A protest is planned outside the offices of Manchester Pride today, Monday November 11 at 12.15am.
Manchester Pride had indicated they would announce how much money had been raised for local LGBT charities from the 2013 event last Friday, November 8, but no announcement was forthcoming raising concerns that the amount raised could be the lowest since 1990.
Despite the recession, 38,000 tickets were sold for this years event
In 2012 the Pride registered charity had income of £991,656 and announced £52,000 would be distributed to good causes. It has since emerged that only £36,100 of that total was raised during the financial year and Julia Grant, the former organiser of the Gay Fest free events in 2001-2 claims the publicised amount had been topped up out of Pride reserves.
Today, gay village business owners and their staff, charity workers and members of the LGBT community in Manchester will stage a protest outside Pride HQ at their offices in the Manchester One building on the corner of Portland Street and Sackville Street.
The peaceful action starts at 12:15 and later will move to outside the Town Hall.
Manchester City Council claim that the Big Weekend brought in as much as £22 million of business across the city despite Pride receiving only a direct grant of £11,796 from the Council. Protestors point to the fact that a recent pop concert by Alicia Keys received Council funding of £425,000.
John Stewart the Chief Executive of Manchester Pride recently stood down and was replaced by interim appointee Mark Fletcher who has been the events freelance sponsorship manager since 2004.
Tony Cooper is Manager of VIA on Canal Street and a former Deputy Chair of the Village Business Association (VBA).
In a public statement this week he wrote: “I will remove all my support for Manchester Pride until I see appointments on the board that represent business and the community.”
“I have had dialogue with Manchester Pride for several weeks and I have not seen any change in the way they deal with issues and I find myself believing that they do not want to engage with the community at large and certainly not the businesses who support them to the tune of £40-60k every year.”
Geoff Stafford the co-founder of the Facebook campaign group Facts About Manchester Pride says the planned protest isn’t tied to any one particular group or organisation.
He said: “This feels like a turning point.”
“We’ve been campaigning for two-and-a-half years, but now Pride has upset a lot of the LGBT community right across the board. From low-paid people who feel excluded by high ticket prices, to gay business owners and charity workers. In the current climate smaller charities in particular depend on this funding.
“We expect many of those people will join in the protest. Personally I think the board of trustees should resign.”
This summer, village workers were told they would be prevented from going into the main arena during Pride. Performer Penny Crayon is one who was turned away by security when the area was half empty and caught the moment on video. This caused discontent amongst Village bar staff who work long hours and try to grab a brief look at the acts during their breaks.
In another development, after a decade of the gay village being fenced off, City Council officials have confirmed in writing that the public has always had a legal right to walk through the streets during Manchester Pride whether they buy a ticket or not.
Businesswoman Julia Grant was a key figure behind the successful and free-to-enter GayFest in both 2000 and 2001. Amounts of £105,716.77 and £87,666.63 were raised and published accounts show that 75% of this was distributed to the Lesbian and Gay Foundation, BodyPositive NorthWest and George House Trust. The remainder going to smaller charities.
Julia says: “Manchester Pride and the lack of investment in the village has ripped the heart out of the LGBT community.”
No one answered the telephone at the offices of Manchester Pride when Gscene asked for a quote.
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