True friends are those who get you through the hard times and, not going to lie, I’ve had more than my fair share of those in my attempts to keep Funny Women going over the last 17 years. One of the initiatives that got us through a particularly difficult patch was the setting up of our Funny Friends scheme.
It’s a simple concept. You pay us £100 (including VAT) and we give you access to some of our best stuff in return. It’s a one-off payment (yes we’re mad…) and in return you get:
One free ticket to the Funny Women Awards – Final every year ( this year the final takes place on Thursday 19th September 2019)
One free Stand Up to Stand Out workshop (next one takes place on Saturday 13th July)
Free access to all of our outreach events run by our growing regional chapter network
It probably sounds mad from a commercial perspective but some of you have even been kind enough to pay us twice, recognising the value that we offer and knowing that we can’t easily do all these things without your financial support.
The income that comes in from new Funny Friends signing up does make a huge difference and goes towards funding our outreach events which now include Time of the Month in London, Bristol, Dublin and Amsterdam and Comedy Surgery in Brighton. Our newest chapter launches this coming Saturday 15th June in Manchester, so please go along and support our producer Scarlett Dobson and book here.
These events combine essential networking with other women who share an interest in comedy, some learning, discussion and an open mic platform designed to get first-timers on stage and more experienced acts to road test new material. They are all run by some amazing volunteers and offer a different non-competitive support platform alongside the Funny Women Awards.
By the way, if you didn’t get through to the live heats this year, please try again next year. We had over 430 video submissions and selected just over 200 of you to see in the live shows. Our Time of the Month events are a great opportunity to get feedback and chat to those who have taken part.
Funding for our Awards and outreach activities continues to be high on my personal agenda. As some of you know, we generate vital income through our corporate work with booking acts, and running our wonderful HERlarious events. Plus we are fortunate so have some first stage funding from our friends at Sky for this year’s Stage Award. Now we need your help to stage the final.
I won a much coveted Blue Peter Badge a very long time ago with my poster for the RNLI saying ‘your money is our lifebelt’ (good eh?!) and this seems particularly pertinent in respect of relaunching the Funny Friends appeal now!
We do need your money, yes please, and in return you will secure a free ticket to the grand final of the 2019 Funny Women Awards on Thursday 19th September at the Bloomsbury Theatre. All details here.
Only one ticket will be issued per Funny Friend but you can always buy more – there’s an earlybird deal until the end of June so no excuses!
In the meantime, if you are part of an organisation that would like to help us develop women’s voices in the workplace and beyond, we are looking for commercial partners for our remaining Awards and the Final. If you would like to know more details about what’s on offer please check out the document here:
Funny_Women_Awards_2019_Partnership_Overview
We are also developing a roster of Corporate Funny Friends to help us achieve our objectives. Either way I will personally throw in a free Stand Up to Stand Out workshop for you and up to 20 colleagues (female and male) in your workplace as well as some tickets for the final on 19th September. What are you waiting for?!
Want to know more? Please email me lynne@funnywomen.com or call the office number on 020 8948 4444.
