At the launch of the IWPride 2017 exhibition at the Dimbola Museum and Galleries last night (September 1) organisers revealed the date of IWPride 2018. Whilst celebrating the launch of the exhibition and congratulating winners of this years Capture your Pride photo competition, Roo Meechan, Ria Lang
Whilst celebrating the launch of the exhibition and congratulating winners of this years Capture your Pride photo competition, Roo Meechan, Ria Langdon, Sarah Marston and Zach Capron, TeamPride announced that IWPride 2018 will return to the Island on Saturday, July 21 to coincide with the established Ryde Slide weekend.
With plans to increase the size of the main arena on the beach, improve the market stall and information stand zone and also maximise the opportunity for people to get involved and attend Pride, organisers are already planning events for the Friday evening to compliment the main day.
Yve White from TeamPride, said: “We were astounded by how successful Pride was in our first year. Pride2017 touched many lives, from people who had left the Island due to Homophobia, returning to a welcoming environment and being reduced to tears, through to courage and love enabling people to have the confidence to “come out” and be their true selves and live their lives. We have had fantastic feedback from around the Country and want to grow our family friendly, inclusive and free community event in 2018 and have spent most of the summer putting the building blocks in place to help make this happen!”
Matt Bundy of TeamPride, said: “One of the main learning points from the success of 2017 was to get more volunteers involved. This has helped us to grow TeamPride and we are always open to other people joining us in organising this fabulous event. There may be more exciting news in late October, but we won’t be releasing those details at this stage. There is a great buzz around Pride since the amazing day in July when the Island community came together and created something special. We want to recapture that atmosphere and grow it. We hope through the Pride Exhibition at Dimbola Museum and Galleries that the Island community get the chance to relive happy memories and also to give people the motivation to get involved in 2018.”
The Pride exhibition at Dimbola runs until October 11 and showcases a number of photographs from the Capture your Pride competition which caught the imagination of a number of budding photographers.
Dr Rachel Tait of Dimbola Museum, said: “We had hundreds of amazing entries to the competition. It’s great to see so many people capturing happy memories of a special event and we are privileged to be able to showcase these at Dimbola throughout September.”
Joe from TeamPride, added: “It’s amazing to be planning for Pride2018 already. So many people are already supportive and on board. We were keen to avoid clashing with Rhythm tree festival on the Island again and are glad to be joining forces with the Ryde Slide! It should be another weekend to remember for the Island!”
