We at Brighton & Hove News Music Team have caught wind of something called ‘Coronavirus Fest’ being organised by ‘Gig Buddies’, and so we were intrigued to find out more…..
First up, who are Gig Buddies?
Well, let’s hear it straight from the horse’s mouth:
“The idea behind Gig Buddies is that we want to enable people with learning disabilities and/or autism to enjoy all the great things going on in their community, especially live music. Gig Buddies is a project that pairs up people with and without learning disabilities (and/or autism) to be friends and to go to events together. The Gig Buddies project aims to make volunteering easier for people in Sussex by enabling volunteers to go to gigs they’d already probably be going to anyway, but with someone with a learning disability”.
“This means they’ll be sharing their passions with each other and be able to fit their volunteering around their other commitments”.
“Gig Buddies people come from all over Sussex, including Brighton and Hove, Worthing, Chichester, Lewes, Uckfield, Eastbourne and Hastings”.
So how does Gig Buddies work?
Each participant is matched to one volunteer by the Gig Buddies coordinators. You then meet your buddy once a month to plan what you’ll do together, and once a month to go to a gig, concert, club night or another cultural event.
However at this present moment in time, it certainly is not advisable to go gigging or clubbing, and most venues in Brighton and surrounding areas are now shut anyway. So one way of combating this enforced isolation is to organise a ‘virtual music festival’ – in this instance it is ‘Coronavirus Fest’.
This week, Gig Buddies have been trying to work out what the implications of the Coronavirus Pandemic are for all the people they work with. After all, Gig Buddies is a project that’s all about supporting humans to have contact with other humans in busy places. So this obviously presents a challenge right now, as we’re all experiencing social isolation. There has to be other ways to prevent people feeling lonely and worried. Hence the creation of a VIRTUAL ONLINE FESTIVAL – ‘Coronavirus Fest’, as their philosophy is ‘Live Music Is For Everyone!’
Within minutes of Gig Buddies announcing the new initiative, Lauren Laverne flagged it up on BBC 6 Music and acts are signing up to perform!
‘Coronavirus Fest’ opens its doors at 8pm on Friday 20th March with a performance from SheBeat, followed at 9pm by William Blackaby.
This is how it works.
It will all take place on Gig Buddies special ‘Coronavirus Fest Facebook Page’ and every evening there will be two slots – and anyone can turn up and perform. The performers just need to book their slot. So performers book your slot HERE.
Learn more about Gig Buddies by visiting their official website – gigbuddies.org.uk
To recap, ‘Coronavirus Fest’ can be enjoyed HERE. 
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