Pride in the City presented in partnership with Newcastle NE1 announces a host of exciting satellite events to lead into its annual LGBTQIA+ celebration in July. The main event which will take place over the weekend of 19-21 July, has moved from the Town Moor to various locations across Newcastle. The Pride Arena, at Central Park, Times Square will host Drag icons, 90s favourites, top DJs, leading tribute acts and local stars for this year’s new look Northern Pride. Across the city, the Curious Arts Stage will take over Northern Stage, the Family and Youth activities will consume the newly renovated Assembly Rooms and the vibrant market stalls will take over the streets surrounding Greys Monument and Old Eldon Square, truly encompassing a city-wide take over. But for those looking to join the celebrations a little earlier, a whole host of community events are set to kick off from the 5th of July, with a celebration concert at Newcastle Cathedral first on the programme. What's coming up? Friday 5th July, 18:00 – Celebration Concert with Northern Proud Voices Location: Newcastle Cathedral Get in the spirit for Northern Pride with a joyous evening of pop/rock tunes performed by the North East’s largest and longest-running LGBTQIA+ choir. Tickets: Give As You Feel (£8 suggested) Wednesday 10th July, 19:30 – Priscilla Interactive Singalong Screening Location: Tyneside Cinema Join Northern Pride and a cast of creatives as we celebrate 30 years of the cult classic, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, with a night to remember featuring live performances, hosted by PlastiQ Tickets: £12.75 Friday 12th July, 19:30 – Jaws (but Gay) Cabaret Location: Alphabetti Theatre Calling all Beach Boys, Sea Guurls and fisherthems! Mama Rhi and Mack are back for a Big Queer Under the Seashow. Tickets: £10 Monday 15th July, 19:30 – Chamber of Laughs Location: Newcastle Civic Centre Championing queer comedy, criticising queer politics. Join some of the best North East’s LGBTQIA+ comedians as they take over the civic chambers, to put queer voices at the centre of political debate in a humorous post General Election satire. Tickets: £10 Thursday 18th July, 17:30 – Pride in Leadership Meets Out of Office Location: Eversheds Sutherland Pride in Leadership is a CIC that works to elevate, connect and support LGBTQIA+ leaders and make them more visible. Having successfully built a community of LGBTQIA+ leaders in Manchester and London, we are now coming to Newcastle. Featuring a talk with Nick Forbes, former leader of Newcastle City Council. Tickets: Free Stephen Patterson, Chief Executive at Newcastle NE1, said: “We are extremely excited to see this year’s line-up for Pride in the City, not only for the main celebrations weekend in July, but for the events leading up to it. With around 80,000 people expected to fill the city during Pride weekend itself, the addition of this year’s satellite events will only add to the experience, bringing all the festival favourites and more right into the heart of the city.” Director of Northern Pride, Ste Dunn added: “This year’s theme of ‘Unapologetically Visible’ will encompass everything from theatre and street art to comedy and music and we can’t wait to kick off the festival with our first event. Our mission is clear and with the satellite events we want to create as many different experiences and opportunities as possible to celebrate and highlight the vibrant and beautiful queer community, the valuable impact they have on society and the richness of their talents.” With the recent announcement of the Pride in the City commissions, more events are due to be added to include art exhibitions, music and dance performances and projects to uncover queer histories, stories and celebrations of our intersectionality.

