EMERGENCY COVID CAMPAIGN
Letter from the Festival Director
We hope you are keeping well in these difficult times. With large events now indefinitely on hold and many of our sister festivals cancelled, we wanted to let you know about our position. We are so grateful for the support you have given the festival over the years and especially to our Friends and sponsors who have recently donated to our emergency campaign.
The Festival team is doing everything it can to be here for the community in the long term. However, like most arts organisations we don't have cash reserves to fall back on. Overheads have been completely stripped back with our team now working on reduced or no pay. We're applying to the limited funding sources available to the arts, but we still need to raise c.£25k from our supporters to keep going beyond Covid-19.
The team had been working hard on the production of our autumn festival on Wimbledon Common. Our focus has now shifted to alternative models for 2020 and we are developing plans with our delivery partners including Merton Libraries, University of Roehampton, publishers & authors. We will keep you informed as plans emerge. You have helped Wimbledon BookFest become London's leading literary festival in the community, and we want to be here for the future.
The lockdown has had many awful and tragic consequences but it has also highlighted just how important culture is to us all and how it can help us to connect, lift our spirits and support our mental health.
The community has always so generously supported the Festival and we are asking now if you might be able to help us with a donation to ensure we are here beyond Covid-19. Please support our emergency appeal if you can.
And please do let us know if there is anything we can do better.
With all good wishes
Fiona Razvi (Festival Director) & the Wimbledon BookFest Team
(email: info@wimbledonbookfest.org, we'd love to hear from you). 9.5.20
CLICK HERE To Read the Open Letter from Creative Industries Federation to the Minister of Culture calling for support for the Arts.
