Thursday, 28th June 07

Pride in Brighton and Hove is a registered charity that also works throughout the year to support other local LGBT voluntary groups, organisations and charities. Pride enables groups to raise their profile and funding, through a diverse range of events and activities during Winter and Summer Pride. The Summer Pride Festival 2007 runs from Saturday 28th July through to Sunday 5th August with the Park and Preston Park event on Saturday 4th August.

This year alone, Pride has awarded in excess of £10,000 in grants with, yet again, over half of Preston Park taken up by community activities, space for voluntary organisations and HIV awareness. This includes the Barclays Community Village – bigger and better than ever before with groups such as the Terrence Higgins Trust, Allsorts Youth Project, Brighton LGBT Switchboard, Kenric, The Sussex Beacon, Claude Nichol Clinic, L&G Christian Movement, BLAGSS, City of Brighton’s Gay Men’s Chorus, Brighton Quakers, Stonewall and Amnesty International taking part.

The Pride grants scheme has enabled many groups to raise awareness and much needed funds for the important services they provide for the LGBT community. Pride is especially pleased to support some new groups to the grants round such as the Gender Trust who are using their funding to put on a special film night. This year BLAGSS have sporting activities throughout the festival for all to participate in with Ourstory hosting a barn dance. MindOut has received Pride funding to stage a fundraising comedy cabaret evening to support their suicide prevention work with Brighton Women’s Centre raising money for the Centre from their pre-Pride warm-up party. The Dyke Modern has received £500 from Pride to fund a day of yoga, holistic health, music, teaching and art. There are also several Pride funded chorus events throughout the week.

In previous years Pride in Whitehawk held a very successful cabaret evening in the heart of their community, THT has benefited from major national media coverage for their Carry On float and various groups such as the Women’s Centre, Brighton Bothways, Switchboard and BLAGSS have benefited from additional fundraising. Pride continues to be the largest platform in the city for the LGBT voluntary sector to promote their activities and bring in much needed funding.


THE COUNCIL ALSO PROUD TO SUPPORT

Brighton & Hove City Council has allocated a total of £6,000 from the Annual Grants Programme budget, awarding 16 Summer Pride Day Grants for activities on the day itself. Pride is supporting a number of other events during Pride Week.

There were so many high quality applications to the Pride Summer Day Grants scheme that the council’s Voluntary Sector & External Funding Unit awarded some funding to every applicant organisation, the first time in the history of this scheme! There will be council supported floats on the parade plus information stands and tents on Preston Park.

Spectrum are co-ordinating an Access Tent for disabled people and, for the first time, Cheek2Cheek, a local community dancing group, will have a council funded walking tableau on the parade. In addition there will also be safe-spaces for young people & families plus the ever popular People of Colour and Women’s Performance Tents. New to the park, will be a Trans Tent co-ordinated by the Gender Trust and financially supported by the council.

Cllr Mary Mears, new Lead Member for Grants said: “I am delighted with this package of grants for one of the city’s most high profile celebrations of local communities and I look forward to supporting many more community & voluntary sector organisations through the council’s Annual Grants Programme in 2007-08 and beyond.”

To find out more about the council’s Annual Grants Programme call Jonathan Best: Annual Grants Programme Officer on 291114.