The last 18 months have been lonely and traumatic, but Pride is back with community, education, comedy, plays, roaming performers, and a celebration spreading over the city. Join us for a weekend of “Pride & Joy” never to be forgotten, let’s breathe and reconnect.

This year, with the support of the Coventry City of Culture and Assembly Festival, we will be hosting Pride at Assembly Festival Garden all day on Sunday 8th August. 

But that’s not all! We’ll also be taking over city centre venues including The Yard.

We’re also hosting a free screening at Coventry Cathedral of Pride alongside some fantastic LGBT+ short films. This really is a full city takeover! 

On top of this other venues including  Glamorous, Dhillon’s Spire Bar are also running their own events with great LGBT+ content.

Through our discount wristband (Available soon) you will be able to access discounts and exclusive deals over the whole month of August.

Here’s how this year is going to look… 

Pride at Assembly Festival Garden. 

On Saturday 7th August we start our takeover with the soft launch of our Community & Learning area, at the Assembly Garden’s Treehouse. Across the weekend this is our place to reconnect with our community to take a breath, to tell our stories, to learn more about our gloriously fabulous alphabet soup of a family and community, lets live, laugh, remember and breathe free.

On Saturday join us for the re-launch of our coffee afternoons, or for an hour to chill out, consider joining the queer book club, and learn about the lives of LGBT+ refugees & Asylum seekers.

On Sunday at the Treehouse, you can enjoy a safe space, with panels hosted by LGBT+ refugees, a talk on being a mental health ally, and a panel discussion with Ginny Lemon and Fwends. There will also be joy and cabaret with performances from CaBIret & Much Ado About Gender.

On Sunday 8th August we will be taking over the Piccolo tent, at Assembly Gardens, from 12-3 pm. Join us for our community sessions, a collection of performances from our community members and a few allies to keep you entertained and uplifted. Acts include V4 – a fantastic 90s throwback tribute act, and Jade Baradell, as well as local drag and singing acts. 

Later in the evening join us for a free performance from a soon to be announced National act. This will be a ticketed event, free of charge, which we will release soon. 

We’ll also be taking over the festival gardens themselves on Sunday 8 August where we are creating a Garden of Pride & Joy, a space to get some refreshments, to sit, to laugh to reconnect with our community, no bubbles just us, a family of diverse communities, here you will be able to relax and enjoy the roaming entertainment, in between joining in our activities at the Treehouse, The Piccolo and Queen of Flanders.

Free tickets are now available to attend all of the above on a first come first serve basis. The first 500 tickets to enter the gardens and have the chance to see all of the above free of charge are now available.

In addition to everything, we are offering our community our partners at Assembly Festival Gardens and the Coventry City of Culture are also creating some fantastic shows to complement our events which will have a small entry fee. They’ll be taking place in the Assembly Festival Gardens Queen of Flanders Stage throughout the weekend. 

These events include

Diane Chorley: Live at Pride – Drag favourite Diane Chorley brings her magical mixture of music and very special guests to Coventry – tickets available here 

My Father The Tantric Masseur – a theatre show about navigating life as a queer, British-Algerian woman that will have you laughing and crying – tickets available here

We’re really excited to bring such nationally, and internationally, renowned acts to our community over Pride weekend. 

Pride at Coventry Cathedral Ruins 

Between 12 pm and 4 pm, the Flatpack Outdoor Cinema will be partnering with us to show “Pride” as well as a selection of short films by LGBT+ filmmakers and actors.

The screening of Pride will start at 2 pm.

This is a free event in partnership with Flatpack and Coventry Cathedral Events Team which is running for free. We will ask people to register for their free tickets in advance. 

Pride Coventry Takeover 

We will have a stage at The Yard keeping the party going all Sunday long and some friends of Pride including Dhillon’s Spire Bar and Glamorous will also be running their own free events on the day. The full programme of these events will be available shortly. 

As part of this, we will be making available £5 Pride supporter wristbands that will entitle the wearer to discounts in venues all August and exclusive Pride cocktails. 

Tickets for our additional free Nationally acclaimed shows at Assembly Festival Gardens will be available soon! Don’t forget to register for our Pride at Assembly Festival Garden in the meantime. 

We’ll also release a full programme and event map that will be available to download.  

Ticket info

Pride & Joy tickets will get you into Pride and Joy at the Assembly Festival Gardens only. Once exchanged for a wristband, you’ll be able to gather with friends, grab a drink, a bite to each and maybe encounter some roaming special guests. We’ll kick off in the Queen Of Flanders tent at 11 am.

REGISTER FOR YOUR TICKET NOW

You’ll also have the option to wander into the Picollo tent from 12 midday to watch our Pride community sessions, a collection of performances from our community members and a few allies to keep you entertained and uplifted. Acts include V4 – a fantastic 90s throwback tribute act and Cov Pride favourite, Jade Baradell, as well as local drag and singing acts.

Additional walk-up events will take place in the Treehouse. There will be joy and cabaret with performances from CaBIret & Much Ado About Gender. Additionally, you can join a session specifically for women, trans women and those who are non-binary, a panel led by our Asian LGBT+ community members, workshops focusing on the lives of LGBT+ people with disabilities and understanding how to be a mental health ally.

Don’t forget to check out the additional ticked shows bookable through our friends at Assembly, My Father The Tantric Masseur and Diane Chorley: Live at Pride if you’re staying late at the gardens!

Additional free shows will be available to BOOK at a later date. Tickets for these will be available via the Assembly website. Please note those events will have limited capacity, so keep your eyes peeled on our socials once you’ve got your general entry ticket here.

With Pride & Joy,

The Coventry Pride Team