Manchester Pride
Encyclopedia
Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride
festival held in the city of Manchester
in the North West of England in the United Kingdom
.
It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village
, which centres around Canal Street
, each year. The current Ten Day Festival includes a "Pride Fringe" with a series of arts
, music
and cultural events all over the city as well as community events including poetry readings, quizzes and film showings, culminating in "The Big Weekend", a 72 hour party during the August bank holiday
weekend in Canal Street and the surrounding area, with a Pride march through the streets of Manchester.
August Bank Holiday fundraiser. In 2011 a colour photograph was published on the Manchester Pride website. This shows a jumble sale on Canal Street and Solway House on Aytoun Street can be seen in the background.
Research done by the Facebook group Facts About Manchester Pride found that this building no longer existed by August 1990; it had been demolished to make way for the tram system and court extension. So the colour photo seems to show an event from a date earlier than the middle of that year. Ironically this colour photo was published by Manchester Pride as part of its supposed 21st birthday.
So all we can say for definite at present is that, at some time in the second half of the 1980's, the event began as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel.
It was not a Pride event in those days. This is confirmed by a booklet that the Village Charity published for its annual general meeting in 1994, which states: "many volunteers of the charity get upset when the press call our weekend the 'Northern Pride'. It's not and never has been." The purpose was solely to raise money for HIV and AIDS causes and in particular for the ward at Monsall Hospital where people received treatment.
In 1991 the event was expanded to include a full programme of activities from Friday to Monday and it was christened "the Carnival of Fun Weekend". The jumble sale moved into Sackville Park. On the Monday night there was a substantial fireworks display that was funded by the North West Development Agency and it was announced that good-luck telegrams had been received from Diana Princess of Wales and other high-profile people.
Over the following years, the event grew and was known as Mardi Gras. It developed with support from the VBA
(Village Business Association).
According to a report in The Pink Paper just after the 1996 Mardi Gras, the Village Charity hoped to top the £77,000 raised with a further £50,000 from donations included in ticket sales to the Sunday Freedom GALA at the G-Mex centre. Total: £127,000.
Entry tickets and fences were first introduced during the council-run event in 1999, but despite a large income, there was no money for charity that year. As a result, the event reverted to community control in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
From 2000 to 2001 the event was called Gayfest and was organised and managed by a committee of volunteers led by local businesswoman Julia Grant. During this time the Gayfest team bid for, and successfully won, the right to host Europride in 2003.
In 2002 the event reverted to the name MardiGras and was organised by a committee of the Village Business Association. During these three years, no entry fee was charged, yet money was still raised for charity: Gayfest 2000 collected £105,716.77, Gayfest 2001 collected £87,666.63, and Mardi Gras 2002 collected £65,007.
In 2003, about 37,000 people paid for tickets for EuroPride
which was hosted that year by Manchester. This can be gleaned from the fact that Operation Fundraiser sold the £10 tickets and gathered £388,946 from tickets and bucket collections, with a final figure of £127,690 for good causes.
At the closing ceremony in 2003, it was announced that the event would be now be known as "Manchester Pride" (the manchesterpride.com domain name was registered by the web designers on behalf of Pride in April 2003) and in 2007 it became a Charity in its own right (charity number 1117848). One reason for this change was because in 2006 Customs and Excise had tried to charge back VAT for several years. This happened because, in their view, Manchester Pride was no longer a charity fundraiser. Increasing commercialisation meant that a dwindling percentage of the income reached a final good cause. By 2010 just over 11% of Manchester Pride's total income was reaching a good cause in the end.
The event has had a turbulent history due to disputes between Manchester City Council
, police, the community itself and local gay businesses and charities. As a result its name has changed a number of times.
Arguments often centre around how it is run and how funds are raised.
