SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

BIRMINGHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL

8-17TH OCTOBER 2015

BACKGROUND Birmingham Literature

Festival, the flagship project run by Writing West

Midlands, is an excellent way to connect with people in the West Midlands and from further afield.

Our audiences are passionate about arts and culture and have time and money to spend on following their interests. They are, of course, primed with their own ideas and opinions and they enjoy the chance the Festival offers to discuss issues and share views. Quite simply, our audiences make the Festival what it is.

Our audiences are delighted to welcome high profile names to Birmingham from elsewhere in the UK and overseas. In recent years we saw writers from Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Libya, South Africa and Pakistan. Our audiences are justifiably

proud of writers from the region, including previous and future Festival speakers Alan Ahlberg, Liz Berry, Meera Syal and Steven Knight.

Man Booker shortlisted

authors signing a�er their

event.

University of Birmingham

promo�onal material in

the Library of Birmingham

foyer

Dr Gregory Leadbe�er

chairing Fes�val

opening event with

Jackie Kay

BIRMINGHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL 2015 Writing West Midlands would like to develop its relationship with Write the

Talk. Sponsorship of Birmingham Literature Festival events begins at

£500 with headline events generally requiring a contribution of £1000 (plus

VAT). Most of our events happen in the Library of Birmingham, but we also

use other venues in the city centre.

We would like to help you make the most of your sponsorship and can

provide you with dedicated staff time and the services of a professional

photographer during the Festival to help showcase your sponsorship to

colleagues and customers. Your sponsorship will help to raise your profile

locally through exposure to our mailing list, website visitors and event

attendees, as well as providing opportunities for corporate entertaining in

the prestigious Library of Birmingham. Write the Talk can also feel

confident that they are making a valuable contribution to the cultural life of

the region.

Jackie Kay 2014,

sponsored by Newman University

Tracey Thorn and Ben Wa�s

s�ll available to sponsor in 2015

Example of sponsorship branding in

Library of Birmingham Foyer, 2014

Birmingham Literature Festival

Number of events: 42 Tickets sold: 2720 Facebook friends: 2062 Email contacts: 3136

Twitter followers: 4685 Webpage impressions: 13,916 (since Aug 14) Number of brochures printed: 15,000 Listening audience: 1 million (BBC broadcast)

Partner organisations included:

Arts Council England Birmingham Repertory Theatre BBC Two BBC Radio 4 Danish Cultural Institute

Festivals Birmingham Heart FM Ikon Gallery Library of Birmingham Man Booker Prize More By Design National Poetry Day Nine Arches Press Poetry By Heart Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate West Midlands Readers’ Network Writers’ Guild

Sponsors involved:

Birmingham City University Irwin Mitchell LLP Midland Creative Projects Newman University Opus at Cornwall Street University of Birmingham

OUR REACH

Peaky Blinders: Steven Knight Peaky Blinders: Steven Knight Peaky Blinders: Steven Knight Peaky Blinders: Steven Knight

Photo: Lee Allen

Be a sponsorship partner for one of our Headline Events and your

organisation can receive the following benefits:

Branding within the attractive full colour Festival brochure and website to include business

logo and statement of sponsorship (“Sponsored by…”).

Guaranteed availability of 10 event tickets for guests of sponsor with reserved seating

(further tickets will be available at cost) and 5 signed copies of an author’s book.

Opportunity for branding of event venue and distribution of business information (e.g.

display material, copies of brochures, etc).

Opportunity to have professional photographs taken of your sponsorship for use on your

website or other promotional material.

Opportunity for catering package for guests of sponsor before or after an event (depending

on event venue with costs negotiable).

Opportunity for guests to ‘meet the author’ before an event (subject to confirmation of

arrival times of author, etc).

Public crediting of sponsor during event introduction and wherever possible through our

PR campaign.

All of the above elements are negotiable. Most events take place during the evenings. Please note that all details are

subject to change during the immediate planning process.

BE INVOLVED

www.writingwestmidlands.org

To follow up any of the suggestions made in this booklet, please contact:

Emma Boniwell, Relationship Manager emma@writingwestmidlands.org

Jonathan Davidson, Chief Executive jonathan@writingwestmidlands.org

Telephone: 0121 246 2770

Images © Lee Allen Photography. Ben Watts & TraceyThorn © Sarah Lee