£ 55,000aid is not for us, say Goth organisers

THE ORGANISERS of Whitby Goth Weekend have denied reports that the festival has received funding from the Government, saying it is a rival event that has benefited.

The Government announced over the weekend that it had given £ 55,000 to “Whitby Gothic Festival” which it stated had been “a pilgrimage for fans of Bram Stoker’s famous novel, Dracula, for over 25 years and has also attracted visitors due to the architectural and cultural heritage of the town”.

However, in a post on its Facebook page Whitby Goth Weekend, which was founded in 1994 by Jo Hampshire as a music festival, said that the money had instead gone to the Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival.

The Tomorrow’s Ghosts Festival was founded in 2018 by Absinthe Promotions after the original goth weekend lost the licence to put on bands at Whitby Pavilion following a dispute with the venue’s operator SIV.

The Whitby Goth Weekend post said: “You may have recently heard from numerous press outlets that ‘ Whitby Gothic Festival’ has been subject to a very tasty financial bailout from the Governments Art Funding.

“While we’d love to say we’ve got such a big bank balance on the cards, it simply isn’t true. Whitby Goth Weekend, the festival which has run since 1994, is not subject to any funding.

“The cash package was sent over to Absinthe Promotions, who have, by contrast, only been running for a couple of years in our place at the Pavilion, with whom we have no ties or affiliation.”

Whitby Goth Weekend started life as a small number of people meeting up in Whitby with bands in a pub.

It quickly grew and became a renowned event that attracted thousands of people. The weekend planned to begin on October 30 was cancelled last month due to a spike in coronavirus cases.