Foyle Gay Pride Festival 2015 Programme

FOYLE FOYLEGAY GAYPRIDE PRIDEFESTIVAL FESTIVAL| 1

Local man Mark Ashton (1960-87) achieved a great deal in his young life and devoted most of his teenage years and early 20s to radical left politics. A founding member of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) with Mike Jackson and the first gay General Secretary of the Young Communist League (YCL) he was also a lovely, warm, witty and beautiful human being. It was an honour to know him and Foyle Gay Pride are delighted to celebrate his memory in this the 30th anniversary of the Miners Strike.

Foyle Pride Festival is as energetic as ever

Jim Doherty Derry City July 2015

WELCOME...

I

am delighted to be able to give my full support to the Foyle Gay Pride Festival. It is great to see that the festival is as energetic as ever and I congratulate you on your 20th anniversary last year.

On Friday May 22nd Ireland said, ‘YES’ to marriage equality, for me personally it was an extraordinary referendum. I have never seen one like it before, it seemed more like a social movement.

Café Soul

It was a campaign that was so energising, gay and straight; young and old all knocking on doors with one simple message. What made the difference were the personal stories that we heard throughout the campaign.

Northern Ireland, however, is now the only place in Ireland or the United Kingdom in which we do not have marriage equality. You can be assured of my support for the campaign to change that. Pride plays an important role in helping people to come out and helping the general public to acknowledge gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as citizens and neighbours.

I want to wish you all the very best for what I know will be a very successful festival.

Have fun!

Leo Varadkar , TD Minister for Health

Programme Design x info@missprintdesign.co.uk | Picture of Rainbow Flag on Peace Bridge Courtesy GC Photographics

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Who The Foyle Pride Committee 2015 We Are

Foyle Gay Pride Committee 2015

Sha Gillespie Jim Doherty

MESSAGE FROM ...

Clare Dooher

ELISHA McCALLION// MAYOR

Hillary McCollum

Meabh O Neill

Eimer Willis

Michael Kerrigan

“Soon the day will come when science will win victory over error, justice a victory over injustice, and human love a victory over human hatred and ignorance.�

As the first Mayor of Derry and Strabane District Council it is a great honour for me to give my support and encouragement to the annual Foyle Gay Pride Parade and Festival. I salute the effort and the programming of the Foyle Pride team and am suitably impressed by the diverse range of events on offer including politics, art, entertainment , and family fun.

The Festival is a welcome addition to our cultural calender and I hope many from within and without the Derry and Strabane District Council area will join us in what promises to be a lively, colourful and uplifting week of celebration.

Elisa McCallion, Mayor -Magnus Hircshfeld 2015

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DAY 1

Oscar Wilde

SAT 22ND AUGUST

Venue Delacroix Buncrana Road Derry Time 8pm Adm £5 The whole theme of the night will be looking back at our gay history in Derry City and the North West. DJ’S Phil and Bona Bona will spin gay and club classics.

Punters will be welcomed by our drag hostesses who will help all attending to enjoy the fun and craic! This event is hosted by Unison in support of Foyle Pride!

Launch of Love without Borders Venue Eden Place Arts Centre,

Pilots Row Community Centre,

Rosville Street.

Time 2.00pm Adm FREE This art exhibition showcases the creative talent of LGBT people, exploring the theme of ‘love without borders’. Artists from Derry, Donegal and beyond are contributing sculptures, paintings, photographs, textiles, pottery and much more. The exhibition will be open from Saturday 22nd August until Friday 4th September. (Not open weekends, apart from 22nd August).

Official opening by Eamonn McCann at 2pm on 22nd August.

For more information, email Darlene Corry on darlene.a.corry@gmail.com or https://www.facebook.com/foylepride

For details contact: Martin McConnellogue at martinmcconnellogue@first-housing.com ann

Eamonn McC

Oscar Wilde: Freedom Fighter Venue Eden Place Arts Centre, Pilots Row Community Centre, Rosville Street.

