Bristol Pride is back to spread the love

Bristol Pride returns this July for a range of events, including live music from Natalie Imbruglia, a comedy night with Bristolian Jayde Adams, performances at the cabaret stage and culminating at the epic pride day march.

We speak with Daryn Carter, programming and partnerships director, about what people can expect from this year’s festival and how you can support them in their time of need.

What can people expect from this year’s events?

This year’s event will be our busiest yet. Two weeks of events will take place from June 24 culminating in the massive Pride festival on The Downs on July 8 which will see over 100 acts performing over nine incredible hours.

Across the 2 weeks, people can expect our usual favourites such as Film Festival, Comedy Night hosted by Jayde Adams and the Pride Dog Show as well as a bumper year of theatre.

The Main Festival day will see our biggest ever lineup across five stages with Rajah O’Hara and Tia Kofi already announced to headline the Cabaret Stage whilst over on Main Stage as well as our headline slot, we have a new afternoon legends slot this year too. It’s all very exciting.

What would you say the biggest challenges are each year when you put this event on?

I think our biggest problem is money and time! Sadly. It’s really challenging now, especially because we keep Pride Day a donation entry event so that no-one is excluded from attending Pride for not being able to afford a ticket.

I remember how much I needed to go to my first ever Pride and the pandemic has shown us how special a community and the chance to be together is. That said we do need everyone that can afford it to get a Pride Supporter Wristband these start at just £7 and give you free bus travel on Pride Day and Money off the bars so are a great way to actually save money and beat the queues all whilst supporting Pride to happen.

Last year’s event saw American pop star Carly Rae Jepson take to the stage. photo: Matt Whitely

What work do you do to ensure the event is safe and fun for everyone?

It runs through everything we do right from designing the festival site layout, welfare and free water onsite through to all the many planning meetings we have and with people like the council and emergency services.

Even the acts we book and how that impacts attendance and flow and then of course there’s measures around round closures and keeping the public safe on the parade. It takes a lot of time but is so vitally important. Pride is such a special day and needs to be a safe and fun event for everyone.

What makes Bristol Pride so unique?

We are one of the few Pride’s that run so many events across 2 weeks for Pride and keep Pride Day donation entries but it’s the people! We have such an incredible atmosphere at Pride and that is down to the people that come.

The festival just felt electric last year and there was such a feeling of joy and love and part of that is down to the vibe we create with our programming and delivery, such as keeping the Parade free and open for anyone to join and march in but it’s the people that make Pride so special and keeps us going.

Bristol Pride works as a charity throughout the year – what’s the best way for people to get involved and help support the charity?

We always need more volunteers to help make Pride happen. There are projects to get involved in or for Pride vital but easy roles such as being a steward on the parade so you still get to take part and enjoy it to a few hours on our gates collecting donations.

Those that work in business, get your company to sponsor us or make a donation so we can continue to deliver Pride and our year round work such as supporting schools and tackling hate crime.

Main photo: Dan Regan

Read next:

• Headliner announced for afternoon legends slot at Bristol Pride 2023
• Headliner announced for Bristol Pride 2023
• Pride parade returns to streets of Bristol

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