Following a commission's call out in partnership with Creative Central NCL and Curious Arts, Northern Pride has announced Azula Bandit and Chris Fleming (Ida4) as the two artists selected to receive full creative commissions for this year’s Pride in the City. The call-out challenged artists to respond to the theme Unapologetically Visible, highlighting what this means to them and how it is expressed and explored through their creativity. The two selected artists will receive £2500 worth of funding to develop and elevate their artistry, which will be showcased during this year’s Pride in the City festival, presented in partnership with NE1. Multi-talented dancer and DJ Azula Bandit aims to encourage and inspire through cultural representation and self-expression, honouring their heritage through art and providing a different perspective to individuals from a similar background, encouraging people to take ownership in telling their own stories. Stencil artist Chris Fleming, artist name IDa4, produces bodies of work that remind people that the LGBTQIA+ community has always been, is now and will always be a key part of the wider community, contributing to all sectors of life. A further four local artists have also been awarded a ‘Get Ready Grant’, spanning dance, writing, physical art, and music. Jenny Chrisp, Emory Southwick, Alison Carr, and The Girls, Theys and Slays Choir led by Maya Torres and Rosie Bowden will receive £750 of funding to enhance their art and explore new ideas. Vix Leaney, Creative Central NCL Project Manager added: “We’re really proud to be supporting Northern Pride this year to give these artists the chance to showcase their work and celebrate Pride. In total, Creative Central NCL have been able to fund six opportunities for LGBTQIA+ artists and creatives to not just create new work, but test ideas, get some mentoring, develop their career and work with the experienced producers at Curious Arts. I'm looking forward to seeing everything come together at this year’s Pride in the City festival in July.” When asked about what the theme, Unapologetically Visible, meant to them, all artists agreed that this year it's all about being entirely yourself, in whatever way that manifests itself for you, standing with sheer pride and without any shame or dilution. Jenny Chrisp will explore themes of motherhood and the loss of queer identity through dance, in a way that is true, personal and raw, inspiring those who feel their sexuality may be forgotten, hidden or lost to become unapologetically visible. Emory Southwick will produce artwork that celebrates queer bodies, highlighting the beautifully diverse community and showcasing, in particular, how trans bodies are often overlooked in the media. Alison Carr hopes to develop the beginnings of a character, story and a way of telling it. Creating a space to work collaboratively with other local artists to explore a new idea. The Girls, Theys and Slays Choir led by Maya Torres and Rosie Bowden also hope to explore a new strand of work by writing an original song. Creating a larger sense of identity as a group and promoting growth by creating a community that encourages local people to get involved. The events to celebrate the commissioned art and performances will be announced soon and will feature as part of a wider programme of satellite events celebrating Pride in the City 2024, which will kick off from 5 July and end in the Festival weekend, 19-21 July.

The North East is already renowned for its warm welcome. Now, thanks to fully-funded LGBTQIA+ awareness training provided by the NewcastleGateshead Initiative, it's easier than ever to foster understanding and inclusivity, ensuring you're LGBTQIA+ visitor-ready. Delivered by Northern Pride in partnership with Curious Arts, this training was developed to help tourism and hospitality businesses provide a more inclusive welcome to LGBTQIA+ people. The training will equip businesses and employees with the tools and knowledge to create safe, inclusive and welcoming spaces for LGBTQIA+ people. It will raise awareness and increase confidence around inclusive language, how to engage with LGBTQIA+ communities and increase understanding of the intersectionality of the LGBTQIA+ community with some judgment-free question-and-answer time. The training course has been designed with a range of professionals and community members from a wide representation across the LGBTQIA+ community including people of faith, people with disabilities, and gender non-conforming people.

In partnership with Creative Central NCL and Curious Arts we’re offering two artist commissions and four Research and Development grants for Pride in the City 2024 Pride in the City, under the theme Unapologetically Visible, takes over Newcastle City centre in a new format this year, celebrating the vibrant and beautiful queer community, the valuable impact they have on society and the richness of their talents, from makers and creators to performers and activists. In partnership with Creative Central NCL and Curious Arts we’re offering two artist commissions and four R&D grants and we're looking for applications from creatives and artists who want to showcase their work or ideas during Pride in the City. All ideas submitted must consider and respond to the theme Unapologetically Visible, what this means to you and how you express and explore it is subjective, and creative interpretations and responses are welcomed. Activities start on 8 July and culminate in the Pride Festival weekend of 19 – 21 July, and we’re inviting artists and creatives to apply for a total of six opportunities to create and showcase work during this time. “In the journey of becoming unapologetic, LGBTQIA+ people aren’t becoming someone different, but they no longer feel the need to hide or be who other people want them to be, and it’s about no longer holding back from fully expressing ourselves due to the fear of being judged.” - Northern Pride 2024 Pride in the City - Get Ready Grants Four available £750 each Apply by 11:59pm Sunday 12 May Key info: four Get Ready grants of £750 each for you to create new work or develop, elevate and enhance existing ideas, all art forms welcome, must include a public-facing output, sharing, performance opportunity, or event that can be showcased during Pride in the City in a venue within the Creative Central NCL footprint, must meet the non-negotiable criteria listed in the guidelines, applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on Sunday 12 May, successful applicants must be available to showcase work between 8 and 21 July 2024. Pride in the City - Commissions Two available £2,500 each Apply by 11:59pm Sunday 12 May Key info: two commission opportunities of £2,500 each for you to create new work or develop, elevate and enhance existing ideas, all art forms welcome, must include a public-facing output, sharing, performance opportunity, or event that can be showcased during Pride in the City in a venue within the Creative Central NCL footprint, must meet the non-negotiable criteria listed in the guidelines, applications must be submitted by 11:59pm on Sunday 12 May, successful applicants must be available to showcase work between 8 and 21 July 2024.