Time 2.30pm Adm FREE Journalist, author and well known human rights campaigner Eamonn McCann looks at the life and tragic death of one of Irelands most famous gay sons. Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish author, playwright and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London’s most popular playwrights in the early 1890s.

Eamonn McCann is the author of several books including the seminal War and an Irish Town the classic account of growing up Catholic in Derry’s Bogside in the lead up to the ‘Troubles’.

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Sprinkles and Sparkles Gay Disco

DAY 2 SUN 23RD AUGUST FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT

Transformation Tree Launch Venue St.Columb’s Park, House Time 2pm Adm FREE Transderry will be sharing their stories in this exciting natural art installation using one of the old trees in St Columbs’ Park House, as part of their ‘Heart in the Park’ festival. You will be treated to a poetry reading written by one of the members of Transderry. This installation will be in place for the full week of Foyle Pride 2015.

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DAY 3

DAY 4

MON 24TH AUGUST FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT

‘Pride in Your Health’ - Health MOT Day Venue Foyle LGBT Centre,

20 Strand Road Time 12noon-3pm Adm FREE Drop into The Rainbow Project’s Full Day Health Clinic. Get your Blood Pressure, Cholesterol and Blood Sugar tested, as well as HIV and Syphilis testing.

No appointment is necessary, however we will be running on a first come, first serve basis. We will also have 3 workshops on offer each lasting 1 hour:

Launch of Foyle Pride

The Monday Night ‘Gay Cure’

Venue The Guildhall

(Invite only) Time 7pm

For more information email: jimfelixdoc@hotmail.com

Venue Foyle LGBT Centre, 20 Strand Road Time 12.30pm-2.30pm Adm FREE

No, we’ve not gone all Iris Robinson. The Monday Night Gay Cure is a wild evening of spoken word performance celebrating LGBTQ lives hosted by the inimitable Abbey Oliveria and including special surprise guests.

Suitable for new writers as well as for those with more experience, this creative writing workshop will provide you with the opportunity to develop your writing skills and find your own direction as an LGBT writer. The workshop will be facilitated by Hilary McCollum, author of the novel Golddigger and writer of the acclaimed play Life and Love: Lesbian Style.

Stage open for contributions from local performers and guests on the theme of all things LGBT.

For more information email: jimfelixdoc@hotmail.com

Abby Oliveira is a performance poet/ writer/performer based in Derry.

Smoking cessation advice will also be available throughout the day. All attendees will be entered into a prize draw.

For more information email: Maeve@rainbow-project.org

Ailbhe Smyth

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Outwrite Creative Writing Workshop

Venue Sandinos,

Water Street.

Time 9pm Adm £5

Official launch of Foyle Gay Pride Festival with the Mayor of Derry & Strabane District Council Elisa McCallion and guests Ailbhe Smyth and writer and performer Abby Oliveira .

Ailbhe Smyth, feminist, lesbian activist and former UCD academic has campaigned and written on feminist and LGBT issues for many years. She is the former chair of the National Lesbian and Gay Federation and played a key role in the successful Marriage Equality campaign in the South.

FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT

Before Stonewall Venue Nerve Centre, Magazine Street Time 7pm Adm £3 Using extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections, this awardwinning documentary charts the history of the gay and lesbian community before the Stonewall riots in 1969 which began the modern gay rights movement. Thirty years on from its release in 1985, Before Stonewall remains an insightful and vastly enjoyable account of lesbian and gay life during the twentieth century and is a reminder of how far we have come and how far we still have to go.

For more information email: Maeve@rainbow-project.org

She has performed poetry throughout the UK and Ireland since 2006, and has been a solo performer since 2012.

12pm Meditation taster 1.30pm ‘Eat well to feel good’ 3pm ‘What’s your poison?’

TUES 25TH AUGUST

Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners Photographic Exhibition 25th - 29th Aug Venue The Social, 35 Shipquay Street, Derry Adm FREE There will be a slide show exhibition of over 400 photographs, posters, minutes of meetings and correspondence from the LGSM when they were active in 1984/5, showing poignant historical events. We will also have 30 Original images. Courtesy of Mike Jackson and the Peoples History Museum, Manchester. A must see!

