Warwickshire Pride Asks For Donations to Hold its Annual Festival

In order to host Warwickshire Pride Festival this August, the organisers have launched a £2,000 crowdfunding scheme.

The festival is a free entry charity event and so funding is required to hire the venue, which this year will be the Leamington Pump Rooms.

Daniel Browne founded Warwickshire Pride as well as Push Projects LGBTQ Youth Support charity. He says that he wants to provide the support that was not available for LGBT youths when he was younger.

Browne claims that he was motivated by his own struggles against bullying, depression and homelessness.

Push Projects now helps 30 people in the Warwick area and has just started another youth group in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Pride Festival will take place on August 20th and Browne and the other organisers have launched the fundraising campaign online to raise money for hiring the first aid provisions, toilets and infrastructure needed to host the event.

Browne stated: “As the festival grows and peoples’ expectations grow too, it’s becoming more difficult to obtain the funding required to put on an event of this nature.”

2000 people attended the first Warwickshire Pride in 2013. Last year the festival attracted 5000 people.

Browne won the Coventry and Warwickshire champion award in 2015 and won at the Pride of Warwick District Awards in 2014. He has been in the finals twice at the Leamington Spa Citizen of the Year Award.

Warwick Pride have decided not to work with Warwickshire Pride on the basis of previous actions. On September 26th 2015, three members of Warwick Pride were blocked from the Leamington Spa Equality Rally Facebook event after claiming that Warwickshire Pride lacked accountability and criticising the move towards an increasing police presence at local LGBTUA+ events despite the community’s objections.

However, Warwick Pride have stated: “We do enjoy working with Coventry Pride who host their own pride march later in the year. Hopefully lots of you will come to that one with us.” Coventry Pride 2016 will take place from the 18th – 19th of June.