Manchester Pride raises essential funds to help LGBTQ+ communities. Every penny donated to the Manchester Pride Community Fund goes directly to supporting LGBTQ+ causes and projects in Greater Manchester. This means none of the money you donate to the Manchester Pride Community Fund goes to the day-to-day operations of the Manchester Pride Charity.
The Superbia Queer Arts Fund and the Manchester Pride Community Fund are open year round to award grants to initiatives that benefit LGBTQ+ people in Manchester. There are four rounds of funding available that you can apply for. Applications are assessed by the Grants Panel on an ongoing basis so it’s a good idea to apply early.
Below is the list of 28 successful projects we funded between March 2023 and May 2023.
Grants from £250 - £1000 are available to support grassroots community groups and organisations. This fund is designed to support the activities of local community groups, voluntary groups and organisations that work towards improving the quality of life and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people. Applications should include activities that are designed to support and include at least one of the following communities: LGBTQ+ disabled people, QTIPOC, Trans people.
Out In The City is a social and support group for members of the LGBT+ community who are over 50 years of age. They currently have 104 members, 33 of whom are over 70 years of age, the oldest is 93. They have members from all walks of life, many of them having lived through a time where homosexuality was illegal. The grant will be used to support several of the group’s weekly meetings in 2023 and fund a coach trip which aims to reduce social isolation of members and to improve members’ confidence and mental well-being.
Manchester Prairie Dogs Line Dancing Club operates from the Thompson’s Arms in the Gay Village, many group members state that the support networks and friendships within the group are extremely beneficial to their mental health, and the weekly chance to socialise is sometimes more important than dancing!
They hold a regular beginners night every year in September, following the Gay Village Party, and this year they would like to focus on inclusion extend a special invite to members of the QTIPOC community, reaching out to QTIPOC networks to spread the word of the club to those who may not have heard of it yet. The Community Fund grant will help fund a welcome night buffet and help further subsidise the club shirts for anyone joining as a member after attending the beginner’s night.
The LGBTQ salsa project is a community group that focuses on teaching salsa dancing in a gender neutral way with the goal of creating a safe and inclusive environment for people to learn and enjoy dancing. Salsa has historically been a very gendered way of dancing, so LGBTQ Salsa aims to challenge those structures and creates new genderless roles in Salsa allowing dancers to practise in a safe, inclusive and non-heteronormative environment.
This project will help support LGBTQ+ victims of domestic violence in Wythenshawe. The project will boost mental health and well-being through offering advice and guidance, massage therapy and signposting to support services. The LGBTQ+ group will hold a summer Bee pride event with entertainment, food and drink along with lots of fun activities for all ages.
Queer Muslims of Manchester is the only organisation that was specifically founded to support LGBTQ+ Muslims in Greater Manchester. The group is dedicated to intersectional support across all communities and willing to work with other organisations and charities to further education on issues facing the LGBTQ+ Muslim community. The grant will be used to fund their monthly meet up sessions for the next year.
Queer Youth Art Collective is the UK’s only national LGBTQ+ youth arts organisation. Each week they run free art workshops and are now looking to expand their engagement in the North. The community fund will be used to commission young LGBTQ+ artists to facilitate workshops in Rochdale. The project will introduce young LGBTQ+ people in and around Rochdale to them as a reliable, accessible, queer youth service and radical free education.
The grant will enable LazyPins to organise and develop a social media strategy with their organisation partners. The funds will provide circa 250+ A3 placards, all materials and workshop activities will be included in the project.
LazyPins will use the grant to bring together creative Trans folks and our allies plus those from outside the creative community to have positive and powerful conversations about LGBTQ+ history, future and Trans wellbeing.
This will lead onto wider work with the GM PRIDE NETWORK to create wider conversations for political activism, trans joy and wider engagement across the Pride season 2023
The Men’s Room will provide LGBTQ+ people with a safe space where they can focus on wellbeing activities to boost their mental health. During sessions that the Men’s Room will deliver, guests will have a hot meal together and mindfulness activities will take place, these will include crocheting and meditation practices.
The project aims to improve the mental health and wellbeing of Black, Asian and other LGBTQ+ refugees and people seeking asylum in the UK. The fund will be vital in helping to reduce loneliness and isolation in the asylum system by supporting workshops and gatherings which can help members to create a portfolio of evidence for their cases.
The House of Rainbow will create a sanctuary for LGBTQ+ of faith. The Community Fund grant will support the training, coaching and pastoral care and support needs of LGBTQ people of faith. House of Rainbow will create, develop and produce training sessions and materials that will support and assist the importance of reconciling faith, sexuality and spirituality. This is an area of work that can be limiting due to religious homophobia. This project will help provide the bridge for many LGBTQ+ people to find the appropriate faith community, improved mental health and spiritual wellbeing. The fund will support multiple in person and online training sessions, peer support and development of appropriate resources.
