UKBP will host this year’s event at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford
BY MOLLY SMITH, IMAGE BY MONSTERA VIA PEXELS
On Sunday 14 August 2022, UK Black Pride (UKBP) will host its annual event at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. UKBP is Europe’s largest pride celebration for LGBTQI people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American and Middle Eastern descent.
Each year, the UKBP team choose a theme that they feel speaks to the current energies of LGBTQI Black people and people of colour in the UK. This year, the theme is Power. Founder, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, wrote in a recent blog post: “We honour the power our communities continue to wield to ensure that our communities are defended and supported, loved and protected.”
UKBP is a safe space to commemorate diversity in sexuality, gender and culture as well as celebrating and representing Black LGBTQI and QTIBPOC culture through the arts, cultural events and education.
UKBP’s last in-person event saw a crowd of over 10,000 people assemble in Haggerstone Park in Hackney. The decision to move the event to Stratford came after months of negotiations between Phyll and the team at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Phyll stated: “Our vision for UK Black Pride has always been to meet and exceed the expectations of the communities we represent and fight for. Each year, we consider how – through programming, protest and politics – we can create space where our identities and our cultures can be expressed safely, in partnership with councils and venues that understand how important our communities are to us. We have been wholly impressed by the team at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and their enthusiasm to bring LGBTQI+ Black people and people of colour together for our annual event at such an iconic venue.”
This year marks 10 years since the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was home to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games. Since then, the park has continued to operate as a world class sports and entertainment venue, attracting over six million visits a year.
By hosting UK Black Pride 2022, the venue continues to centre itself in the heart of communities, in line with its ethos of placing inclusivity at the heart of everything it does.
Event Information:
UK Black Pride 2022: Power at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Sunday, 14 August, 2022
12noon – 8pm
Find out more about UK Black Pride.
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