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Friends

Subsidized Tickets

Creating Equity in our Community

The listed price for Dark Before Dawn is $750 for a dormitory stay. There are no profits made on this retreat - this is the exact cost of food, accommodations & facilitators. Most staff and organizers are volunteers and are not getting paid.

The goal of this retreat is to create a community where everyone is able to fully participate and the facilitators and space holders are compensated fairly. Volunteers have fundraised to make this event accessible to those who cannot otherwise afford to attend in order to build equity in the community. Prior to applying we encourage you to share our fundraiser to help spread the word so that we can can continue to build equity.

We invite each attendee to take inventory of their financial resources and look deeper at their levels of privilege or systemic barriers. If this level of honesty feels uncomfortable, it should. Our discomfort is required to transform our community into a more just and equitable space.

What Funding Do I Apply For?

We all have different relationships with money and finances and sometimes it can be hard to tell exactly how much privilege we have, or how many barriers we face.  Below you will find a chart to help you determine how much funding to apply for.  You do not need to check every box, you may have some barriers in one box and some in another. Some of your barriers may not be listed here - this sliding scale is a rough guideline, not a hard rule - we encourage you to self-assess and choose the option that best reflects your economic situation.

Subsidized funding is available on an honour system. Please do not apply for more funding than you actually need, as it will leave funds in the pool for others who need to access funding alongside you.

Consider investing the listed price if you:

  • Have no dependents

  • Can comfortably meet your basic* needs

  • Have paid off your student loans / do not worry about making payments

  • Own or lease your vehicle

  • Have access to extended health benefits

  • Have parents who pay for your university/college tuiton

  • Can afford to attend concerts or festivals

  • Can afford to dine out regularly / go for drinks with friends

  • Are able to miss work for sickness / leisure and still pay your month's bills

  • Can travel when needed for an unexpected occasion like a funeral or emergency.

Consider 75% off if you:

  • Are a single parent / caregiver or are being raised in a single parent household

  • Are living paycheck to paycheck

  • Are underemployed

  • Struggle to meet your basic needs

  • Have refugee status

  • Are an elder living on CPP

  • Have unstable housing

  • Have limited work/earning opportunities & extra costs of living due to disability, gender, or orientation

  • Are unable to afford new clothes, household items and must thrift them

  • Cannot afford to take time off work for illness

  • Are currently accruing credit card debt to survive

  • Require mutual aid to pay for emergency medical & dental expenses

Consider 25% off if you:

  • Are partly responsible for supporting children or other dependents

  • Have a job but not a career

  • Have some debt that does not prohibit you from meeting basic* needs

  • Have fairly reliable daily transportation

  • Have some expendable** income

  • Can afford to buy some new items & thrift others.

  • Were the first in the family to go to university or college

  • Have extra living costs due to your disability.

  • Experience discrimination in hiring or pay level due to gender or orientation

Consider 100% off if you:

  • Are unable to meet your basic needs

  • Rent government subsidized housing or are currently unhoused

  • Have children that are eligible for a free lunch program

  • Are unemployed underemployed or cannot legally work in Canada

  • Cannot afford your prescribed medications

  • Qualify for government hardship assistance

  • Are fleeing an abusive spouse / violent household

  • Regularly access a food bank

  • Have a disability that prevents you from working entirely

  • Are a returning citizen who cannot find work due to incarceration history

Consider 50% off if you:

  • Are a single parent / caregiver or are being raised in a single parent household

  • Can only make minimum payments on debts and regularly worry about missed bill payments

  • Have immigration related expenses

  • Are an underpaid / unpaid community organizer

  • Are paying out of pocket for your own university/college tuition

  • Have limited work/earning opportunities & extra costs of living due to disability, gender, or orientation

  • Cannot afford to travel even for emergencies

  • Have a car but cannot always afford gas or necessary repairs

Consider donating towards someone's ticket if you:

  • Own the home you live in

  • Own additional properties, including land, rentals, vacation homes or commercial properties

  • Have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money

  • Travel for recreation

  • Have access to family money in times of need

  • Work (full time or part time) by choice

  • Have relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender privilege, class, or background)

  • Have parents who paid for your university/college

  • Attended private school / high-end or overseas boarding school by family's choice

*Basic needs include food, housing, transportation. **Expendable income means you are able to buy a coffee, go to the movies, or a concert, get your hair/nails done, buy new clothes etc. Based on Alexis J. Cunningfolk's sliding scale model.

Apply Now

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APPLICATIONS FOR SUBSIDIES ARE NOW CLOSED.

This application does not guarantee funding. 

Funding is available on a first come, first served basis as long as donated funding is available. Once you have been approved you will receive an email notification with a personal coupon code that will be valid for 14 days from approval. You can use this code to purchase your ticket at a discounted rate. If requests for funding exceed the available funds applicants will be automatically added to a waitlist and will be served on a first come, first served basis. 

 

Please ensure you have added info@darkbeforethedawn.com to your safe senders list to ensure your subsidy does not end up in the spam folder - you will only have 14 days to register after approval before the subsidy is passed along to the next person.

This application is for a dormitory stay. If you have specific access needs that require a different accommodation type please contact us directly at info@darkbeforethedawn.com

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