Stourbridge Pride is a three day festival at Katie Fitzgerald’s, which celebrates the local queer community. The festival showcases local acts performing drag, poetry and music, and is managed by Jamie Ward and Sam Whitehouse who are two local drag artists and bartenders. Founded in February 2017 and managed by Jamie Ward, Stourbridge Pride brought the LGBTQ+ community together and was a huge success.
Since 2017 we have continued to build on this success, creating a safe space for emerging queer artists to showcase their work. Now in its 5th year we need your help to expand Stourbridge Pride to become more than a 3 day event but an all year round safe space. Having both grown up in Stourbridge, Sam and Jamie felt the area lacked a place for the LGBTQ+ community to gather and thrive. Whilst working at Katie Fitzgerald’s we found an accepting and inclusive atmosphere, both Sam and Jamie grew in confidence and began hosting events in drag. As the venue attracted more queer people, we saw an opportunity to create Stourbridge Pride where we could celebrate the marginalised queer community. Stourbridge Pride is a personal project, we have a drive to create a space our younger selves would have thrived in.
We wish to take the project to the next step and create a permanent space in Stourbridge for the queer community, where they can find support, safety and acceptance.
Aims
We want to set Stourbridge Pride up as a professional charity. Our aims as a charity are to: -
To expand our network and raise awareness of the event -
Create year round support system not just a three day event -
To support local emerging queer talent
Jamie Ward, also known in drag as Bumboy Sapphire, is the manageress of Katie Fitzgerald’s. Jamie founded Stourbridge Pride and has been managing the event for the past 5 years. Sam Whitehouse is a performer, graphic designer and bartender at Katie Fitzgerald’s. In drag Sam performs as Cake Boi, a self titled drag clown fabulist who is a lover of camp, horror and Lidl’s bakery. As part of Stourbridge Pride, Sam manages the event with Jamie, designs promotional material and manages the social media accounts. Sam joined the team last year having curated and edited last year’s digital edition of Stourbridge Pride. With money raised we would be looking to: -
Grow our team -
Set up a website -
Create recurring events such as coffee mornings, film nights and cabarets -
Pay expenses for events -
Support local business
Calling all LGBTQ+ and allies! We need your help to expand Stourbridge Pride!