Stockport Active is working with a local Pupil Referral Unit for young people with social and emotional needs. The majority of the pupils are part of the LGBTQ+ community with limited or no access to physical activities or sports. The grant will allow pupils to try a variety of different sports each week, so as not to limit them or commit them to a specific spot.
The grant will also be used to help improve the library in the school by going towards purchasing books around identity, sexuality, and sexual health.
The Manchester Pride Community Grant will also go towards training for the LGBTQ+ lead in the school to help better equip teachers for the future, who will in turn help more young people, leaving a lasting legacy in the school.
Operating in Manchester, LGBTQ+ Wellness delivers fitness and wellbeing classes, and pop-up socials, for the LGBTQ+ community. The Community Fund will support the programme to deliver high energy classes to improve physical fitness, but also offer calming practices like yoga and meditations, so that there are safe settings for people to still the mind, become introspective, and explore their mental health. They will also employ LGBTQ+ writers to create web content on topics supporting LGBTQ+ mental health, sexual health, digital health and staying safe online, and overall well being.
Icebreakers is a self help, mutual support group in Manchester that helps gay, bisexual, and questioning men and trans-men aged 18 to 80 plus. They’ve been here since 1986 and thousands of men have used the group over almost 40 years. The grant will be used to fund the printing of new resources to offer advice to LGBTQ+ and questioning men and signpost to support services.
The grant will fund a series of three workshops with LGBTQ+ participants. The project’s primary goal is to work with communities from Greater Manchester who are typically under-represented in the arts, including people without formal training in the arts, and/or low income, and/or disabled, and/or neurodiverse, and/or from refugee backgrounds. At the workshops, 12 participants will be given the opportunity to complete a zine from start to finish with support from specialists. The participants will receive 10 copies of their full colour zine and copies will be retained to be featured at the Zine Fair planned for August 2024.
Grants from £250 - £1000 are available to provide support for particular projects within Local Pride programming around Greater Manchester. Local Pride Grants can be enhanced with additional support from volunteers, promotion on our Superbia website, and signposting via our newsletter and social media.
Pride in Wythenshawe is a grassroots community group aiming to boost the wellbeing of the LGBTQI+ community by organising social events that combat isolation, promote inclusion and bring the people of Wythenshawe together. The main Pride event will take place at the local community centre in Woodhouse Park on 24th June. The grant will cover the costs of two British sign language (BSL) professionals for the day to ensure no-one is excluded from the entertainment taking place on the main stage. A silent disco and drumming workshop will also be facilitated to ensure the children of Wythenshawe have a memorable experience of Pride.
Pride in Leigh celebrates diversity amongst their community in race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, mobility, age and empower people to be proud of themselves, learn new skills and enjoy themselves in Leigh. The event takes place in Leigh Spinners Mill, with experts in arts, history, culture, design, music and more coming together to celebrate our differences. Pride in Leigh aims to fill a cultural gap of provision for young people, families, and the LGBTQ+ and ethnically diverse communities in the town – priding themselves on partnerships and collaboration.
Pride on the Range is a small, local community organisation in Whalley Range. Every year, they organise a series of events to celebrate Pride. This year’s activities include:
Pride of the Range comprises a committee of diverse LGBTQ+ people, and works with all communities in Whalley Range. The parade and garden party involve many residents in the area. The event will help to reduce social isolation and build connections between communities.
Prestwich Pride is a grassroots organisation in its infancy, with 2023 planned as the second year of celebrations. First conceived by a group of LGBTQ+ friends and allies from Prestwich, its aims are to promote visibility, spread love, and provide a safe space for people from all reaches of both the LGBTQ+ community, and the local community to unite, collect, and express themselves freely. The Local Pride Grant will go to fund artists who will perform at the events across Prestwich.
The Sparkle Weekend is the world’s largest free-to-attend celebration of gender diversity, and a safe space for anyone who identifies as gender non-conforming, their families, friends, and allies.
This Local Pride Grant will be used for the Family and Youth Zone at the Sparkle Weekend 2023. The Family and Youth Zone will be a safe space all weekend for trans/queer youth, their families, and allies. It is important to have a separate space for younger people, so they can have conversations, get resources and most of all - enjoy themselves!
