Charity makes £14k selling Bristol Banksy show tickets
A charity selling tickets for a private viewing of Banksy's Bristol exhibition has raised more than £14,000 in a week.
Young Bristol is offering people the chance to pay £25 a ticket, or £45 for two people, to attend the graffiti artist's City Museum exhibition on Monday, August 17, between 6pm and 8pm.
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The charity has sold around 570 tickets for the event, and is confident it will sell all 600 by the end of today.
The evening will be a ticket-only event – with no queues.
The exhibition, which is normally free, has previously seen queues of up to 3,500 on busy days, with some people queuing for more than three hours to get into the museum.
More than 300,000 people have so far viewed the exhibition since it opened in June. It is due to finish at the end of the month.
Lindy Tasker, chairman of fundraising for Young Bristol, said: "We approached the museum, who in turn approached Banksy to see if we could raise funds in this way, and we've been absolutely delighted with the response.
"We started sending out invitations to buy tickets last Monday, and by Friday we had sold 400 of them.
"We think we've sold a lot more but because of the postal strike we're having to wait and see how many more people have requested tickets.
"The proceeds from the night will be split between us and the City Museum."
Among the collection on display is a Stonehenge made from portable toilets which greets visitors on arrival, a burnt-out ice cream van now replaces the enquiries desk and the life-size biplane suspended from the ceiling now provides refuge for a Guantanamo Bay escapee.
Young Bristol, based in Bedminster, is a youth organisation that works in partnership with a range of agencies throughout the greater Bristol area.
It offers opportunities for young people to develop their skills, achieve goals and build confidence, and runs a series of youth clubs and activities for children and young adults.
The Banksy exhibition is normally open daily from 10am to 5pm, with the last entry at 4pm.
It will be open late on August 12, 19, and 26, and runs until August 31.
4 Comments
by AJ, Brisstol
Tuesday, August 11 2009, 8:58PM
“The museum could have made £300,000 by now if they had charged everyone £1.00 entry, which Im sure people would have been prepared to pay!!”
by Martyn, Downend
Tuesday, August 11 2009, 1:55PM
“I have just been to the Banksy exhibition this morning, just under 2 hours queuing. Its fantastic, and might go again to see stuff I missed. I reckon it'd be well worth having a ticket for this private viewing to see it all with less effort.
But one thing. Why does it not open till 10:00 ? The queue was already pretty big at 8:30 when I got there.”
by Chrissy, Wells
Tuesday, August 11 2009, 1:25PM
“Yes, please extend Banksy closing date. And could some provision be made for those whose health/age makes queuing for hours difficult.”
by Kris, Bristol
Tuesday, August 11 2009, 11:58AM
“May I suggest that due to the popularity of this exhibition the museum consider extending the closing date......Many local people have not been able to visit the exhibition which has proved to be incredibly popular. It would be nice if more people were allowed the opportunity to visit this exhibition”