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Why you should sponsor the Festival

Key benefits for your organisation

• Profile raising – raise your organisation’s profile as part of the Festival’s national marketing, publicity and media campaign with 50,000 event brochures, over 100,000 visitors to our website and a large scale marketing campaign featuring your organisation’s logo.
• Major North West event – be associated with an 11 day festival that is becoming a unique beacon event for the region.
• Audience engagement – our events offer direct visibility to many thousands of children and their families, carers and teachers.
• Corporate social responsibility – fulfil part of your CSR agenda by supporting a very worthwhile arts and humanities cause in Manchester and the North West.
• Sharing the benefits – you can offer your employees, clients, partners and guests access to events and activities, as well as opportunities to meet world-class authors, including the Poet Laureate. We are also happy to discuss staging bespoke events to meet the requirements of your organisation.
• University association – with over 4,000 staff, 36,000 students and extensive school links across the region, we can offer access to a wide range of audiences, markets and benefits for your organisation.

Sponsorship opportunities

Working in partnership with cultural organisations, educational establishments and business partners, we have a range of exciting opportunities for local and national businesses to invest in the festival, promoting external brands and raising corporate profiles to the wide audience of this major literary event.

With packages ranging from £1,000 to £10,000, opportunities for sponsoring the festival events and activities are grouped into three main strands – Public Events, Schools’ Programmes and Professional Development Days. Get details about all the packages available.

Festival programme

Public Events

Festival launch – hosted by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, this VIP wine reception will feature performances by Carol Ann and other artists and will provide an excellent networking opportunity.

Family Fun Day – a fun packed day of events, activities, exhibitions, stalls and interactive sessions with opportunities to meet favourite characters and the people responsible for creating them.

Author events – taking place at venues across Manchester and aimed at family audiences, this programme will feature many of the nation’s favourite authors, poets and illustrators.

Carol Ann Duffy public performance – a family show featuring the Poet Laureate and her musician, John Sampson, at the Royal Exchange Theatre.

Gala dinner – a four star evening meal at the prestigious Midland Hotel, hosted by Carol Ann Duffy in the company of celebrity diners and guest speakers, with a charity auction and musical entertainment.

Schools’ Programmes

For schools – a full programme of events and activities offered by Manchester Metropolitan University and partner organisations, featuring authors, poets, illustrators and focussing on festival exhibitions.

Festival projects – a variety of opportunities for primary and secondary school pupils to take part in projects with artists, writers and arts practitioners. Includes an international Reading and Writing Relay, Poetry on the Run, a Flash Mob performance in city centre Manchester and our Young Journalist and Twitter schemes.

Professional Development Days

Continuing professional development days – two full days of writing workshops, discussions, symposia and illustrated talks delivered by leading writers, academics, experts and arts practitioners, with a central focus on children’s literature.

Flexible sponsorship opportunities

Our sponsorship opportunities are different and can be custom built. We offer a range of flexible options to maximise the benefits for your organisation.

Our team will work closely with you, taking a unique, creative approach to ensure that all of your objectives are fulfilled. We provide clear, positive associations with a wide range of target audiences:

Target audiences

• Children of all ages, from new readers to teens.
• Parents, relatives, carers and family groups.
• Members of local Manchester communities, and visitors to the city.
• Manchester-based university students and staff.
• Professional adults: teachers, writers and arts practitioners.
• Publishers, literary agents and booksellers.
• School groups – pupils from primary and secondary schools.
• The business community (with a particular emphasis on organisations with an investment in youth and family audiences).
• Anyone with a general interest in children’s books, and in writing for children.

Our sponsors gain from

• Targeting a highly diverse and discerning regional audience.
• Sending a strong, positive message to stakeholders.
• Being an integral part of one of the region’s biggest cultural events.

Contact us to find out more…

Contact the Festival Directors, James Draper and Kaye Tew, on 0161 247 1787/1966 or by email at mcbf@mmu.ac.uk, find out more about our sponsorship packages or sponsor our festival programme.