Exhibitions, debates, walks… From 5 through 9 August you will be able to come out of your home during the thirteenth edition of Antwerp Pride. But also indoors, you’ll be able to celebrate Antwerp Pride with a fun package and the new streaming platform AntwerpPride.TV. At the same time, the organization is also asking the help of all Antwerpians to wrap the city in rainbow colors as this year’s theme is ‘Together We Pride‘.

It won’t be business as usual this year, that’s for sure. The second weekend of August will be one without the traditional parade and without big parties.

“Nevertheless, we never considered cancelling or postponing Antwerp Pride this year”, chairman Bart Abeel says.

“Pride is more than just a celebration, it’s also a moment of reflection. We’re doing this every year, but this year we’re giving it an even more prominent place.”

Colourful city

In the pre-corona world earlier this year, Antwerp Pride presented its theme: ‘Together We Pride’. That theme is preserved.

“Because it’s more relevant than ever”, Abeel says. “Rarely have we felt the need for connection more than during the past few months. ‘Together We Pride’ will ensure that the rainbow and the message of the pride will be present in the city in August. We are therefore very pleased that the City of Antwerp and the shop associations will be flying additional flags. We hope that many people will follow suit. We encourage people who for some reason did not hang a rainbow flag in recent years will do so this year and let the colors shine from their windows this year.”

Call to action

The organisation makes an appeal. “This year there is no parade on Saturday and so many pride outfits remain untouched. They can come out of the closet this year”, Abeel laughs.

“We hope that on Saturday 8 August everyone will put on their pride outfit to go into the city, to go to the supermarket, to work, to visit gran… In short, let’s show that you can not only be who you are in an organized parade, but also every day at any time.”

Antwerp Queer Arts Festival

This year too, Antwerp Pride will join forces with the Antwerp Queer Arts Festival (AQAF) which will take place from 3 to 9 August. Once again, they’ll take De Studio as a base. More information about AQAF can be found on www.queerarts.be.

The program that was presented at the Port of Antwerp Harbourhouse takes all current security and coronaproofing measures into account. In part, the program unfolds downtown, where you can discover the metropo- lis in a different way. But you can also celebrate pride in the confines of your room and with your own bubble.

Antwerp Pride is grateful to the partners who support us this year. “We would like to thank them explicitly: Flemish Community, City of Antwerp and its services, Het Roze Huis, Deloitte, Unilever and Port of Antwerp.”

AntwerpPride.TV

Antwerp Pride presents a first: a unique temporary online television channel with the best LGBTQI+ content supplemented by its own productions.

A full-fledged editorial staff of ten people will be looking for the most colorful stories in the city starting today until the end of pride weekend. That’s what in ‘Colors of Antwerp‘ is all about.

Interesting citydocs about people with a story to tell.

‘#Dankjewel‘ (‘#ThankYou’) will pop up a little later. Here you can register to thank someone. Someone who was important for you at some point in your life or made you who you are today. And you can thank that person, with a gift and a visit from one of our hosts. You can register your personal story shortly via the website.

In addition, we bring the best LGBTQI+ content from the Internet: short films, custom clips, reports and a great mix of the content that our production teams will make in the coming weeks. You can watch the program schedule in the video player.

If you still want to go outdoors and visit a pride event, then there is a clear calendar with everything that is about to happen in the city. Are you organizing something yourself? Then add it for free. After a check of our editors, your event will appear in the overview of ‘What’s on in Antwerp‘.

Video, stories and fun things to do: that’s AntwerpPride.TV. The pop-up television channel that will disappear again after the pride.

This initiative is co-created with TOWEL Media Belgium.

Fun Package

Get everything you need to celebrate your pride party in your bubble with the Antwerp Pride Fun Package. You can order this fun package for 25 euros at www.antwerppride.com and pick it up in our Antwerp Pride shop in the Stadsfeestzaal. There are plenty of surprises for a nice party inside the package.

Pride @ Kinepolis

Kinepolis Antwerp shows the British film ‘Pride‘ (2014) by Matthew Warchus.

