Grace Eyre is excited and proud to be partnering with the Brighton Fringe this year, to make sure that the iconic event is as inclusive as possible. Look out for volunteers from our Purple Productions events team and our Ambassadors at venues and events throughout the city, as well as online, this May. They will be ensuring that accessibility at the festival is considered beyond just wheelchair ramps, in a way that will benefit both Fringe artists and attendees, this year and beyond.
The Purple Productions team and Ambassadors will be supporting the Brighton Fringe by creating videos that provide useful accessibility information and explain how to get to different venues and locations, as well as interviewing Fringe stars, on both the Brighton Fringe and Grace Eyre’s social media channels. They will also be helping to promote the Fringe and providing their skills at various events, while gaining valuable work experience.
On top of this, Grace Eyre will be delivering invaluable Disability Confident training to Brighton Fringe staff, as part of their role as a Disability Confident Leader.
Duncan Lustig-Prean, Chair of the Brighton Fringe said:
“Brighton Fringe is delighted to be supporting Grace Eyre as our local charity this year.
“Brighton Fringe inspires artists and gives them the chance to achieve their potential in the performing arts. Our ethos is similar to Grace Eyre who help people to achieve their real potential.
“We are looking forward to working with Grace Eyre and helping with training opportunities for Grace Eyre volunteers during the Fringe. We hope that you will support Grace Eyre’s amazing work.”
Grace Eyre’s Ambassadors are volunteers who are part of the Our Voices team, all have a learning disability or are autistic, and who provide leadership and advice within Grace Eyre.
The Purple Productions team, made up of staff and volunteers, again nearly all of whom have a learning disability or are autistic, put on inclusive events for people with a learning disability and autistic people, as well as the whole community, including the monthly Purple Clubhouse club night.
At their own events, staff and volunteers get involved with management, hospitality, publicity and technical support. Developing valuable skills in these areas, alongside improving communication and building confidence, supports Purple Productions volunteers’ planned progression to paid work. This is part of our campaign and strategy to help more people with a learning disability and/or autistic people to be able to find employment.
Working with the Brighton Fringe will provide an opportunity to show the wider community what the Purple Productions team can do. The team are also able to provide these services to other nights and productions throughout the festival and in future. If you are interested in offering employment and/or volunteer opportunities, please contact jgood@grace-eyre.org.
Eva Eriksson, Grace Eyre CEO said:
“We are excited to be invited by Brighton Fringe to be their Local Charity Partner this year. Our charity has long-standing and highly regarded history in the city and has supported people with a learning disability and autistic people to live independent and creative lives as part of the Brighton community for more than 100 years, so we are very honoured to be part of this innovative festival in 2026.
“We look forward to supporting this inclusive event and our amazing volunteers and people supported by us will be gaining valuable work experience within the festival. We believe this will progress some amazing personal journeys and champion our strategic goal of enabling more people with a learning disability and/or autism to find meaningful employment.”
Pagane Gacheva, Our Voices Team Leader for Grace Eyre, who oversees our Ambassadors team (plus is a local comedian and Fringe star) added:
“Everyone deserves access to engage with the arts and Grace Eyre’s focus on arts accessibility is a fundamental part of our approach to working with people we support. We nurture people’s creativity and develop their artistry. We are excited to be expanding our platform and amplifying the voices of the neurodivergent community by partnering with England’s biggest arts festival.”
More in May
Many of the Purple Productions team are also taking part in the Brighton Fringe show, ‘Not Another Group Chat!!!’, at Junk Poets at Caravanserai on 13th and 20th May. They will be joined by special guest performers from Echo Performing Arts in a fun and original play exploring the notorious social media frontier of the group chat. It covers the trials and tribulations of many different brain types in one legendary group chat. Tickets are available via the Fringe box office and website.
Additionally, Grace Eyre’s Pioneer Arts group will be exhibiting once more at The Modern Funeral, near Preston Park station, as part of May’s Artists Open House festival.
Plus we of course have all our regular activities and events, including May’s Purple Clubhouse. Take a look at our events page for more on these.
It’s going to be a busy May!