Pride in Brighton & Hove

Pride Companion Dog Show 6th July 2008
Pride Around the World
Summer Festival Week 26th July - 3rd August 2008
Carnival Parade and Park Event Saturday 2nd August 2008

About Pride

aims

Pride in Brighton & Hove is a registered charity in England & Wales, No. 1105892. Company registration No. 4838599. Registered office: 6 Bartholomews, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1HG.

Pride in Brighton & Hove promotes equality and diversity, and advances education to eliminate discrimination against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. It raises awareness of issues by promoting and staging a series of events including Winter Pride and the annual free summer festival and making grants and/or donations to other charitable and voluntary organisations. Our key objective is to develop an environment in favour of LGBT equality by providing information, advice and support.

pride information & resources

pride... a bit of background

The history of Pride in Brighton & Hove stretches back as far as 1992 when a very modest afternoon event on The Level. Since then it has evolved into the biggest free Pride festival in the UK and in September 2004 was awarded charitable status.

Voted the best Pride in 2003 and 2004 by Gay Times and Boyz magazines and named 'Event of the Year' at the first annual Brighton and Hove Business Awards in 2004 it hosts a week of community events every February and August. In August the Festival culminates in a Carnival Parade from the sea front, through the city to a busy festival in Preston Park.

The 2005 Pride Festival ran from 30th July - 7th August. The highlight was the Carnival Parade on Saturday 6th August. More than 40 floats and walking tableaux took part with more than 120,000 people enjoying the Festival in Preston Park. This was followed by a hugely popular Saturday and Sunday Street party on St James's Street in Brighton's gay village. The event has been hailed by the gay community across the country as 'The biggest and best Pride in the UK'.

Pride in Brighton & Hove continues its commitment to the local community. In 2003 raising over £16,000 followed by more than £37,000 in 2004 by volunteer street collections and fundraising events for our grant scheme for the LGBT voluntary sector.

Pride in Brighton & Hove runs a number of exciting events to help fund the organisation, the festival and the grant fund for the local LGBT voluntary sector as well as bringing a wide range of people together who otherwise might not have such social access. In 2005 these events included the Stonewall / Pride Fundraiser at Wild Fruit, Winter Pride in February and the hugely popular Dog Show in July. Local businesses including bars and clubs support Pride with their own events, including quizzes and cabarets. We hope you will support this fundraising effort into 2006 to help ensure we can continue to deliver a FREE Pride Festival for the LGBT community.

We seek to educate the public in LGBT issues in a number ways:

For the last two year's we have staged the "Great Debate", broadcast across the south east by Southern Counties radio and involving leaders of the council, police and health authorities discussing issues relevant to the local LGBT community. Profile publicity about Pride and the LGBT community in relation to the activities of Pride in national and local, gay and main stream media helps to educate the public about LGBT persons and inevitably combats prejudice from ignorance.

Last year in May we promoted awareness of LGBT equality issues to the general public through a 10km fundraising walk through the centre of Brighton & Hove in conjunction with Stonewall, itself a registered charity. In conjunction with the local Health Authority and the Terrance Higgins Trust, raising awareness of health issues connected with alcohol and drug use by gay men through our website and a poster campaign.

Our website, in addition to providing details about Pride and its activities is also designed to link visitors to site information about local support groups for issues which affect LGBT people as well as giving guidance about matters including: personal safety and same-sex partnership registrations in Brighton & Hove.

Pride in Brighton and Hove is self-funding in so far as it raises sponsorships receives donations from events organised by local businesses and the staging of events throughout the year to raise funds. These also act as a continuing focal point for the local LGBT community. These events bring LGBT people together in a safe environment and the inclusiveness improves self esteem and provides a sense of belonging which helps to diminish the psychological effects of discrimination faced by individuals in daily life. 2006 will see a repeat of many of last year's events including the hugely popular dog show, pub quizzes and competitions.

We facilitated grant-funded workshops for local people to learn skills for developing their own Parade floats and costumes. We involved volunteers from all sectors of the local community, for example drawing on the skills of students from the University of Sussex. A further grant has been applied for to repeat the facility in 2005.

Pride Festival week, held in August, culminating in the Carnival Parade & Preston Park event, provides the platform and environment to provide events which not only cater for the diverse needs of the local LGBT community, but also act as a focus for LGBT visibility within the wider community. Official estimates indicate that the Carnival Parade & Preston Park event attracted more than 120,000 visitors last year with over 40 floats and tableaux paraded through the heart of the city. Many of these participants were from the local LGBT community (estimated at around 40,000 people) of all ages, especially those who may otherwise feel marginalised such as LGBT teenagers from the Allsorts projects and those from the Older Gay Men and Lesbians Forum. It also attracted many from the LGBT communities in London and rest of the country. Most importantly the wider population of Brighton & Hove join a celebration of the diversity of the city. The event is free to attend, so there are no barriers to entry for anyone from any community, encouraging the culture of inclusiveness and acceptance of which Brighton & Hove is proud.

We encourage the involvement of other voluntary sector groups and provide a framework for them to stage their own fundraising and promotional activities during Pride Week. For example, the Terrance Higgins Trust ran a "Stamp Out Prejudice" campaign and the Sussex Beacon collected for their charity which supports people living with HIV/AIDS. There was an extensive programme all of which were publicised through Pride's website, official magazine and Media Partner arrangements. Pride thus acts as a conduit to the established support services available in Brighton & Hove.

The Carnival Parade & Preston Park event are about community not commerce. They are free to enter, visitors are free to bring their own food and drink or can take advantage of refreshments offered by local businesses. There are a variety of community facilities, for example, the Women's Tent, People of Colour Tent, Blessings Tent and Access Tent. There is also recruitment outreach work from the Police forces of Sussex, Hampshire and Kent as well as the local Fire Brigade. Entertainment in the form of dance and cabaret tents is provided by local businesses. We work closely with the council, police and licensing authorities to ensure safe and successful events.

In 2004 a significant survey of 10,000 visitors to the Carnival conducted by the University of Brighton in association with Pride to gather statistical date to understand better the demographic mix and needs of LGBT community in Brighton and Hove and the surrounding area.