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DAY 5 WED 26TH AUGUST

Terrible Queer Creatures - Homosexuality in Irish History by Brian Lacey Venue Tower Museum, Union Hall Place.

Time 7.30pm Adm FREE The ‘love that dare not speak its name’ was as common in Ireland throughout all stages of its history as it was in other parts of the world. Under certain cultural and historical conditions the expression of homosexuality in Ireland, as elsewhere, became more accepted or, at least, more visible than at any other times.

FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT AND THE VOID

N.I. Premiere Call Me Kuchu Venue The Void Gallery, Patrick Street.

Time 2pm Adm FREE Call Me Kuchu is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Malika Zouhali Worrall and Katherine Fairfax Wright. The film explores the struggles of the LGBT community in Uganda focusing in part on the 2011 murder of LGBT activist David Kato. The film jointly received the 2014 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary.

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This book attempts to describe some of that visibility from early Ireland to the late 20th century. But it is clear that, like an iceberg, a far greater part of the story remains, and will almost certainly always remain, invisible. That is not just because homosexuality was often a deliberately concealed or secret thing. On the contrary, for some periods of our history its very absence from the record may in fact be a reflection of how ordinary, commonplace and unremarkable its expression was.

Brian Lacey has held numerous positions in Universities and Museums in Ireland and has directed a number of archaeological digs, particularly in the North West of the country.

He is the author and editor of numerous books including Terrible Queer Creatures, The Story of Derry (1990) and A Pocket History of Irish Saints (2003). Followed by Q&A.

For more information email: jimfelixdoc@hotmail.com

DAY 6 THUR 27

TH

FILM SCREENING & TALK

THUR 27TH AUGUST

AUGUST

FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT

Creativity and Activism Workshop Venue The Void Gallery, Patrick Street.

Time 2pm Adm FREE The Rainbow Project have the pleasure of hosting this innovative workshop with special guest Mike Jackson (a founding member of ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’). Learn how can we make resistance and change enjoyable, effective and irresistible, a form of resistance that embody the movements’ principles of diversity, creativity, horizontality and direct action.

For more information email: Maeve@rainbow-project.org

Pride and the story that inspired it!

Venue Omniplex Cinema, Strand Road Time 6.30pm Adm Suggested donation £5

Pride are delighted to be teaming up with Void this year with several events taking place in their brand new space at the City Factory.

The Process Room - a unique drop-in art space will be dedicated to all things rainbow throughout the festival. You can drop in at any time and make art inspired by the exhibition ‘A Many Splintered Thing’, take it home or wear in the Pride parade!

Award-winning film by Steven Beresford inspired by the true story of a group of gay and lesbian activists who raised money to support mining communities during the 1984 miners’ strike. Local man Mark Ashton founded Lesbians and Gays support the Miners (LGSM) with Mike Jackson; Mike will attend and speak at this event. He will be joined by Miners wife, and later MP Sian James, and Michael Kerrigan author of the play ‘Pits and Perverts’ which looked at the same subject from an Irish perspective. Chairing the panel will be former MP and well known human rights activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey.

Pride was an unexpected box office hit that received standing ovations from audiences across Britain and Ireland. This irresistibly uplifting story of building community and friendship in hostile times will make you laugh and cry.

For more information email: Jim Doherty at jimfelixdoc@hotmail.com

Open Tues-Sat, 11am - 5pm.

Admission Free | All welcome, All Ages.

Old City Factory, Patrick St, Londonderry, Derry BT48 7EL. Phone:028 7130 8080 12 | FOYLE GAY PRIDE FESTIVAL

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The Rainbow Project Foyle Pride Menu

DAY 7 FRI 28TH AUGUST FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT AND THE OLD LIBRARY TRUST

Football vs Homophobia Venue Old Library Trust, Creggan Time 1.30pm Adm FREE A 5-a-side football tournament that is open to all communities, celebrating diversity and tackling LGBT discrimination in sport.

There are 2 age categories for teams: 14-17 and 18+. Each team must have a gender mix with a 3/2 split. There will be a prize for the winning teams for each age category.

