Canal Street Online Manchester

Manchester Pride annual review

Manchester Pride annual review

CHARITY RELEASES ANNUAL REVIEW, CELEBRATING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE YEAR AND RAISES £54K

PLUS LISTENING GROUPS, A WORLD PREMIER, CORONATION STREET, ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK AND MUCH MORE

Following a successful 12 months of celebration and campaigning in 2014, Manchester’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) charity is to distribute £54,000 raised for LGBT and HIV charities and organisations.

In the spirit of celebration and campaigning, this year’s parade, as the key focal point of the festival for the people of the city, saw international TV star Lea DeLaria of Netflix’s hit show Orange is the New Black and LGBT activist as Grand Marshall leading the floats as thousands turned out in the glorious sunshine.

This event and others across the year formed the first steps forward in a new direction for the organisation in 2014.  This was informed by the LGBT community and attendees as organisers invited them to “Be Involved” via Listening Groups and through the creation of the Community Collective.  It also saw the introduction of measures to maintain reduced costs and boost fundraising following a decline in fundraising for the past five years.

Mark Fletcher, Chief Executive for Manchester Pride, commented; “We had a big challenge this year to begin reinventing the festival and remind the LGBT community of Manchester what an important part of the year the Manchester Pride Festival is.  The Listening Groups and Community Collective enabled us to talk to the community face to face hearing their thoughts first hand and we hope they saw the effects of their feedback throughout the year.  

“I am proud that we have raised £54,000 which will again go to charitable causes and that we made a shift from the declining fundraising totals.  This was a direct result of our new strategy and programme of events and I cannot deny that the great weather over the Big Weekend and beginnings of economic recovery in the North West had an important part to play.

“As we move towards the 25th anniversary of an LGBT celebration in Manchester we will continue to implement the strategy and hope to see this figure increase further in 2015.”

Chair of the Community Collective, Manchester Pride Community Patron and prominent Canal Street businessman, Anthony D Cooper said; “2014 has been a great year for Manchester Pride. Positive steps have been made towards re-engaging with the local LGBT community, the community collective and listening groups have seen the community working with Manchester Pride to ensure the festival is an event that the LGBT community can feel proud to be part of for the next 25 years. The results of these positive steps are there for everyone to see - a fantastic Pride Fringe, a fantastic Big Weekend and a significant improvement on the charitable donation that will help so many of the LGBT causes that Manchester Pride supports”

2014 kicked off with the Listening Groups and the Community Collective, both of which brought together individuals and groups from within the community to share their feedback on the festival as a whole and make recommendations for the future.  Plus the appointment of two new Trustees,  and three new Non-Executive Directors who have joined the Board.

The first fundraising event, Supersonic, saw X Factor winner Sam Bailey singing under the wings of Concorde and raised £9k for charitable causes.

August welcomed not only the Big Weekend but also the Pride Fringe with a series of art, culture, heritage, debate, sport, music and film events celebrating the great diversity of the LGBT community.  The hugely popular and thought provoking Coming out, from Script to Screen, lead by Corrie creator Tony Warren alongside writer and new Manchester Pride Patron Damon Rochefort, joined by fellow writers Debbie Oates, Jonathan Harvey and cast members Anthony Cotton and Brooke Vincent, offered debate around the concept of characters in soaps coming out and how the story moves from script to screen.

The Pride Fringe also played host to the exclusive world premier of Pride, a film recreation of the extraordinary story of a group of LGBT activists who supported the miners through the strike of 1984 bringing together two seemingly alien communities to form a surprising and ultimately triumphant partnership.  Alongside the premier, Pride Fringe also hosted a Q&A with cast member Joe Gilgun and writer Stephen Beresford. 

The year’s events came to a close with an unforgettable Big Weekend over the August bank holiday.  Highlights included the Parade headed up by Orange is the New Black star Lea DeLaria as Marshall and performances by a broad range of artists including Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst, All Saints, Pixie Lott and Anastacia.  The Big Weekend brought just over 37k people into Manchester’s gay village and there were 133,924 visits to the site over the four days.

The Manchester Pride 2014 annual review can be found here – http://annualreview.manchesterpride.com.

You can follow the charity on Twitter @manchesterpride or visit the Manchester Pride website manchesterpride.com.

Read More

Published: 4-Nov-2014: (2676)

Canal-st.co.uk Top Stories

LGBT Walking tours of Manchester

LGBT Walking tours of Manchester

Explore Manchester’s world-famous Gay Village with Josh’s LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour!

Feedback from the Village Action Forum

Feedback from the Village Action Forum

Members of various stakeholder parties met again recently and here is what resulted moving forward

Pride events and dates for 2024

Pride events and dates for 2024

Save The Date: Greater Manchester Pride Events for 2024

All Wmn 24 launched

All Wmn 24 launched

We share the news of a new community event bringing Women together through live music