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10th November 2021
AJ Handley-Rowe -
10th November 2021 Entertainment union Equity makes £1 bid for Manchester Pride to protect workers from ‘further exploitation’
Emily Sergeant
Performing arts and entertainment trade union Equity has made a £1 bid for Manchester Pride.
You may remember that, back in October last year, Manchester Pride – the charity / organisation that ran the Manchester Pride Festival – entered into voluntary liquidation, and news emerged last week that the assets were being sold off to the highest bidder by liquidators.
By offering a ‘symbolic’ £1 for the assets – which include the Manchester Pride brand name and associated domain names – Equity says its bid has been made to give workers the opportunity to ‘decide the future’ of the event.
The bid is also said to have been made to prevent a repeat of 2025 – which apparently left Equity union members more than £70,000 out-of-pocket in unpaid fees.
Equity’s variety organiser, Nick Keegan, warned that selling the Manchester Pride brand to a commercial buyer risks ‘undermining the values’ of the event and the community that built it.
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He worried it could also leave performers and workers ‘vulnerable to further exploitation’.
“Manchester Pride is not just a city-wide party,” Mr Keegan explained. “Its roots in protest are as important today as then.”
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He added: “Manchester Pride was built by the LGBTQ+ workers of Canal St and beyond who provide a space and a community for LGBTQ+ people all year round. The event should not be treated as a commodity to be bought and sold off to the highest bidder.
“The cultural workforce are at the heart of Pride, without them, there is no festival.
“After what happened in 2025, with members left tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket, we don’t want to see history repeat itself.”
Equity says that if its bid is successful, the workers will have control over who the ‘asset’ goes to.
Read more:
- Manchester Pride enters voluntary liquidation ‘with enormous sadness’
- Huge artists announce intimate charity gigs for BRITs Week 26 for War Child
- Manchester Pride releases statement after performers say they’ve still not been paid
“Our bid is about protecting Pride as a community asset, not a commercial one,” the union’s statement continued.
“Allowing the people whose labour was used to build this ‘asset’ to decide how the trademark of Manchester Pride is used in the future will help protect them from further exploitation, as well as preserve the values and the longevity of the event itself.”
Featured Image – Manchester Pride (Supplied)
A$AP Rocky announces huge Manchester gig on new world tour
Daisy Jackson
A$AP Rocky is heading out on a massive world tour, and is including a gig here in Manchester.
The rapper, producer, actor and entrepreneur has just announced his upcoming 2026 tour, the Don’t Be Dumb World Tour, with a whopping 42 dates across the globe.
This will be fans’ first chance to hear his latest album and first release in eight years, Don’t Be Dumb, live.
The huge A$AP Rocky tour kicks off this May in the USA, before heading across to Europe in July.
That leg will include a gig at the Co-op Live in Manchester on Saturday 5 September, one of only three UK shows on the tour.
The announcement has come hot on the heels of the release of his fourth album last week, which Billboard has said ‘not only rewards patience but adds new wrinkles to the rapper’s approach — an evolved relationship with melody and a wiser lyrical slant’.
It became Spotify’s most pre-saved hip-hop album, with one million saves even before its release.
As well as his music career, A$AP Rocky has starred in films including the Golden Globe-winning If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, and has cemented himself as a fashion icon with his work as co-chair of the 2025 Met Gala.
He’s also been announced as the creative director for Ray-Ban, and was appointed as Chanel’s new house ambassador.
General sale for the Don’t Be Dumb World Tour will go live at 9am on Tuesday 27 January HERE.
There’ll be artist pre-sales, a Mastercard pre-sale, and various VIP packages available too.
Don’t Be Dumb European tour 2026 dates
- Tue Aug 25 Brussels, Belgium ING Arena
- Thu Aug 27 Amsterdam, Netherlands Ziggo Dome
- Sun Aug 30 London, UK O2 Arena
- Wed Sep 02 Dublin, Ireland 3Arena
- Fri Sep 04 Glasgow, UK OVO Hydro
- Sat Sep 05 Manchester, UK Co-op Live
- Tue Sep 08 Cologne, Germany Lanxess Arena
- Thu Sep 10 Milan, Italy I-DAYS*
- Fri Sep 11 Munich, Germany Olympiahalle
- Sun Sep 13 Lodz, Poland Atlas Arena
- Wed Sep 16 Hamburg, Germany Barclays Arena
- Fri Sep 18 Copenhagen, Denmark Royal Arena
- Sun Sep 20 Oslo, Norway Unity Arena
- Mon Sep 21 Stockholm, Sweden Avicii Arena
- Thu Sep 24 Riga, Latvia Xiaomi Arena
- Fri Sep 25 Kaunas, Lithuania Zalgiris Arena
- Mon Sep 28 Berlin, Germany Uber Arena
- Wed Sep 30 Paris, France Accor Arena
Read more
- Harry Styles has FINALLY come out of hibernation, with fourth album announced
- ‘Manc the Biff’: the Co-op Live crowd made the Clyro boys welcome on debut
- Johnny Depp supergroup Hollywood Vampires have announced an arena gig in Manchester
Featured image: @pleckham
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