Mad Pride!

Despite our recent worries about funding cuts and future sustainability at work, we’ve been busy working on several projects over the last few months. And the one which has been the most fun is undoubtedly Mad Pride 2017.

This is the second year we’ve hosted a Mad Pride event in Liverpool and, once again, we've put the day on as part of the annual Threshold Festival of grassroots music and arts.

Mad Pride began in Toronto in 1993 and has since become a global movement which challenges stigma and negative assumptions about mental distress whilst also celebrating the creativity and anarchic spirit which can come with ‘madness’, and pointing out the social causes of many people’s depression, anxiety, stress etc.

This year we were lucky enough to have Constellations as a venue, with 2 indoor stages, a bar and access to their beautiful courtyard garden.

The day’s line-up included performances by Liverpool Samba School; the amazing riot-jazz band Hardcore Hornography - who had everyone up and dancing - in fact I’m STILL dancing; folk/protest duo The Live Kennedys; up and coming local blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Daisy Gill - what a voice she has; another superb blues shouter C.F. Boneslum and the brilliant Gothic-Folk band Cadence Noir who brought some heavy metal violin to the proceedings. What’s not to love?!

In addition, we had a really successful performance poetry stage with some awe-inspiring poetry from 14 (I think!) local writers who signed up on the day - and in some cases wrote their pieces on the spot. Thanks to Pad Hughes for hosting!

There were also free massages all afternoon (I think the table was in constant use!), some great pieces of pop-up theatre from Brolly Good Show, mask-making, a graffiti wall, films of Mad Pride festivities from around the world on a loop, and much general merriment!

The day concluded with a phenomenal choreographed drumming performance from Katumba who then led us out into the streets of the Baltic Triangle for a lantern-lit parade accompanied by fire dancing from Bring the Fire and climaxing with the drummers and fire performers putting on a spectacular show back in the Constellations garden.

What a day!

Thanks to Andy Kerr for being our MC for the day and extra special thanks to Nici Konigs Balfry for all her hard work behind the scenes - she's an event manager par excellence!

You can see me and Nici doing some promo earlier in the week here… https://youtu.be/SQWCtRrye2M

And, if you fancy hearing me talk about it all at greater length, I appeared on Mick Coyle’s ‘Mental Health Monday’ show on City Talk last Monday. About 16.40 minutes into the podcast at https://audioboom.com/posts/5751611-episode-12-stamp-out-suicide?t=0

Today’s photo is of Ben from the Bring the Fire team, preparing for the parade.

I had a *really* hard time choosing which picture to Blip today but you can see some more portraits from the day here... https://flickr.com/photos/129535142@N04/sets/72157679662739892

Today's tune is Hardcore Hornography's cover of Liverpool band The Farm's 'All Together Now' www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOR618y63HM

And, especially for my lovely colleague Sarah, here's some Cadence Noir too... www.youtube.com/watch?v=r52X4BYyneA