Manchester Pride performers left out of pocket to receive £15,000 support fund after festival collapse

Performers left out of pocket by the collapse of Manchester Pride last year are set to receive a share of a new £15,000 support fund secured by Equity following months of campaigning.

The funding, which comes from contributions made by businesses to a Manchester City Council-backed "social action pot", is not drawn from taxpayers' money. While it falls short of the more than £70,000 owed to over 50 performers when Manchester Pride entered administration in 2025, it will cover around 20% of unpaid fees.

Combined with a crowdfunding campaign organised by performer, activist and creative producer Nathaniel Hall, which raised £12,500, the total amount secured for affected artists now stands at £27,500, almost 40% of the money owed.

Equity is now contacting the performers who came forward after Manchester Pride's collapse left professional artists unpaid for work carried out at the event. Individual losses ranged from £150 to £5,000. The union plans to distribute the available funds proportionally among those still owed money.

The announcement comes days after the successful return of Manchester Village Pride (MVP), which took place over the August bank holiday weekend. The community-led event was one of the first Pride festivals in the UK to operate under a formal Equity agreement, with organisers signing up to minimum terms and conditions for performers, including stronger protections around payment.

Run by a new Community Interest Company rooted in Manchester's Gay Village, the smaller-scale festival featured dozens of performers and sold out ahead of opening.

Karen Lockney, Equity's North West official, welcomed the funding package, describing it as a significant step forward for artists who feared they would never recover any of the money they were owed. "This is great news for the many performers who were left high and dry last year when Manchester Pride went bust," she said. "Lots of people thought they'd never get anything for these gigs they worked over a year ago, but it just goes to show that you should never give up.

"Performers are so often the people who end up out of pocket, dismissed and treated badly, but there would literally be no Pride without performers. We're grateful to Manchester City Council, and to everyone who donated to the crowdfunder, and we're especially pleased that Manchester Village Pride went ahead this year on an Equity agreement.

"We're also encouraged by the promise of discussion on worker representation at other events in the city, which we hope will lead to more union agreements and better terms and safety standards for all workers."

Manchester City Council leader Cllr Garry Bridges said the authority had been working with Equity to find a way to support those affected without using public funds to cover the debts of a private organisation.

"We've been clear throughout that we sympathised with the plight of performers left unpaid when the former organisers of Pride went bust," he said.

"We've been working with Equity to find a meaningful way to help those worst affected without using public money to meet the debts of a failed business and I'm pleased that we've been able to reach this constructive solution together.

"The event and its performers have a bright future under new organisers Manchester Village Pride and it's great that they have strong arrangements in place to ensure that performers can have confidence going forwards and similar issues can't happen again."

Nathaniel Hall, who launched the crowdfunder in support of affected artists, said the latest funding boost demonstrated the value of collective action. "It's encouraging to hear that Manchester City Council have found £15,000 to help creatives out of pocket from last year's collapse of Manchester Pride," he said. "Even though this won't cover all the losses, the gesture is really welcome.

"Equity members have been working for months to get this result. LGBTQ+ Equity members can be proud they have a union that has their backs when times are tough."

The funding package marks the latest chapter in efforts to support performers impacted by the collapse of Manchester Pride, while the success of this year's Manchester Village Pride has been hailed as a fresh start for the city's LGBTQ+ festival scene.