Bursary Tickets

For ClimbOut 2024, we have 36 bursary tickets available at a significantly reduced price. This is in addition to us subsidising tickets overall. The provision of bursary tickets is designed to improve access to the festival for low-income LGBTQ+ individuals who would otherwise be unable to attend the festival.  Bursary tickets are £20 and include the full festival experience: entry to the festival, 2 days of courses, and hire of climbing equipment if needed. If the £20 fee is a barrier for you, please let us know at [email protected]

We recognise the intersection of multiple disadvantages, which means that financial barriers to participation will affect a disproportionate number of climbers from various minoritised identities in the climbing community.  As such, we have ring-fenced 30 bursary tickets, divided equally between the following minoritised groups: genderqueer and trans folk, racially minoritised groups, and disabled people. Our approach has been influenced by various groups working on outdoor equity and we particularly want to acknowledge Wanderers of Colour and Land In Our Names for helping with this.

Who should apply?

Bursary tickets are for low-income LGBTQ+ individuals only, i.e. you must be both low-income and LGBTQ+ to be eligible.  (Bursaries are not available to allies.) The following guidance is designed to help you determine whether you need a bursary. 

You are eligible to apply for a bursary ticket, if you identify as LGBTQ+ and identify with 4 or more of the statements below:

• I would not be able to attend this event without the bursary
• I frequently stress about meeting basic needs & don’t always achieve them
• I have debt, and it sometimes prohibits me from meeting my basic needs
• I rent lower-end properties or have unstable housing
• I struggle to afford the cost of transportation and travel (i.e. unable to afford a car, fuel, or public transportation tickets)
• I am unemployed or underemployed
• I qualify for government assistance, including universal credit or benefits 
• I have no access to savings
• I have no or very limited expendable income
• I rarely buy new items because I am unable to afford them
• I cannot afford a vacation or have the ability to take time off without a financial burden

How to apply

Our Bursary applications for 2024 are now closed.

If you are eligible for more than one category, please select all categories that apply to you.  You will be entered into the lottery for each category you meet so that your chances of receiving a bursary ticket are increased.  (For example, if you are trans and a person of colour, please select both identities in the form, and you will have double the chances of getting a bursary ticket).

Successful applicants will receive a discount code by email to order a festival pass and any courses they wish to attend. The code will be active for two weeks. If it is not used by the end of this period, it will expire. This timeline ensures that bursary holders can book their spaces before general ticket release. It also allows us to re-offer any bursaries that are not taken up, before key courses sell out. Anyone who needs more time to book a bursary space, or who knows that they won’t use your code, please let us know. Unsuccessful applicants will be put on the waiting list and informed if a bursary ticket later becomes available.

In the case of participants with a disability who require a non-climbing aid to attend, your aid will be able to attend the festival for free. They will be able to join you on any courses as a support but participating beyond this will be at the discretion of the instructor, depending on ratios and safety. Please let us know if you require an aid to attend when you are booking tickets.

How are bursaries allocated?

We’ve given a lot of thought to this and feel it’s important to have a transparent process. The bursaries will be allocated by random ballot. Where an applicant is eligible for a space in more than one category (i.e. if they are racially minoritised and disabled), they will be entered into the ballot for each category, increasing their chances of getting a bursary space.

If, after the initial ballot there are spaces remaining within a ring-fenced category, we will reopen applications for that category for a short period and try to fill it.

If we cannot fill all places within a ring-fenced category those bursaries will be offered to applicants in the other ring-fenced categories, before finally offering unfilled spaces to the un-ring-fenced pool (i.e. low-income LGBTQIA+ applicants who did not identify as racially minoritised, genderqueer and/or trans, or disabled).

If the process of random ballot results in a significantly inequitable result (e.g. if there is a marked underrepresentation of a certain demographic) then the ballot will be run again and/or application for spaces in that ring-fenced category will be reopened for a short period, in order to support equity at the festival.