BiCon 2018 BME Bursary Fund

The BiCon 2018 team have decided to run a Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) LGBT People's Bursary for BiCon 2018 following the success of a similar fund in 2015.

For the purpose of this fund we are defining Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) as people who are:-

  • Of colour (e.g. Asian, Black)
  • Of mixed heritage
  • International migrants from outwith the UK
  • Jewish
  • Roma

This does not include people who may belong to British ethnicities that may be considered minorities in some contexts.

Applicants should also be LGBT and be resident in the UK.

With the bursary BiCon will cost:-

  • £30 for a full event ticket with accommodation for three nights
  • £5 for a full event ticket without accommodation
  • £2 for a one-day ticket

Click here to apply for the fund

Funds will be allocated on a simple first come, first served basis and close when funds are all used or on the BiCon booking deadline.

We recognise that BiCon has similar issues with racism in our community to other LGBT+ spaces and believe supporting more BME people to attend BiCon is only one of many steps we can take to mitigate racism and its impact on BME people.

Other steps BiCon 2018 are taking include:-

  • Using guidelines from Black Pride’s anti-racism code of practice which recognises that our community is multi¬ethnic and multi¬cultural and that racism is a problem in the LGBTQ community so we need to accept the challenge of addressing that
  • Partnering with the Equality Network to work on diversity including BME inclusion. They are facilitating an Introduction to Diversity session as well as a workshop to improve attendee’s skills at recognising and tackling racism
  • Providing a BME/Bis of Colour only attender safe space session slot
  • Providing the option of a BME-only flat for BME people who request this
  • Displaying posters called community info zones educating attenders about racism alongside other topics.

As with previous BiCons race and diversity are explicitly mentioned in our Code of Conduct and we are committed to challenging racist language and behaviour.

BME bi+ people may also be interested in Bis of Colour, a separate group for bi+ people of colour. Their blog and details are at bisofcolour.tumblr.com/

If you want to donate to the fund you can do so by Paypal to bicon2018@gmail.com or by using the button on our access fund page.  Any surplus will be ring-fenced for future BiCon Access funds.