Manchester Pride festival will go ahead - but city wide parade cancelled
A smaller series of marches will take place on the August Bank Holiday weekend
Manchester Pride has announced the 2021 Festival will go ahead as planned following the government’s relaxing of COVID-19 measures on Monday.
Mark Fletcher, CEO for Manchester Pride, said:
“Greater Manchester has a long history of promoting equality and diversity, and was at the forefront of the fight for the rights of LGBTQ+ people in the UK. It continues to be the home to a vibrant Gay Village and one of the largest LGBTQ+ communities in the country.
“We are so happy to be able to safely deliver an in person this year and support LGBTQ+ people both in celebrating and campaigning. It has been an extremely tough 18 months for the LGBTQ+ communities across Greater Manchester and we want them to know that we are more committed than ever to ensuring that activism, equality, arts and culture, youth and family, community and partying and celebrating are central to everything that we do across the Festival Weekend.”
Councillor Luthfur Rahman OBE, Deputy Leader, Manchester City Council, said:
"We're a city with a long history of recognition and support for the LGBT+ community and Pride gives us the chance to celebrate this. We all know Manchester does Pride better than anywhere else - we have Pride running through our veins - and we can't wait to safely welcome it back again as an in-person event this year."
In 2021 Manchester Pride will host its world-class live music event, MCR Pride Live with a world-class line-up of pop and dance artists in a brand new venue! The venue for the two day live music extravaganza, which will host performances from 40 plus international and UK artists will be announced very soon.
Artists will include Zara Larsson, Sigala, Annie Mac, Gabrielle, Katy B and Example at this year’s MCR Pride Live on Saturday 28 and Sunday 29 August.
On Sunday night Zara will be joined on stage by singer, songwriters Ella Henderson, Gabrielle, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Lucy Spraggan. The stage will be hosted by Danny Beard, Cheddar Gorgeous, Anna Phylactic, The Manchester Queens and House of Blaque.
Set to appear on Saturday are English DJ, record producer and remixer Sigala, Radio One’s Dance Party legend Annie Mac, singer songwriter Katy B and musician, singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer Example plus a secret headliner which will be revealed on 27 August.
The roots of Manchester Pride and the Festival are firmly in the heart of our world-famous Gay Village. Taking place over all four days of the bank holiday weekend, the Gay Village Party is the ultimate street party celebration with incredible performances, markets and parties. The lineup for the Gay Village Party will be revealed later this month.
While Pride is a celebration of LGBTQ+ life in Greater Manchester, the Manchester Pride Parade is a march for equality and one of the Festival's most highly anticipated events.
Mark Fletcher continued:
“The Manchester Pride Parade is a huge part of the festival and offers LGBTQ+ people from across Greater Manchester the chance to come together with their allies and campaign for equality for themselves and others.
“Unfortunately, we are extremely sad to say that following the government guidance which was released last week, and subsequent covid safety advisory group meetings yesterday, we recognise that it is not possible for us to deliver the much loved and anticipated parade in 2021.
“Sadly we always knew that some, if not all, of the festival was at risk this year and we know that many partners, supporters and community groups will have invested time and money in preparation for the Parade, just as we did. My team must now focus on delivering a safe programme of events that can be operated within the Government guidelines, providing an opportunity for everyone to be involved in supporting our important campaign for LGBTQ+ equality.
“Whilst this is a huge blow, we’re keen to ensure that our activism continues and this year we will be creating a not to be missed moment.”
With this in mind the charity intends to host a smaller series of marches to keep the spirit of pride alive. The proposed series of Equality Marches will take place on Saturday 28 August 2021 in lieu of the full Parade. They will give organisations and individuals an opportunity to take part in a more comfortable outdoor setting. There will be five marches, each limited to a maximum of 400 people per march, offering the opportunity for up to 2,000 people to take part overall.