Trainers needed to help create inclusive, welcoming spaces for our LGBTQIA+ community Curious Arts and Northern Pride are seeking to extend our team of trainers to support and deliver our “Proud Allies” LGBTQIA+ Awareness Training. Our Proud Allies training has been delivered to arts, culture & heritage organisations, charities, social care and educational settings, local authorities and more recently to larger scale commercial businesses and corporate industries including Sky, TWITCH, Northern Gas, Nexus, Cleveland Police and Northumbria Police. The training has been warmly received and due to popular demand we are increasing output and require more trainers to join our experienced and knowledgeable training team. ​ Since 2019 we have delivered over 150 training sessions to over 100 organisations. With over 2000 individuals having participated in the training, raising their awareness, increasing confidence around the use of inclusive language and providing a greater understanding of the intersectionality of the LGBTQIA+ community. ​ In 2023 we worked closely with Newcastle Gateshead Initiative (NGI) to deliver numerous Proud Allies training sessions to staff from the hospitality industry and tourism sector to ensure that the LGBTQIA+ community always receive a positive welcome when visiting the North East region.

Drag icons, a 90s favourite, top DJs and leading tribute acts are all among the line-up unveiled today for this year’s new look Northern Pride. Pride in the City presented in partnership with NE1, will see the annual celebration move from the Town Moor to various locations across Newcastle over the weekend of 19-21 July. And at its core will be the Northern Pride Arena at Central Park, Times Square, where an exciting and eclectic mix of performers will take to the stage across the weekend. 🎵 NORTHERN PRIDE ARENA 📅 Friday 19th to Sunday 21st July ⏰ Times Vary 📍Central Park, Times Square 🎟️ www.northern-pride.com/tickets ℹ️www.northernpridearena.co.uk On Friday 19 July Pride will launch with Proud Karaoke, brought by the team behind the popular Kroud Karaoke. The evening will include a DJ performance by Hits Radio’s James Barr. James is a regular tv presenter and stand up comedian as well as presenting the award-winning podcast, A Gay and a Non-Gay. The evening will be hosted by acclaimed drag queen, Ophelia B, will tickets available from £7.50p each. On Saturday singer Whigfield – best known for her 90s hit Saturday Night – will take to the main stage, alongside Kelly Llorena and Little Mix tribute act, Little Fix. The arena will welcome back its popular stage takeovers, with Newcastle Mela returning for a third year. Local talent showcase event - The Future is Queer-will head up one of the takeovers, along with Queerdo. The queer ran organisation is committed to making everyone feel welcome, regardless of their identity and will feature performances from Elektra Fence from Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK. Sunday features an award-winning line up, with a live DJ set from acclaimed performer, Fat Tony, Ginger Johnson who won season five of Ru Paul’s Drag Rade UK and 2023 The Voice winners, Jen and Liv. And “swifties” will not want to miss Totally Taylor – a tribute to Taylor Swift. Day tickets for the Saturday and Sunday event start at £15, with more names to be announced in the near future. This year’s Pride In the City will see all the regular and much loved aspects of the event return, but spread at various locations around Newcastle. Under the theme “unapologetically visible” the aim now is to bring around 80,000 people to Newcastle during the Pride weekend, The popular the Curious Arts Stage will this year move to Northern Stage, where a full programme of queer art and culture will be performed. The Family and Youth Zone will be housed in the recently refurbished Assembly Rooms at Westgate Road where there will be a host of activities including arts and crafts sessions aimed at LGBTQIA+ families and young people, as well as live performances. The Health and Wellbeing Zone will be based at Newcastle City Centre, where a range of organisations will offer advice and support, along with a mobile sexual health clinic with STI and HIV testing. Continuing its commitment to giving LGBTQIA+ people more access to sport, Northern Pride’s Sport and Active Life Zone will take place at Northumbria University’s Sport, where a number of taster sessions and general information about sporting activities will be available. The Rainbow Village, which traditionally host a number of market stalls sharing information and selling a range of unique products, will also return, staged around Grey’s Monument, Old Eldon Square and Blackett Street.

