Cardiff BID sponsors the 2017 Iris Prize Festival

• “This partnership allows Iris to celebrate Cardiff as a vibrant centre for LGBT creativity to the world”
• Cardiff / Caerdydd to feature in festival’s new marketing plan

Carolyn Brownell, Marketing and Communications Manager Cardiff BID, commented: “Surely there is no better time than LGBT pride month to announce that Cardiff BID are sponsoring this year’s Iris Festival. Iris is the world’s largest LGBT film festival and we’re delighted that this award-winning festival continues to take place in Cardiff and has for the last 11 years. The six-day event showcases Cardiff to a worldwide audience and proves that Cardiff can deliver on the highest cultural level, the festival team have a strong commitment to our wonderful city and ensure they work with a variety of local businesses including Cardiff’s plethora of dedicated LGBT spaces, the main hub of the festival is in Cineworld, ensuring that visitors are drawn right into central Cardiff.” Andrew Pierce, Iris Prize Chair, commented: “Cardiff has been home to the world’s largest LGBT short film prize and we want everybody to know about it. There is no doubt in my mind that Cardiff has been one of the secret ingredients in the success of the Iris Prize Festival.” “I understand that many of the visiting film makers have come because of the £30,000 Iris Prize, but many return year after year even though they are not in competition. One of the many reasons they give for returning is Cardiff, which they cite as a friendly place full of cafes, restaurants and amazing nightlife.” “We’ve seen a steady increase in the number of people coming to Cardiff for the Iris Prize Festival but we want even more people to join us. We are delighted to have secured this sponsorship from Cardiff BID, it will allow us to be even more creative with our marketing.” Over the coming months the festival team will be revealing a new marketing strategy which will include a new cinema advert, printed advertising in Attitude, Diva, Winq and Buzz Magazines and a more focused approach to highlighting the role of Cardiff during the 6-day event in October across all our communications. The main festival sponsors are: The Michael Bishop Foundation, Welsh Government, BFI, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Pinewood Studios Group, Cardiff University, Cardiff BID, Gorilla Group, Cineworld, Pride Cymru, and Bafta Cymru. Notes to Editors: Cardiff Business Improvement District (BID), was established in November 2016. It covers 130 streets across the capital city stretching from Principality Stadium to Newport Road and Butetown to Cathays and is one of the largest BID areas in the UK comprising over 990 levy payers. The BID raises over £1.5 million revenue each year, to spend on things that businesses (retail, leisure, tourism, office and commercial) voted for in the business plan. Over five years the vision is to make Cardiff more welcoming, vibrant and influential.