OURSTORY
We’re excited to share the next chapter of our journey. What many of you previously knew as Black Pride is evolving into Liberation Pride.
While the name is changing, our purpose remains the same.
Liberation Pride continues to centre and celebrate the QTIPOC community, with a strong focus on uplifting QTIPOC artists, performers, and creatives.
In previous years, our programme has featured our signature large-scale catwalk show, showcasing fashion, identity, and culture through powerful artistic expression. For 2026, we’re expanding the programme into three strands, creating more opportunities for artists and the community to connect, collaborate, and celebrate.
These strands include:
• Events Supported By – providing support and platform opportunities for community-led QTIPOC events and creatives.
• Events Commissioned By Liberation Pride – new artistic work and events commissioned to spotlight QTIPOC talent and ideas.
• Events Produced By Liberation Pride – flagship Liberation Pride productions, including some of our larger programme moments.
EVENTS
Her Pride
Sunday 7 June - Ferny house 289 Promenade, Blackpool FY1 6AL
Liberation Pride are proud to support HER Pride – an alternative fringe event for Blackpool Pride, curated by our iconic allies and created as a space that centres and celebrates women and QTIPOC voices within our community. Expect pure dance energy, uplifting vibes, and a party atmosphere where everyone can come together to celebrate Pride in a way that is bold, authentic, and unapologetically HER.
At the heart of the event is a commitment to amplifying underrepresented voices and creating spaces where people feel seen, safe, and celebrated. From the dancefloor to the community connections made along the way, HER Pride is about showing up, supporting each other, and celebrating the strength and creativity of our community - HER House. HERstory. HER Pride.
PRIDE MCR Pageant
Thursday 27 August, Aviva Studios, Water St, Manchester M3 4JQ, 8.00 pm
Step into the spotlight at the PRIDE MCR Pageant fierce talent, unapologetic creativity, and unstoppable charisma. This electrifying event is more than a competition—it's a platform to discover the next POC drag superstar ready to slay the stage and inspire the community.
Expect dazzling performances, unforgettable runway looks, and a night bursting with glamour, culture, and pride. The crown is waiting… who will rise and claim it?
Kinky Afro
Friday 28 August 2026, Firehouse 40 Swan St, Manchester M4 5JG, 9.00 pm
Live band. Burlesque. DJs. Pure energy.
Kinky Afro is where Afro rhythms, funk grooves and fierce burlesque collide for a night of music, mischief and unstoppable vibes. Expect dazzling performances, a live band bringing the heat, and DJs keeping the dancefloor moving all night.
Come dressed to impress, ready to dance, and prepared for a night that’s bold, sensual and unforgettable.
Club Zindagi – Celebrating Desi LGBTQ+ Life
Manchester’s legendary Desi LGBTQ+ club night returns with something extra special. This time the iconic Lucky Roy Singh takes the mic to host a Boylesque show for the very first time in Zindagi history.
Expect big energy, fierce performances and a celebration of Desi queer joy on the dancefloor.
A night of music, culture, and unforgettable moments.
Manchester, get ready.
DILF
Saturday 29 August
Ghetto Fabulous teams up with DJ Dan Louder to deliver a full-throttle, kinky People of Colour experience. Expect fierce energy, bold vibes, and unapologetic expression, with live vocals from Tolu lighting up a sweaty basement dancefloor. This is raw, electric, and not for the faint-hearted.
Afternoon T
an immersive theatre experience created as a space for trans people of colour to gather, connect, and simply be.Guided by Maitre D Oskar Marchock, you’ll be invited to let go, to rebuild, and to reimagine what a community can feel like. This is not just a performance — it’s a shared moment of presence, reflection, and joy.
Throughout the afternoon, our servers will offer love through food, drink, and a few fierce moves to keep the energy flowing. You may choose to sit back and witness, step forward and participate, or exist quietly within the space. Conversation is welcome. Sharing is encouraged. Stillness is honoured.Afternoon T is an offering — a warm, living room of possibility where stories unfold, bodies soften, and community takes shape in real time.
Liberation Pride is excited to announce that we are commissioning photographer Josh Cadogan
as part of our 2026 programme.
A graduate of the University of Salford with a First Class BA (Hons) in Fashion, Image Making & Styling, Josh’s work focuses on editorial portraiture, directional imagery, and documentary photography. His practice centres queer people and moments from across the LGBTQ+ community, capturing identity, culture, and connection through powerful imagery.
We’re excited to collaborate with Josh and can’t wait to share the portraits created as part of the Liberation Pride programme.
Liberation Pride is excited to announce a new commission with Rudy Mead, one half of the creative duo FAKE TRASH.
FAKE TRASH, the artistic collaboration between Lill and Rudy, is known for creating bold, intense and often colourful imagery that celebrates alternative culture — with a particular love for Manchester’s queer scene. Their work blends flamboyant visual flair with experimentation, pushing colour, style and references to playful and sometimes darker places.
As Rudy describes their approach:
For the Liberation Pride programme, Rudy Mead will create a new visual commission, bringing the distinctive FAKE TRASH aesthetic into the Pride Mcr world.
We can’t wait to share what emerges.
Liberation Pride are proud to support Bitchcraft — a dark, provocative runway experience where fetish fashion, power and rebellion take centre stage.
Emerging from the underground, Bitchcraft is carving out space for bold designers and fearless models, blending latex, leather, kink aesthetics and high-fashion attitude into an unforgettable spectacle.
With ambitions to expand nationally and internationally, this is more than a show — it’s a movement celebrating alternative style, body confidence and unapologetic expression.
Enter the dark side of fashion.
Runway. Fetish. Power.
