Gianpiero Molinu – Pride Cymru Vice-Chair
As Pride Cymru gears up to celebrate Wales’ fabulous LBGT+ community, Emily D’Souza chats to Vice-Chair Gianpiero Molinu about what goes on behind the scenes in organising the festival!
Why would you say the Pride Cymru events around Cardiff are so vital to the wider Welsh community?
Since it’s humble beginnings in 1999 Pride Cymru has grown from a small 1-day annual event to a charity that works throughout the year engaging with the LGBT+ community across Wales. Whilst based in Cardiff, Pride Cymru’s ongoing objective is to support the recognition, diversity and inclusivity of our LGBT+ community throughout Wales. In addition to our current #ProudToBeMe campaign, Pride Cymru is currently working with young people across South Wales via our ‘Bold Beginnings, Bright Future’ project. We engage with various colleges and schools in South Wales to encourage and support young LBGT+ people to have the confidence to be who they are, and to pursue their dreams, ambition and aspirations without feeling their sexuality is a barrier to achieving whatever they want.
Pride Cymru’s most important and exciting event every year is ‘The Big Weekend’, a three-day celebration of diversity and inclusivity, primarily for Wales’ LGTB+ community, but also embracing and welcome to all who support us. Whilst historically this event is held in Cardiff each year, with increased support and engagement with members of the LGBT+ community across Wales, our vision is to develop Pride celebrations throughout the country. There are some 150 Pride events this year around the UK and yet only two in Wales this year. Pride Cymru is committed to significantly increasing this number and putting the Welsh LGBT+ community well and truly on the map.
Have you personally seen or been able to experience the wider effects that Pride events have on the LGBT community and Cardiff in general?
I still remember the first Pride event that I went to in Cardiff. I was just starting to accept my own sexuality and was starting to come out to friends. I started going out on the Cardiff scene and made friends who helped me understand that I wasn’t alone in how I was feeling. I remember going to Pride which was held in Coopers Field behind Cardiff Castle and I had a realisation that I wasn’t alone and that I could be myself. I had such a great time meeting new people, talking to people about what they were going through and above all, I realised there was nothing wrong with me and it was ok to feel what I was feeling. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a side of me I had ever been able to share at home with my family and so Pride gave me that first real feeling of freedom to be who I was. I don’t think anybody can ever underestimate the feeling of acceptance and belonging that Pride can give you. Since becoming involved in organising Pride over the last two years I have been lucky to hear stories from people of all ages who have come out as LGBT+ and have said they have had the exact same experience of Pride that I had and I am beyond proud of what the team of volunteers who make up Pride Cymru are doing.
How do you fundraise for such big events? We’ve seen that the cost needed to organise it has tripled from £50,000 in 2002.
Pride Cymru is a not-for-profit charity, and we rely entirely on financial support from our sponsors and supporters, in addition to revenue from ticket sales. Pride Cymru does not receive any grants, and without financial support we would be unable to stage The Big Weekend. Although 2018 looked to be a very challenging year for us in terms of fundraising, it’s proven to be really successful on many levels, due to the support we received from both established partnerships, and new ones that have formed due to organisations coming forward and offering to help. Admiral Insurance have stepped up to be our main stage event sponsor this year after having supported us for some years now. Virgin Atlantic/Holidays, Uber and Eventbrite have joined us in sponsoring this year’s event for the first time ever. Over 100 other organisations have registered to be part of this year’s parade and we are excited for people to see how the parade has developed from previous years.
In its simplest terms, without this help, Pride Cymru would not exist. In addition to the much-needed from financial contributions, the important message that the support of our corporate partnerships sends out to the wider community is priceless – it tells everyone that Pride Cymru matters. Wales’ LGBT+ community matters. We all matter. All the money in the world can’t buy that.
Does Pride Cymru cross-over with other events in UK pride? Is this something that you would like to develop further?
The biggest drive behind, Pride Cymru, particularly with regards to its evolution, are the people working within it. In 2013, Lu Thomas became Pride Cymru’s chair, and between her, the trustees and the working committee they all pushed up the quality and standard of Pride’s work and shaped it into the brilliant organisation you see today. We’ve all worked closely together and incredibly hard to establish Pride Cymru as a supportive, welcoming, recognised and credible organisation for the LGBT+ community in Wales and beyond.
We’ve recently seen that you have opened up nominations for the 4th annual Pinc nominations – how important is it to recognise individuals who make a large contribution to the wider LGBT community?
Celebrity/public figure endorsements are incredibly important to Pride Cymru’s work, and the more we can get the better! Having a relatable person associated with us sends a powerful message to the LGBT+ community that they are supported and they matter. This applies especially to younger people, who can see these people as role models, and can potentially learn very early on that their sexuality and identity doesn’t have to be a barrier that prevents them from achieving whatever they want. These endorsements also send a message to those outside of our community who may need educating slightly, that if X supports us, then actually we really are a more than ok bunch of people to get to know!
Price Cymru’s Big Weekend, City Hall Lawns, Cardiff. Fri 24 – Sun 26 Aug. TInfo: www.pridecymru.co.uk
The Annual Parade is on Sat 25 Aug – this year, the Parade is going down a slightly different route than usual! See below for details