Social and Sustainable Fund

We are the most fortunate people on this planet. Even though sometimes it might not feel like that, we’d like to take a moment to show gratitude and to give back to the community, the planet and the African American culture that created this wonderful dance.

We invite all participants to contribute to the social & sustainable fund of Upside Down Festival. In fact, you automatically do, because €5 of your standard ticket price goes directly into the fund. We warmly encourage you to donate more if you can afford it.

What does the social & sustainable fund support?

We try to make Upside Down Festival a more sustainable event, in the ecological, social and economical sense of the word.

How? By rethinking catering, investing in reforestation, offering a sliding scale ticket system, organising a secondhand shop, encouraging better ways of travelling to the festival, facilitating training and talks on African American art forms and generating positive and welcoming atmospheres during the event.

Most of these actions are part of our organisational work, but we have more impact thanks to the contributions to the social & sustainable fund.

Where does the money go to?

1. The Fund supports NGOs that fight for our values:

• Bos+ and Treecological. Our easy way of travelling and consuming comes with a hidden carbon tag. By investing in reforestation programs, we give back to nature.
• Black Lindy Hoppers Funds. It is important to bridge the gap of knowledge, access and development for Black Lindy Hoppers.
• Collective Voices For Change. This organisation addresses the issues of racial inequalities and cultural appropriation in the Jazz dance community in Europe and around the globe.

2. The fund provides access to local and international dancers in vulnerable socio-economic situations.

📣 Open call to community leaders

Each edition, we reserve a number of spots for active dancers who have never travelled to a festival before, due to financial reasons.
We call upon scene leaders to nominate these people!

We provide access to the festival including a track of choice for a symbolic amount of €50.
We will also do our utmost best to secure free hosting for them.

Upside Down believes in building strong communities and local scenes. The festival strives to be a place where learning, exchange and collaboration between hundreds of participants is made possible.

The open call is now closed. Thank you for your nominations!

What happened with the social & sustainable fund last edition?

• €6351 was collected. All participants contributed €5, and many dancers contributed a bit more. Of the total sum, €1500 was contributed by Upside Down, the organising entity.
• 46 participants asked and received a discount through our open call for scene leaders, the sliding scale and UiTPAS kansentarief, for a total of €4685.
• The remaining €1666 was donated to three charitable organizations that work with our values: Black Lindy Hoppers Fund, the Treecological project by BOS+ and Collective Voices for Change.

How to add or benefit from the Fund?

During registration, you have the option to top your contribution of €5 with a little more, or to request a discount from the fund.

We apply a sliding scale: there is a standard fee that cover mosts costs while being a fair price. If you pay more, it goes into the Fund; if you pay less, it is covered by the Fund.

• For any type of registration, there is the option to add a sustainable topping. Which means: if you are capable of giving more, you can choose to add €15, €25, €50 or €90 to your ticket.
• For the “I go Upside Down” festival pass, there is the option to request a discount of 25% or 50%. If you cannot afford the standard fee for the festival pass, you can pick a reduced fee of choice, no questions asked.
• Local dancers from the Ghent region with “UiTPAS kansentarief*” can get a 80% discount. If you’re a pass holder, please send us an email with your UitPAS number after registration

In order for the Fund to work, we need to balance what goes in and what comes out. Upside Down, the organizer, puts a lump sum to get started and all tickets include a €5 donation, but we rely on the generosity of participants to pay more if they can afford it.

We also trust participants to only request a discount if they need it. When the Fund runs out of money, we cannot offer discounts.

*Upside Down (LouisLou vzw) is partner van UiTPAS regio Gent. Ben je inwoner van Gent, Merelbeke, Destelbergen, Melle of Lochristi en kom je in aanmerking voor verhoogde tegemoetkoming of ben je in schuldbemiddeling? Dan krijg je 80% korting met je UiTPAS op het “I go Upside Down” festival pass of afternoon pass.  Alle Info over UiTPAS vind je op: www.uitingent.be/uitpas. Ticket met kansentarief? Mail ons jouw UiTPAS-kaartnummer.