Since Europride 2003, the event has been organised by a Pride committee, in conjunction with Marketing Manchester, the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, and George House Trust. The area is once again cordoned off and gated, and wristbands must be bought to gain entry to the "compound". Some of the performers over the past 7 years include The Gossip
, Kelis
, The Human League
, Samantha Fox
and Dana International
, as well as popular LGBT performers like Claire Mooney, Heather Peace
and Valentino King, a Drag King.
2010: £115,000 (pay event)
2009: £135,000 (pay event)
2008: £105,000 (pay event)
2007: £95,000 (pay event)
2006: £121,000 eventually, after challenging a £56,000 VAT bill (pay event)
2005: £120,772 (pay event)
2004: £129,426 (pay event)
2003: £127,690 (pay event)
2002: £65,007 (free event)
2001: £87,666.63 (free event)
2000: £105,716,77 (free event)
1999: zero raised (pay event - the first year with the ‘pledgeband’/wristband)
1996: The Pink Paper reported £77,000 and that the Village Charity was hoping for a further £50,000 from donations included in ticket sales to the Sunday Freedom GALA. Total: £127,000.
When comparing different years the effects of inflation should be taken into account, which might be 30% over the course of a decade.
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
festival held in the city of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in the North West of England in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
It is one of the longest running in the country and attracts thousands of visitors to the city's Gay Village
Gay village
A gay village is an urban geographic location with generally recognized boundaries where a large number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people live or frequent...
, which centres around Canal Street
Canal Street (Manchester)
Canal Street, the centre of the Manchester Gay Village, is a street in Manchester city centre in North West England. The pedestrianised street, which runs along the west side of the Rochdale Canal, is lined with gay bars and restaurants...
, each year. The current Ten Day Festival includes a "Pride Fringe" with a series of arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and cultural events all over the city as well as community events including poetry readings, quizzes and film showings, culminating in "The Big Weekend", a 72 hour party during the August bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
weekend in Canal Street and the surrounding area, with a Pride march through the streets of Manchester.
History
Currently there is some confusion over the date of the first LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
August Bank Holiday fundraiser. In 2011 a colour photograph was published on the Manchester Pride website. This shows a jumble sale on Canal Street and Solway House on Aytoun Street can be seen in the background.
Research done by the Facebook group Facts About Manchester Pride found that this building no longer existed by August 1990; it had been demolished to make way for the tram system and court extension. So the colour photo seems to show an event from a date earlier than the middle of that year. Ironically this colour photo was published by Manchester Pride as part of its supposed 21st birthday.
So all we can say for definite at present is that, at some time in the second half of the 1980's, the event began as a jumble sale outside the Rembrandt Hotel.
It was not a Pride event in those days. This is confirmed by a booklet that the Village Charity published for its annual general meeting in 1994, which states: "many volunteers of the charity get upset when the press call our weekend the 'Northern Pride'. It's not and never has been." The purpose was solely to raise money for HIV and AIDS causes and in particular for the ward at Monsall Hospital where people received treatment.
In 1991 the event was expanded to include a full programme of activities from Friday to Monday and it was christened "the Carnival of Fun Weekend". The jumble sale moved into Sackville Park. On the Monday night there was a substantial fireworks display that was funded by the North West Development Agency and it was announced that good-luck telegrams had been received from Diana Princess of Wales and other high-profile people.
Over the following years, the event grew and was known as Mardi Gras. It developed with support from the VBA
VBA
VBA can mean:* Virtual backup appliance, a virtual machine used to back up other virtual machines* Visual Basic for Applications, the application edition of Microsoft's Visual Basic programming language...
(Village Business Association).
According to a report in The Pink Paper just after the 1996 Mardi Gras, the Village Charity hoped to top the £77,000 raised with a further £50,000 from donations included in ticket sales to the Sunday Freedom GALA at the G-Mex centre. Total: £127,000.
Entry tickets and fences were first introduced during the council-run event in 1999, but despite a large income, there was no money for charity that year. As a result, the event reverted to community control in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
From 2000 to 2001 the event was called Gayfest and was organised and managed by a committee of volunteers led by local businesswoman Julia Grant. During this time the Gayfest team bid for, and successfully won, the right to host Europride in 2003.
