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Photo: Paul Watson

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Arts Council funding a “stamp of approval” for burlesque

Hebden Bridge Burlesque Festival has batted away council opposition and triumphed over floods to become the first burlesque festival to receive funding from ACE.

Frances Richens
2 min read

Arts Council England (ACE) has funded a project focused specifically on burlesque for the first time.

Hebden Bridge Burlesque Festival has been awarded just under £12k through ACE’s Grants for the Arts programme for its fourth annual festival.

Co-Producer Heidi Bang Tidy said the funding felt like a “stamp of approval” for both her four-day festival and the artform.

A spokesperson for ACE said: “While this is the first time the Arts Council has awarded funding to a project focused specifically on burlesque, we have funded other projects which have featured aspects of burlesque within them, for example the biannual Morecambe Variety Festival.”

This was the first time the festival, which was the first of its kind outside of London, had applied to ACE for funding. “I think it’s the first time any burlesque festival has applied,” Heidi said.

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The festival provides a platform for showcasing and developing new talent, championing diversity and developing audiences for the artform.

As well as providing the festival with a “financial buffer”, the grant, which amounts to half its total budget, will allow it to take more risks in programming. It has commissioned new work and is curating a show cast entirely of LGBTQ, disabled and non-white performers. The show will be signed by a BSL interpreter – “dressed suitably glamorously” – in what Heidi believes is a first for a burlesque performance.

It’s a triumph for the West Yorkshire festival, which has faced opposition, not just from members of the public, but from local councillors. In 2013, the town council banned it from using a council-run venue over fears the artform was perceived as “demeaning to women”.

The relationship with the council has since improved, Heidi said. “The mayor opened the festival last year.”

It received another setback this winter, when Hebden Bridge Valley was devastated by floods. “We were getting ready to announce our line-up,” said Heidi. “And all four venues flooded.” This led the festival to re-strategise and bring forward its plans to apply for funding by a year.

The festival will take place from 28 April to 1 May.