Based on a true story, this bittersweet film tells the story of a group of LGBT people raising money for the families affected by the British mine strike in 1984. To do this, both worlds have to overcome a lot of prejudice. The film won the Queer Palm at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

4 Augustus, 7 PM, Kinepolis Antwerpen. Tickets: www.kinepolis.be.

‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’

The next day ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert‘ (1994) is on show at the Open-Air Theatre Rivierenhof in Deurne. This Australian film by Stephan Elliot tells the story of a couple of drag queens and a trans* woman on a road trip through the Australian outback.

Priscilla needs little introduction: the outfits, soundtrack and one-liners remain a feast. And to bring everyone in the mood, the film is preceded by a drag show.

5 August at 7PM. Drag show at 8.30 PM and film at 9.30 PM, OLT Rivierenhof. Tickets: www.oltrivierenhof.be.

Trail of stories

No parade this year, but you can still walk the trail. Antwerp Pride proudly presents thirteen special people who have a connection with the Antwerp LGBTQI movement.

Along the unchanged 2019-2020 parade route you can find their thirteen portraits accompanied by a QR code. Scan the code and you will discover their stories. The portraits are positioned from Sint-Jansplein to the M HKA on the Gedempte Zuiderdokken. Photographer Noortje Palmers made the portraits and also gave them a touch of rainbow color. Who the thirteen people exactly are will be announced later.

From 5 August onwards.

Exhibition ‘Together.’

In collaboration with Antwerp Pride, the Museum of Contemporary Art M HKA organizes the exhibition ‘Together.‘ (with a dot.), running from 5 August through 6 September and curated by artist Philip Huyghe.

Several artists, including Carla Arocha & Stéphane Schraenen, Marijke De Roover, Philip Huyghe and Stef Van Looveren have been invited to work together in their own bubble around themes that strengthen the LGBTQI community, and thus to build an inclusive exhibition.

The invited artists want to use their visual language to shape a world in which diversity is a quality that brings exciting and challenging ideas to the world we all live in.

This year was meant to be a festive year, celebrating the first gay pride parade took place fifty years ago, on June 28, 1970 in New York, exactly one year after the infamous Stonewall riots.

These two historical events mark the beginning of the modern LGBTQI Civil Rights Movement, which has managed to implement their agenda around the world and force one of the most important social shifts of our modern era.

From 5 August to 6 September, M HKA, Leuvenstraat 32.

Human Rights Friday

Human Rights Friday will again take place at De Studio. The fight for LGBTQI+ rights cannot be separated from the wider fight for human rights.

“In cooperation with Het Roze Huis, we invite you to come and listen, talk and meet each other. Fleur Pierets will host the event while Unia, Wel Jong Niet Hetero, Police Antwerp, Belgian Youth Against Racism and artist/activist Paul Harfleet will provide insightful contributions. Also, the documentary ‘Pride Is Protest‘ by Marieke Dermul and Filip Tielens will be shown.

On Friday 7 August at De Studio, Maarschalk Gerardstraat 4. Free.

Guided tours

Antwerp Pride invites you to discover the city in a different way.

City guides Tanguy Ottomer and Philippe Ng as well as guides from Antwerp Averechts and Maria Tours Silvia Terrenzio will take you on original tours of our rainbow city. Expect plenty of surprises.

Much more

But there’s much more – a rainbow run with Active Company, an exhibition of Cartoon Called Life at WM Gallery, a pub crawl by WIJdames,…

“Now that there is a better view on summer and its measures, more initiatives will still emerge”, Bart Abeel says.

“So make sure to keep an eye on our online communication channels or Antwerppride.tv. However, we strongly urge everyone in the meantime to strictly follow the government’s security measures. This year will be a unique pride that we have never experienced before, but let’s hope we’ll never have to again. I wish everyone a very happy pride week.”

Logo: Antwerp Pride
Source: Antwerp Pride press release
Videos: Timothy Junes