The Festival of Thrift is asking businesses to get behind an online campaign to raise funds to help keep entry to the event free.
A crowdfunding campaign that runs for a month from 21 July aims to raise money to support the development of the Festival and maintain free entry to the two day event being held this year on 17 and 18 September in Kirkleatham, near Redcar.
A range of pledge amounts is on offer from £1,000 down to £2 with some including the opportunity to have a logo or advert featured in the printed programme for the Festival that attracted 45,000 visitors to the 2015 event.
The Festival of Thrift is a cultural celebration for the people of the North East, the UK and beyond, offering visitors the chance to find the fun in learning how to reuse, recycle and upcycle, saving both money and benefiting the environment.
Last year’s event in Darlington offered 1,200 things to see and do, 60 artists, 120 stalls and 300 workshops and resulted in 45,000 visitors attending.
Director of the Festival of Thrift, Stella Hall, said: “We are delighted that our unique family-friendly Festival is growing from strength to strength and this is an ideal opportunity for businesses of all sizes and with marketing budgets large and small to get behind a unique north east event that has a national profile.
“We now need support to keep building the event so we continue to have a fabulous engaging programme with free admission that gets everyone in the community involved, particularly those on reduced incomes. We want to get families sharing their knowledge skills, and thrifty ideas and getting involved in more outside activities than ever before.”
This year’s event is at a new Tees Valley location including fields and woodland in and around the grounds of Kirkleatham Museum and Stella added: “We want to show families how to play in the great outdoors and learn skills that seem to be slipping away.
“Activities might include campfire cooking, making jam in our jam factory – Jamalittle – as well as den building, making cardboard castles and orienteering before settling down to listen to magical story telling in the woods or at the Mariner’s Hut.
“It’s a gem of a festival that has built an incredibly loyal and passionate following since it launched in 2013 but in the current climate where sponsorship and funding pots are severely strained we need some extra help from our friends to make it happen and keep it inclusive as we have to build the festival from scratch each year.”
The crowdfunder campaign aims to raise £7,500 to contribute to the costs of paying artists and craftspeople, production promotion and festival administration.
For further details and to make a donation visit http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/