Beatnik Soul & Liberty Tree Folk Club Present THE PINE HILL HAINTS MORGAN O’KANE BAND CORMAC DERMODY RADIE PEAT

Life and Love: Lesbian Style

By Hilary McCollum Directed by Patricia Byrne Venue The Playhouse, Artillery Street Time 8pm Adm £7 Sole Purpose Productions presents Winner of the Eva Gore Booth Award for Best Female Performance!

A hit at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival 2014!

Live and Love: Lesbian Style is an award winning, fast paced and wildly entertaining play based on true stories collected from lesbian and bi women of all ages in Ireland and England. Sassy and moving, funny and frank, it’s a brilliant queer take on The Vagina Monologues that will have you laughing and crying in equal measures. Performed by Abby Oliveira, Michelle Wiggins, Claire Dooher and Mel Bradley.

Further information at Playhouse Box Office on 02871 268027.

SUNDAY 23RD AUGUST 2pm - 4pm | St. Columb’s Park House TRANSFORMATION TREE LAUNCH Transderry will be telling their stories and sharing these with the public in this exciting art installation using one of the old trees in St Columb’s Park House as part of their ‘Heart in the Park’ festival.

WEDNESDAY 26TH AUGUST 2 - 4pm | Void Gallery SCREENING OF ‘CALL ME KUCHU’ The first public screening in Northern Ireland of this stunning story of a Ugandan activist and his fight to stop homosexuality becoming punishable by death.

Free entry to all.

MONDAY 24TH AUGUST 11.30am - 4.30 pm | LGBT Centre PRIDE IN YOUR HEALTH Drop in to our full day health clinic, get your blood pressure, cholestorol and blood sugar tested,as well HIV and Syphilis testing, No appointment is necessary, however we will be running on a first come, first serve basis. We will also have 3 workshops on offer each lasting 1 hour:

THURSDAY 27TH AUGUST 2 - 4pm | Void Gallery CREATIVITY AND ACTIVISM WORKSHOP We have the pleasure of hosting this innvoative workshop with special guest Mike Jackson (a founding member of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners). Learn and discuss creative ways to make the change needed in our society really irresistible. Prepare to be inspired!

We will also have 3 workshops on offer, each lasting 1 hour: 12pm meditation taster 1.30pm ‘Eat well to feel good’, 3pm ‘What’s your poison?’

Smoking cessation advice available throughout the day.

All attendees will be entered into a prize draw.

THURSDAY 27TH AUGUST 5pm - 7.30pm | LGBT Centre FULL GUM CLINIC FOR LGBT INDIVDIUALS Come along for a full sexual health screen at Foyle LGBT Centre. Get information and advice. Open to all LGBT individuals. First come first serve.

TUESDAY 25TH AUGUST 12.30 pm-2.30 pm | LGBT Centre READING ROOMS TASTER 12.30 pm Join the Reading Revolution with a Reading Rooms taster session CREATIVE WRITING WORKSHOP 2.30 pm Everyone who crosses the door of our writing workshop is a writer – no matter what your age or writing experience –all are welcome. You will be guided through this writing experience by award winning play write Hilary McCollum, writer of ‘Life and Love: Lesbian Style’ and ‘Golddigger’.

FRIDAY 28TH AUGUST 1.30 pm | The Old Library Trust, Creggan FOOTBALL vs HOMOPHOBIA A 5-a-side football tournament open to all communities to celebrate diversity and tackle LGBT discrimination within sport. For information on registering a team contact george@olt.ie SATURDAY 29TH AUGUST 11.30 am | LGBT Centre PARADE DAY AND HEALTHY BRUNCH Start the day with our healthy pride brunch in the Foyle LGBT centre. Food provided by The Rainbow Project.

SUNDAY 30TH AUGUST 2pm - 4pm | St. Columb’s Park LGBT FAMILY PICNIC The Rainbow Project, in partnership with Here NI and In Your Space invite LGBT families to a picnic in St. Columb’s Park as part of this year’s Carnival of Colours.

