full list of recipients is here.
Councillor Ben Duncan, the council’s lead member for community resilience, said: “Pride is an important celebration for the city and a real community event for local people and visitors alike.
“We are pleased to give these local community and voluntary groups some support to help them get involved and allow as many people as possible to enjoy Pride weekend festivities.
“Our Pride grants are always very popular. This year we received a record number of bids for grants – 18 in total – and we have been able to provide some support in each case.”
The awards were announced less than a week after Brighton and Hove Pride made a second charitable donation from ticket sales to the Rainbow Fund.
Brighton and Hove Pride director Trevor Edwards handed over a cheque for £5,434 to Paul Elgood, chairman of the Rainbow Fund. This takes the total amount donated by Pride up to £10,546.
The new organisers of Pride agreed to donate £1 from every ticket sold for this year’s event to the Rainbow Fund to distribute to LGBT and HIV organisations.
The disbursements are made through the fund’s grant-giving programme which is administered by the Sussex Community Foundation.
Kevin Richmond, chief executive of the Sussex Community Foundation, thanked Pride for keeping its promise.
He said: “I congratulate Pride CIC (Community Interest Company) for delivering on their commitment to raise funds for the LGBT community in Brighton and Hove as well as organising a great celebration.
“The Rainbow Fund is a great way to ensure that the community continues to thrive and that those people in difficulty get the support they need, when they need it.
“Sussex Community Foundation is proud to work with Pride and we will ensure that all funds raised go to help vital LGBT community groups in the city.”
Mr Elgood, chair of the Rainbow Fund, said: “We are delighted that Pride Brighton and Hove is honouring its pledge to allocate £1 per ticket sold to the Rainbow Fund.
“To have over £10,500 donated even before the first flamboyant float lines up on Madeira Drive is truly amazing.
“All monies donated are being administered by the Sussex Community Foundation in their autumn grants round and any organisations wishing to apply for funding can do so now, with a deadline of (Friday) 5 October.
“Our aim now is to ensure that this money gets through as quickly as possible and starts benefitting the community groups who need it most.”
Mr Edwards said: “With three weeks to go until Pride Brighton and Hove 2012, we are incredibly pleased to make a donation of this size to the Rainbow Fund.
“With strong sales in the weeks to come as we approach the Pride celebrations on (Saturday) 1 September, we know we will be donating larger amounts still, giving much-needed funds to the LGBT and HIV groups within the community.
“I would remind anyone planning to attend the Preston Park event to buy their tickets in advance to take advantage of our discounts.”