We're incredibly excited to share that our market stall application is now OPEN! Hopefully you've heard the incredibly exciting news that we are moving into the heart of the city, and taking over many venues, spaces and places! This year our Market Village will consume space around Grey's Monument, and Old Eldon Square, providing our exhibitors a fantastic opotunity to showcase their products and services to not only the expected Pride attendees, but everyone coming to the city for the weekend. That’s an estimated additional 36,000 people! 🌈 MARKET VILLAGE 📅 Saturday 20th July ⏰ 12 noon till 5pm 📍 Grey's Monument and Old Eldon Square ℹ️ www.northern-pride.com/marketvillage Under the theme “unapologetically visible” we have a fantastic opotunity to put our community at the centre of the city. Providing our makers and creators a fantastic experience trading surrounded by some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, and for all our service providers, the ability to showcase their offerings to not just the LGBTQIA+ community, but those traveling into the city that day. Through the application process, not only will you have the chance to join us at the Market Village in the city, but you can join one of our community zones, from Family and Youth, Health and Wellbeing, Sport and Active Life, or even at the Curious Arts stage! Due to this change in location, demand will be high and pitch allocations will be given on a first come first served basis. Market village deadline is 1 June 2024, so get your application in quick!

One of the largest events on the North East calendar will return this year, but will be heading in a brand new direction. Traditionally Northern Pride has been held on the outskirts of the city, having taken place at both Exhibition Park and the Town Moor in previous years. But today we've unveiled ambitious plans for 2024, which will make the event even more inclusive than ever before. Pride in the City was announced at a breakfast launch this morning, moving the annual festival into a number of locations across Newcastle city centre over the weekend of 19-21 July. Under the theme “unapologetically visible” the aim now is to bring around 80,000 people to Newcastle during the Pride weekend, by bringing all the festival favourites right into the heart of the city. Director of Northern Pride, Ste Dunn, outlined the plans to an audience of supporters and the business community at today’s launch event held at Northern Stage. “Our mission is clear. We’re using our festival to highlight the vibrant and beautiful queer community, the valuable impact they have on society and the richness of their talents, from makers and creators, to performers and activists,” he said. “This will also be a fantastic opportunity so spread the Pride message across the city which in turn will also benefit both the event and the local economy.” The plans will see Central Park at Times Square become the Northern Pride Arena, with the first wave of artists will be announced in the coming weeks. On Saturday, the Curious Arts Stage will this year move to Northern Stage, where a full programme of queer art and culture will be performed. The Family and Youth Zone will be housed in the recently refurbished Assembly Rooms at Westgate Road where there will be a host of activities including arts and crafts sessions aimed at LGBTQIA+ families and young people, as well as live performances. The Health and Wellbeing Zone will be based at Newcastle City Centre, where a range of organisations will offer advice and support, along with a mobile sexual health clinic with STI and HIV testing. Continuing its commitment to giving LGBTQIA+ people more access to sport, Northern Pride’s Sport and Active Life Zone will take place at Northumbria University’s Sport, where a number of taster sessions and general information about sporting activities will be available. The Rainbow Village, which traditionally host a number of market stalls sharing information and selling a range of unique products, will also return, staged around Grey’s Monument, Old Eldon Square and Blackett Street. “This is a very different look to Northern Pride but our core messages remain the same,” said Ste. “We have included everything that people expect at Pride – including our march which will begin and end at Newcastle Civic Centre. “We truly believe that this will move Northern Pride to the next level and that we are creating something very special.” Leader of Newcastle City Council, Cllr Nick Kemp, has supported the ambitious plans. “Pride is always a very important event and one which Newcastle City Council is always very proud to support,” he said. “Bringing it right into the heart of Newcastle will mean more people than ever before can get involved and it will truly become a citywide celebration.” Anyone wanting to be among the first to hear updated news is encouraged to register at www.northern-pride.com/prideinthecity All existing ticket holders will receive an email explaining how to validate their ticket for the Northern Pride Arena. We can't wait to see you there. Meet the Designer behind Pride in the City Communicating activism through her art, Meg Mcwilliam is a freelance artist and graphic designer based in Newcastle Upon Tyne. Known for her witty and camp style Meg Mcwilliam produces art pieces which challenge the Tories, advocate for working-class artists, celebrate queer identity and stick two fingers up to the patriarchy.