Food will be provided.

Venue Sandino’s Back Room Time 9pm Adm £7 14 | FOYLE GAY PRIDE FESTIVAL

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DAY 8 SAT 29TH AUGUST FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT

Parade Day and Healthy Brunch Venue Foyle LGBT Centre, 20 Strand Road Time 11am Adm FREE Start the day with a healthy brunch in The Rainbow Project’s centre. Food will be provided and fun is guaranteed.

Foyle Pride Presents DJ Uncle Margie Venue Sandino’s, Water Street.

Time 8pm Adm £5

Foyle Pride Parade Time

Assemble at the Railway Station, Duke Street, Waterside departing 2pm for Guildhall Square

Five years on from Derry’s first gay pride March and thirty years since Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) led the London Gay Pride parade in 1985, the Foyle Pride committee continues in that tradition of protest and celebration. Get on your glad rags, bring your whistles and drums and join in to celebrate our achievements so far and the continued campaign for full equality. The parade leaves at 2pm sharp and makes its way to the Guildhall square where patrons will enjoy music and craic from 3pm. The party will be hosted by the highly entertaining Claire Dooher.

For more information email: jimfelixdoc@hotmail.com

Pride is seriously delighted to introduce the very renowned and sought after DJ Uncle Margie! Founder of feminist DJ collective Corporal Pike, Brighton-based DJ Uncle Margie has played alongside the likes of JD Samson and Don Letts and performs across the UK and internationally; her record collection encompasses post-Punk, distorted Disco, Soul and Balearic styles for eclectic and diverse dance floor action. Highly recommended!

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DAY 9 SUN 30TH AUGUST Pride Ball and Disco with Mirenda Rosenburg Band and DJ Ann Harley Venue City Hotel, Queens Quay Time 8pm-late Adm £10 The official Foyle Gay Pride Ball takes place in sumptuous surrounding of the City Hotel ballroom. Entry is only £10 or tables can also be booked in advance. Entertainment will be provided by the outstanding Mirenda Rosenberg and her band. It is said that some singers own the stage but Mirenda Rosenberg is famous for owning the stage, the dance floor and sometimes the audience’s personal space when she performs!

FOYLE PRIDE IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE RAINBOW PROJECT, HERE NI AND IN YOUR SPACE

LGBT Family Picnic Venue St Columb’s Park Time 2pm Adm FREE The Rainbow Project, in partnership with Here NI and In Your Space invite LGBT families to a picnic in St. Columb’s Park as part of this year’s Carnival of Colours. Food will be provided.

For more information email: Maeve@rainbow-project.org

US born Mirenda’s musical influences were initially restricted to Christian and classical music but her later discovery of jazz and blues opened up a whole new musical soundscape and introduced her to the likes of Billie Holliday and Bessie Smith formative influences who remained constant companions on her musical journey. Not to be missed!

The soppy, sentimental sisters in suits by Echo Echo.

We then finish off the night with the brilliant Ann Harley (Sandinos) on the decks playing classic disco and funk. Thursday night host at Sandinos Ann has established herself as one of the best and most sought after names in the city.

Early arrival recommended.

For more information email: jimfelixdoc@hotmail.com

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People Before Profit supports Foyle Pride 2015 and campaigns North and South for full equality for all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex people.

Contact us:

07927688875 or www.peoplebeforeprofit.ie

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The Pink Mile Bars & Cafés

1. Sandinos, Water Street 2. Café Soul, Guildhall Square 3. Café Del Mondo, Craft Village 4. Mason’s Bar, Magazine Street 5. Sandwich Company, Bishop Steet 6. Paedar O’Donnell’s, Waterloo Street 7. The Central Bar, Strand Road

Café Soul

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Foyle Pride welcomes you to the Pink Mile our list of bars and Cafés that we highly recommend as safe welcoming and fun spaces for Pride regulars and visitors to the city.

PROUDLY SUPPORTING FOYLE GAY PRIDE 2015 Tel. 028 71 360700 www.sdlp.ie FOYLE GAY PRIDE FESTIVAL | 23