• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

North East Connected

Hopping Across The North East From Hub To Hub

Barclays shows its Northern Pride

ONE OF THE UK’s largest free LGBT+ festivals is banking on another successful year, thanks to support from a top sponsor.

Barclays has been revealed as the festival sponsor for this year’s Northern Pride Festival, which takes place from 19 to 21 July at Newcastle’s Town Moor and Exhibition Park.

Organisers of the Northern Pride Festival are confident that the bank’s support will help them to build on the success of last year’s event, which was attended by more than 78,000 across the weekend, with upwards of 20,000 people marching in the parade.

And Barclays will be bringing its Love Goes the Distance campaign to the Northern Pride Festival, which celebrates the LGBT+ community’s accomplishments to date, while recognising the work still to be done.

Ian Twizell, head of Barclays Spectrum North East, is delighted that the bank is sponsoring the event.

“We want our colleagues, customers and clients in the North East to be prouder than ever before of our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community,” said Ian.

“We champion equality, understanding, respect and inclusivity for the LGBTQ+ community through a broad range of activities and initiatives.

“Pride is in our DNA, in the way we support our colleagues, in the culture we’ve created together, in the way we communicate with one another and with our customers and clients.

“I am so excited to see that come to life through our headline sponsorship of this fantastic and important event.”

Barclays will continue its support for Northern Pride in 2020 when it returns as headline sponsor when the Northern Pride Festival hosts UK Pride.

Ste Dunn, chair of Northern Pride, said: “It is fantastic to have the support of Barclays this year, which will allow us to follow through on all of the exciting plans we have for the summer.

“It is great to see big businesses like Barclays supporting the LGBT+ community and we are really looking forward to working together to create an amazing weekend for everyone to enjoy.”

“The festival is growing in both size and ambition year after year and we are one of the few larger festivals that remains free to attend, which wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our sponsors.”

Big plans have already been revealed for the summer event, with Fleur East and Liberty X topping a star-studded line-up on the Los Angeles Stage, sponsored by Manchester Airport.

The festival will be spread across two locations this year, with the Festival Arena – made up of the main stage, platinum bar and fun fair – setting up at the Town Moor.

Nearby Exhibition Park will be the home of the Community Village, which includes the Family and Youth Zone, Rainbow Village and the Curious Arts Stage, organised by not for profit Curious Arts, which will host family-friendly entertainment throughout the day.

The theme of this year’s Northern Pride Festival is Remembering Stonewall, looking back at the Stonewall riots which took place during a police raid at New York gay bar the Stonewall Inn in 1969.

The riots were a reaction by the LGBT+ community against discrimination and worked as a catalyst for the LGBT+ rights movement around the world.

Northern Pride also organise a number of satellite events as part of the festival programme in the lead-up to the main weekend event.

For more information on the festival or any of the satellite events, visit www.northern-pride.com or search northernprideuk on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.