Superbia is Manchester Pride’s year round calendar of Queer arts and culture. Grants from £250 - £1000 are available to support the staging of a Queer arts or cultural event or to bring to life a project or initiative with a message to challenge discrimination and raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues. A Superbia Queer Arts Grant is enhanced with further promotional support from Manchester Pride and its Superbia initiative.
Having lived in Manchester for over 20 years, Mark Jordan was fortunate to have used video to document the emergence of the new queer scene around Canal Street. He has footage from World AIDS Day, Mardi Gras in the late 90s, performances at Mentos bar, fetish fashion, shows at the Hacienda, and the Derek Jarman exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery. The grant will be used to create a documentary using this archival footage along with present day interviews to tell the story of Manchester’s Queer History to the world.
This theatre production tells the true story of the Victorian Pioneer of human rights and Trancestory'. Harry's story is to be heard in solidarity by all of Manchester's worker bees and beyond; who are inspired to come together - past present and future. "United we stand, divided we fall in the North and we fight against the rich, to take back what has been starved, beaten and broken out of us for centuries." The Superbia grant will be used to fund further research and development for this amazing piece of work.
The Proud Trust have worked in collaboration with Emily Crompton who is an architect and researcher at Manchester School of Architecture as well as photographer Sally-Ann Norman to document and record the demolition and rebuilding process of Manchester's LGBT Centre, now known as The Proud Place. This grant will support a public exhibition of the photographs at KAMPUS's courtyard over Summer 2023. The funding will cover printing and installation costs as well as support young people to speak about the centre and what it means to them at the exhibition launch event to celebrate the project. The exhibition will signpost the public to services and groups who meet at the centre, and raise awareness of this amazing dedicated LGBTQ+ community space which was originally built in 1988, has been cared for, maintained, and now rebuilt in Manchester.
Scotoma is a live performance piece expanding upon Scotoma part one. The performance will focus on the individual's past trauma and letting that out through self expression of non-choreographed dance, revealing the authenticity of raw emotion, with live African music originating from the artist’s home country, bringing them back to their roots to heal from their traumatic events.
Part two is an expansion of the theme in part one, and how the healing begins within yourself, and how when someone finds self happiness and acceptance, they want to share it with the world to see their reactions. The theme focuses on rebirth and self realisation of the individual, finding a true form in this new world after healing from past traumas.
This live performance piece will take place in various locations around Manchester, so people engage and see this incredible piece of QTIPOC expression.
Celestial bisexual is an art piece combining poetry, digital art, video, projection, and dance which will be debuted in August 2023 to coincide with Manchester Pride Festival.
This performance is the result of extensive research and development into female sexual empowerment from a queer/bisexual/pansexual perspective. This event is important because there are not enough events to celebrate the B+ in LGBTQ+, and it is time to shine a light on the voices and artistry of underrepresented queer women.
As a black and Asian queer woman, we need a female lead platform to celebrate our identity in the queer art scene, and this event will provide that opportunity.
The Remedy live show is a journey spanning 15 years told through comedy, poetry, story and song. Topics include arranged marriage, disownment, purpose, community, chosen family, PTSD and healing. This is a powerful one-person show with a unique approach to storytelling set to a backdrop of breathtaking soundscapes produced by Reeta Loi. The show tackles questions affecting many of us, including: how do we build intimacy and connection when we have experienced extreme loss? What does it take to heal personal and generational trauma? How do we live with abundance in a culture that doesn’t want us (and especially us) to?
The second edition of Feel Good Fest! An all-ages community celebration featuring panel discussions and performances from notable and diverse members of the UK LGBTQ+ community.
This event will be free to attend and there will be a charity collection point throughout. We will partner with varying corners of our community to offer a truly inclusive event. From speakers, divulging on topics like ‘Black Queer Joy’ and ‘Existing while Trans’, to clothes swaps, live music and Cabaret performances. An explosion of queer joy!
The grant will fund the choral workshop as part of The Stoller Hall at Chetham's Loud and Proud programme. The workshop will be led by Michael Betteridge, composer and artistic director of The Sunday Boys; and Rylan Gleave, composer and vocalist; and be designed to be accessible for all voice types, including specialist guidance for non-binary and changing voices. The choral workshop poses a strong and meaningful engagement opportunity for transitioning adults – helping them to maintain their identity as a singer and encouraging them to ‘find their voice’ outside of gender binary. Beyond the skills and techniques participants will develop from the session, singing provides an inclusive and cost-effective means of combating social isolation. It also provides the perfect ice breaker for bringing together a group of strangers and forging a sense of community.
This grant will be used to fund the development of a new queer one-person cabaret show debuting at the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival 2023. This show that centres Arisha, a trans, neurodiverse and global majority emerging artist and QTIPOC found family.
