In addition to their strong social media campaign #Freedomto, Pride In London realised that women’s visibility needed to be addressed, and so created a new campaign specifically aimed at increasing the visibility and participation of women at Pride called #ProudWomenUK which launched in May 2014.
Pride in London have been working with Elysion Events to run a quiz (which took place in May/June), the official women’s after party on the parade day at Adam Street Social, and later in the year a formal fundraising dinner.
Planet London wanted to show full support of increasing women’s visibility and through working in partnership with local event organisers on the LBQ social scene, so undertook a complimentary campaign to reach even more women and to also raise a bit of money at the same time.
Whilst ProudWomen’s main objective was to raise £5,000 through a three well organised high quality events, #ProudPlanet was created with an aim to reach as many women as possible and to work with the existing network of event organisers to spread the word and encourage women to participate in Pride in London this year.
ProudPlanet worked with 6 event organisers to run special Pride fundraising events.
Naomi Bennett-Hall said “We were delighted with how many event organisers got on board very quickly and either dedicated an existing event or created a whole new event to support the issues of women’s visibility at Pride in London. It was also fantastic to see so many women from the community attend these events and share our vision. The range of events were beyond our expectations given we only had 6 weeks. We are so proud at how the event organisers got on board, and how we rallied around in the community and put our hands in our pockets.”
- FindHrr hosted a Friday night club night at Labels. The event was free entry with donations at the door and raffle tickets were sold on the night.
- She Soho let #ProudPlanet take over their monthly quiz which saw a so many quiz teams that there wasn’t a spare square inch of floor space at the venue. The entry fee from everyone was donated, raffle tickets & answer hints were sold. Members of Pride’s volunteer group were also present to promote volunteering with Pride in London.
- Promoter and DJ at She, Amy B said “It is so wonderful seeing a dedicated team raising worthwhile awareness and visibility for women. Having run the women’s stage last year I know how important it is and it has been fantastic working with the ProudPlanet campaign. With a host of fantastic events they were able to get the word out to women from all walks of life. And besides…I wouldn’t have been able to do the quiz without them. I hope it’s the first year of many.”
- Labels ran a free live music night featuring an impressive line-up that included Miri and Jade Ellis. The venue was pretty much at capacity and an amazing night was had by all. Donations were encouraged and raffle tickets sold on the night.
Bar Manager at Labels, Tara said “Labels and our members were so proud to be given the opportunity to contribute to the ProudPlanet campaign to raise women’s presence in Pride 2014”
- DownGirls donated money from the door as well as collecting money on the night. Several of their exciting line up of live acts donated their fee to the cause. Members of Pride’s volunteer group were also present to promote volunteering with Pride in London.
- BridgeGirlsLate invited us along to their monthly night in Clapham where we sold raffle tickets on the night.
- The Glass Bar hosted a delightful Cream Tease (cream tea with burlesque and erotic entertainment) and donated a portion of the entry fee from the event. In addition we were able to speak about Pride at the event and promote the aims of Pride in London around women’s participation.
Katie Bennett-Hall of Planet London said
“Planet London is delighted to announce that we have raised over £420 (and counting) for Pride in London to support women’s events at Pride in London.
“Planet London are also looking forward to the parade itself on Saturday 28 June. In response to Pride’s announcement that they want to increase the visibility and participation of women at Pride, we have undertaken to create a large group of women from within the community – as we firmly believe that the best way to be visible is to turn up on mass. We have a tricycle, sound system and funky limited edition t-shirts and are inviting all women and allies to join us if they want to be visible and take part in the parade. Marching is completely free, and for anyone who doesn’t have a Planet London t-shirt, we ask you to wear hot pink, black or white to keep in with the theme of the group.”
If you want to march with Planet London, all the information is online here: http://bit.ly/2014Proud
