Thurrock Pride Festival 2024
Thurrock Pride Festival coming June 8th, 2024.
Saturday 8th June 2024
Thurrock’s first ever Pride event took place on Saturday 8 June starting at 9.30am with a Pride Celebration Walk commencing at Purfleet Station, joined by the wider community to walk along the river front and Grays High Street. Events took place throughout the day, ending with the Great Big Queer Cabaret at Thameside Theatre.
Organisers hoped Thurrock Pride Festival would be a celebration of inclusivity with a powerful statement of visibility, acceptance and solidarity.
Events included live music, comedy, film, art workshops and drag performances. At the start of the day walkers held vibrant, bespoke silk flags created by Purfleet-based, arts organisation and event partner, Kinetika, alongside members of the LGBTQ+ community. The walk was led by event partner, T100 Festival – Thurrock’s Walking, Talking and Making Festival.
The Festival also worked with Essex Book Festival to include LGBTQ+ stories in the Human Library event at Grays Library on the same day.
Co-created by festival directors Arts Outburst, Thurrock Pride Festival 2024 is the first of its kind locally and a historic moment for LGBTQ+ and wider communities of Essex. They welcomed the local people of Thurrock and people across the Southeast of England to join in, celebrate and be part of acceptance and equality at the event.
‘Arts Outburst are super proud to be delivering this historical moment in Thurrock. We believe that representation and equity are hugely important and play a massive part of the work we do. To be taking the lead of Thurrock Pride, using Arts and Culture to shape and tell that story, is very exciting for us and we can’t wait to welcome everyone to the Thameside’.
Daryl Branch Artistic Director and CEO Arts Outburst
The Thurrock LGBTQ+ Community Network were delighted to have secured funding and support to host this colourful community celebration funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, Arts Council England, Start Thurrock and Riverside Community Grays Big Local, with additional support from rail company c2c. The Thurrock LGBTQ+ Community Network have been running monthly peer support drop-ins and social events for the last 18 months, which attracted up to 80 attendees.
Follow along on Facebook and Instagram @ThurrockPrideFestival
To see Thurrock Pride in retrospect and to be kept in the know!
Need to contact us regarding Thurrock Pride? Email thurrockpride@artsoutburst.co.uk
PROUDLY SUPPORTED
We want to say a HUGE thank you for everyone that was involved behind the scenes in Thurrock Pride, this includes our wonderful volunteers, stallholders, info points, food vendors, security, facilities!
AND OF COURSE… a massive thank you to everyone that attended and celebrated such a momentous occasion with us, here in Thurrock for the LBGTQ+ Community!
Take a look back at the day’s schedule of events
Supported by
thurrockpride@artsoutburst.co.uk
www.facebook.com/thurrockpridefestival
