This year, as well as handing out 100 single use cameras to people in London affected by homelessness, we helped a group of volunteers do the same project in Brighton.
The MyBrighton & Hove Kickstarter will run for 30 days, and aim to pay for a large part of the printing of their calendar. It starts 18.00 UK time on Wednesday 15 August. Please support this initiative on day one if you can! The Kickstarter algorithms mean we will be voted a "project we love" if we get to 30% of the £2,500 goal within a few days and that's our goal!
The Brighton calendar is beautiful - printed on quality paper and the 13 photos were chosen from thousands taken by the participants. The price is a very affordable £8.99 if you buy on the Kickstarter!
The MyLondon calendar is launched an hour later at 19.00. Please order on Day One too as it will help our algorithms on Kickstarter too (you can order both together on either Kickstarter).
Photos available too - 50% of profits will go to the photographers
By ordering a photograph on either the MyLondon Kickstarter or the MyBrighton & Hove Kickstarter, you support the photographers directly.
This is the sixth MyLondon and we have raised thousands of pounds for the participants in the projects since 2013. The 13 photos in the calendar were voted on by the public from 20 chosen by a selection panel made up of professional and amateur photographers from The Royal Photographic Society, Fujifilm UK, Amateur Photographer Magazine, London Photo Festival, Homeless Link and a formerly homeless photographer. We are a social enterprise and more than 50% of our profits go to artists, photographers and calendar vendors who are homeless or have recently been homeless.
More about Brighton: Earlier this year Lucy Groenewould approached us from Brighton and we decided to help her do the MyBrighton & Hove Photo Project at the same time as the MyLondon project.
Like London, Fujifilm UK helped and provided 100 single-use cameras to run the project in Brighton. Jessops developed the film and print the photos and CarterWong are designing it for free. Like London, local Brighton people affected by homelessness who sell the calendar will earn money from selling it once it's printed.
The London Kickstarter will run for exactly 30 days and end on Saturday 15 September. Our target is £7,500 to help print 7,000 calendars.
All the profits from the MyBrighton & Hove calendar will go to support the local project and there are no paid staff in Brighton.
We are hoping that by running the Kickstarters at the same time we will help the new volunteer-run Brighton project. Local Brighton people are being asked to support it, but we're telling all our supporters in the UK and overseas to buy either one or the other calendar, or both.
If you have bought the London calendar for a few years, why not support the new Brighton one? It would mean a lot for us to help this local initiative succeed. As mentioned above, you will be able to buy both calendars on either Kickstarter campaign so that you can save on the postage.
Economic uncertainty and this project
The UK economy is unstable while it leaves the EU. This year the printing costs and postage costs have gone up. However we realise that the UK buyers are going through a tough few years financially because of the Brexit trade negotiations. With such economic uncertainty we decided to freeze and price increases and the MyLondon calendar will be £9.99 again (as will the MyBrighton & Hove calendar). They will only be £9 on the Kickstarters!
How to support our Kickstarters:
Go to https://www.kickstarter.com and search "Cafe Art MyBrighton & Hove 2019 calendar" on Wednesday at 18.00 (6pm UK time)! Go to https://www.kickstarter.com and search "Cafe Art MyLondon 2019 calendar" on Wednesday at 19.00 (7pm UK time!)