After the hard work and effort of our volunteers and contractors to try and keep the site open, we were devastated to have to close the festival site on Sunday 23rd July at 14:45. Our key principles of Protect, Promote, Provide are at the forefront of everything we do. In order to stick to this and keep our community safe, we really had no other choice. Read our full statement here: https://www.northern-pride.com/post/northern-pride-2023-closed We understand that many in our community will be incredibly disappointed that they missed out on the fantastic Sunday we had planned, especially after such a successful Saturday. It takes over 10 months of planning and organising to deliver the festival, and to raise the funds required through grants, sponsorships and through ticket sales. Due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the spiralling costs for outdoor events. We introduced a small charge to the Festival Arena and we were overwhelmed by the support from our community and incredibly grateful to those that bought a ticket or donated. All those impacted by the closure will automatically have their ticket rolled over to next year and receive a ticket for Sunday 21st July 2024. We'd like to take this opotunity to thank you for your support, understanding and compassion. As a voluntary led charity, we appreciate any support you can provide in helping us recover from the cancellation, to allow us to come back next year and deliver a Pride we all were hoping for this year. For any further information, support or to request a refund, please email info@npride.org.uk by no later than 31st August 2023.

Unfortunately due to adverse weather conditions, and against all efforts of the team. We’ve had to make the extremely difficult decision to close the festival site. We need to ensure pride is safe and accessible for all. After making changes to the site to ensure most of the festival site could open, the continuation of heavy rain has now made the site unsafe. We’re also aware that access to the site from Exhibition Park has become hazardous with flooding under the bridge. Seeing over 15,000 LGBTQIA+ people and allies join us on the march and many more on the festival site, brave the weather has been heartwarming and we’re incredibly grateful for all the support. We’ll be in touch during the week with ticket holders. Please bare with us as we manage the onsite situation as our priority now focuses on keeping everyone safe. The Northern Pride team would like to thank our community, allies, creatives, performers, staff, contractors and volunteers for their support this weekend.

Calling all weather watchers... the forecast is wet! IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS WEEKENDS NORTHERN PRIDE FESTIVAL. As I'm sure you've all seen the weather this week, and whilst we've worked incredibly hard to ensure everyone can have a safe and secure pride event, the weather has not been on our side. Please join us in making sure our pride event is just as epic as we all want it to be. We are on track to open gates at 12 noon. But we do need your support. 🥾 Please wear appropriate footwear... We'd recommend wellies or those walking boots 🧥 Prepare for the rain and bring the waterproofs and ponchos ☔️ Umbrella's are welcome 🪑 We do allow folding camping chairs (not deck chairs) Please do not ⛺️ bring tents or other structures as they are not permitted on site 🅿️ All parking on site is no longer available - please use public transport Please follow our social media and turn on notifications for our mobile app to receive regular updates, whilst we are all doing our best to ensure the land is safe and welcoming for you all. Thank you for all your help and support. Don't forget our new mobile app is available to download for free, with the full weekend schedule for all zones and access to an interactive map.

A SMALL but significant donation can make a huge difference in helping Northern Pride deliver its campaigns. This weekend (July 22-23) thousands of people will celebrate at Newcastle’s Town Moor, as the annual Pride festival returns. But the work of Northern Pride is a year-round activity – which can be helped by people buying a wristband for just £2. All of the income from the wristbands – which are sponsored by Northern Powergrid -and the other merchandise available at the Northern Pride website goes to support LGBTQIA+ campaigns and outreach work. The bands are made from 100 per cent recyclable PET – shredded pellets from plastic bottles – so cause no harm to the environment. And ahead of this weekend, organisers are asking people to give their support and buy a wristband. Ste Dunn, Festival Director, said the sale of the wristbands were really important to Northern Pride. “The wristbands are an item that are affordable for most people and it means that they are not only showing their support but are also actively contributing to help us deliver important work throughout the year,” he said. “We are extremely grateful to Northern Powergrid for their support which is really invaluable.” Adam McEnaney Northern Powergrid’s Head of Change Implementation and DEI Lead, said: “At Northern Powergrid we champion Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and seek to continually create a workplace where everyone is welcomed and celebrated. “We’re proud to be the official wristband sponsor of the Northern Pride festival this year to showcase our important role in our region. We aim to encourage people in the communities we serve across the North of England, including those in underrepresented groups, to reach their full potential. “The wristbands act as a reminder to celebrate diversity and, for Northern Powergrid’s colleagues, to promote our company’s values to create a safe and welcoming working and customer experience for our LGBTQIA+ communities.” The wristbands and all other merchandise will be on sale at Pride but can also be ordered from www.northern-pride.com. Don't forget our new mobile app is available to download for free, with the full weekend schedule for all zones and access to an interactive map.