Pride-goers gave Pride in London 2013 the same overall score as the amazing London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the Pride survey.
Tonight, December 10 at an open meeting hosted by the TUC, the new organisers of Pride in London, London LGBT+Community Pride will be presenting a report on their first year of operation and taking questions. There will be a live Twitter feed of the meeting and the chance to tweet questions in through @londonLGBTPride. All 160 places at the event have been allocated.
Last year the Mayor of London confirmed £500,000 of funding for London LGBT+ Community Pride to deliver the capital’s Pride celebrations for a five year period. The feedback on their first years event in 2013 has been overwhelmingly positive.
Feedback from the community through an open online survey in August found that two-thirds thought that Pride in London 2013 was better than past prides they had attended in London.
The survey also showed that all sections of the LGBT+ community felt the same way. Overall, a sample of those in Trafalgar Square for Pride gave the event 8.49 out of 10 compared with 8.51 out of ten awarded to the Olympics and Paralympics in a similar survey.
The same survey gathered views on what could be done differently or better in future years and those ideas will be part of the discussion at tonight’s community meeting.
Pride in London, costs over £0.5m a year to deliver with major costs related to ensuring the safety of everyone on the big day and putting stages and other infrastructure in Trafalgar Square and Soho.
With just five months between their appointment and the date of Pride in London 2013, the new organisers demonstrated that it is possible to engage the LGBT+ community, secure the necessary funding through a mix of sponsorship and ticket sales and keep the core of Pride in London – the Parade – free.
Michael Salter, Chair of London LGBT+ Community Pride said: “When we established London LGBT+ Community Pride we promised a Pride for and of the community. Our first year delivering Pride in London was an undoubted success and a good start for our new organisation. It could not have been achieved without the hundreds of volunteers, many of whom return year after year to steward the parade, Trafalgar Square and Soho. They are the unsung heroes of Pride and they deserve huge thanks. They are the people who earned us the community’s accolade of an ‘Olympic Standard Pride’. The support of the sponsors who came on board at short notice was also vital, they understood the need to get behind Pride and the LGBT+ community in London. I also want to thank our patrons and celebrity supporters who spread the word about the event and encouraged our community to come out and be proud.
“We are committed to keeping the community fully informed of our progress as we create a Pride in London sustainable into the future. We have lots of feedback to report on this year’s festival from individuals and groups in the community, sponsors and delivery partners and we look forward to discussing that feedback as well as plans for Pride 2014 at tonight’s meeting.
“We will be publishing fully audited accounts in the new year, keeping our commitment to transparency and good financial management. Planning for next year’s festival is in full-swing and talks with sponsors for 2014 are already underway. We are grateful for the support of the Mayor of London’s office and we are delighted that the success of 2013’s event mean we will be running the event again next year.
“We want as many members of the LGBT+ community and our allies as possible to participate in pride in London 2014, so please check out our website for more information.”
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson, said: “I am delighted to support London’s Pride celebrations, which are hugely important for the capital – as a community based event to be enjoyed by everyone, but also underscoring our city’s reputation as one of the most LGBT friendly in the world. Last year’s event was a great success and I am looking forward to London LGBT+ Community Pride building on that work to make it even greater in 2014.”