In 2002 the event reverted to the name MardiGras and was organised by a committee of the Village Business Association. During these three years, no entry fee was charged, yet money was still raised for charity: Gayfest 2000 collected £105,716.77, Gayfest 2001 collected £87,666.63, and Mardi Gras 2002 collected £65,007.
In 2003, about 37,000 people paid for tickets for EuroPride
Europride
Europride is a pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride, hosted by a different European city each year. The host city is usually one with an established gay pride event or a significant LGBT community....
which was hosted that year by Manchester. This can be gleaned from the fact that Operation Fundraiser sold the £10 tickets and gathered £388,946 from tickets and bucket collections, with a final figure of £127,690 for good causes.
At the closing ceremony in 2003, it was announced that the event would be now be known as "Manchester Pride" (the manchesterpride.com domain name was registered by the web designers on behalf of Pride in April 2003) and in 2007 it became a Charity in its own right (charity number 1117848). One reason for this change was because in 2006 Customs and Excise had tried to charge back VAT for several years. This happened because, in their view, Manchester Pride was no longer a charity fundraiser. Increasing commercialisation meant that a dwindling percentage of the income reached a final good cause. By 2010 just over 11% of Manchester Pride's total income was reaching a good cause in the end.
The event has had a turbulent history due to disputes between Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
, police, the community itself and local gay businesses and charities. As a result its name has changed a number of times.
Arguments often centre around how it is run and how funds are raised.
Since Europride 2003, the event has been organised by a Pride committee, in conjunction with Marketing Manchester, the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, and George House Trust. The area is once again cordoned off and gated, and wristbands must be bought to gain entry to the "compound". Some of the performers over the past 7 years include The Gossip
The Gossip
Gossip is a three-piece American indie rock band formed in 1999. The band consists of singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control . A follow-up, Music for...
, Kelis
Kelis
Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers Kelis Rogers (born August 21, 1971 is an American musical artist. She is a BRIT Award, Q Award and NME Award winner and has been nominated for two Grammy Awards. She has had nine top 10 singles on the UK Singles Chart...
, The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
, Samantha Fox
Samantha Fox
Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox is an English dance-pop singer, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at the age of 16, she began her topless modeling career on Page Three of The Sun, and went on to become a popular pin-up girl...
and Dana International
Dana International
Sharon Cohen , professionally known as Dana International is an Israeli pop singer of Yemenite Jewish ancestry. She has released eight albums and three additional compilation albums, positioning herself as one of Israel's most successful musical acts ever...
, as well as popular LGBT performers like Claire Mooney, Heather Peace
Heather Peace
Heather Peace is an English actress and musician.Her notable roles have included Anne Cullen in Emmerdale Farm, Josie Clarke in The Bill, Sally 'Gracie' Fields in London's Burning, DS Jo Cavanagh in Empathy and Fiona Jones in BBC Television's The Chase...
and Valentino King, a Drag King.
Totals for charity
2011: £105,000. £7,000 of this came from the "Pride Dinner" the previous November (pay event)2010: £115,000 (pay event)
2009: £135,000 (pay event)
2008: £105,000 (pay event)
2007: £95,000 (pay event)
2006: £121,000 eventually, after challenging a £56,000 VAT bill (pay event)
2005: £120,772 (pay event)
2004: £129,426 (pay event)
2003: £127,690 (pay event)
2002: £65,007 (free event)
2001: £87,666.63 (free event)
2000: £105,716,77 (free event)
1999: zero raised (pay event - the first year with the ‘pledgeband’/wristband)
1996: The Pink Paper reported £77,000 and that the Village Charity was hoping for a further £50,000 from donations included in ticket sales to the Sunday Freedom GALA. Total: £127,000.
When comparing different years the effects of inflation should be taken into account, which might be 30% over the course of a decade.