Like many Pride events around the world, UK Black Pride made the decision to postpone its annual celebration because of Covid-19. UK Black Pride is proud to announce that on Sunday, 16 August, our annual event will take place online from 12pm – 6pm (BST).
The online celebration will also mark UK Black Pride’s 15th anniversary. UK Black Pride was founded in 2005, when UK Black Pride’s co-founder and executive director, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, travelled to Southend-on-Sea with a busload of Black lesbians for a day of rest, respite and community.
The online celebration features a powerful array of performers, speakers, hosts and organisations, each of whom is committed to helping combat loneliness and isolation among LGBTQ people and colour, and who are coming together to celebrate UK Black Pride’s 15-year milestone.
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, co-founder and executive director of UK Black Pride:
“Our anniversary celebration comes at a difficult time for many in our communities, and we want to reiterate to our communities that we are committed to being the pride-home for LGBTQ people of colour across the UK. It’s an emotional moment for me and the team at UK Black Pride, and this celebration is an opportunity for us to come together to celebrate who we are and to say ‘thank you’ to everyone, past and present, who has helped make UK Black Pride what it is. We love our community so much and we hope our anniversary celebration goes some way in helping alleviate some of the loneliness and isolation that so many have been feeling.”
The celebration takes place at ukblackpride.org.uk and across four ‘rooms’: Main Stage, Wellbeing, Desi and Queer Young Folx.
The Main Stage will be hosted by actor, playwright and director Rikki Beadle-Blair MBE and Drag Race UK contestant Vinegar Strokes with speeches from Dominique Jackson (POSE) and model and activist Munroe Bergdorf. Performers include: drag artist Valqaeda, singer Jason Kwan, drag king Beau Jangles, Afrobeats star Nyja, and Aaron Carty’s Beyonce Experience. The ‘main stage’ will be headlined by VINCINT – the Philadelphia-born singer and songwriter who rose to prominence as a finalist on the first season of US singing competition The Four.
The Wellbeing Area features talks from MicroRainbow, Rainbow Noir, Kiki Bristol and Gendered Intelligence and performances from Sherika Sherard and Waste Womxn. The Desi room is hosted by Ryan Lanji, founder of queer Bollywood club night Hungama and winner of Netflix’s The Big Flower Fight, and comedian and human rights defender Maria Munir. Bollywood dancer Shiva Raichandani, burlesque dancer April Fiasco and singer Teenasai Balamu are among the performers. The Queer Young Folx room is hosted by Sabah Choudrey from the Colours Youth Network and Don One from Albert Kennedy Trust, with performances from K-Pop dance group O.D.C, drag artist Soroya Marchelle, poet Tajah Hamilton and singer Atlantis Ghandi.
To help amplify UK Black Pride’s anniversary, UK Black Pride has launched our This is Me. This is Home campaign – an integrated digital, social and PR campaign led by Ogilvy UK. The campaign celebrates the 15th anniversary of UK Black Pride and reaffirms UK Black Pride’s mission as the ‘pride-home’ for LGBTQ people across the UK. The campaign also signifies that despite being physically apart during lockdown, our communities can come together and celebrate in this safe and brave digital space created for them.
In the lead-up to UK Black Pride’s 15th anniversary celebration, we will be showcasing the campaign through a digital out-of-home activation, fly posters and film content across social media, and the community is invited to engage with the campaign through a special Instagram filter.
UK Black Pride would like to extend a special and heartfelt thank you to everyone at Ogilvy. This is Me. This is Home involved not only a cross-section of Ogilvy capabilities, from strategy through to social, but also a coming together of two of the agency’s networks, Ogilvy Roots and Ogilvy Proud.
Those wishing to celebrate can tune in from 12pm – 6pm BST at: ukblackpride.org.uk.
A full schedule is available at: ukblackpride.org.uk.
Twitter and Instagram: @ukblackpride
Facebook: facebook.com/ukblack.pride/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/ukblackpride/
