Liverpool Pride Chill Out Sunday

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY: Liverpool Pride

Liverpool Pride have announced exciting details for the second day of festivities celebrating Liverpool’s first ever LGB&T Pride festival. ‘Chill Out Sunday,’ will take place on Sunday 8th August across the city taking in sporting and cultural activities for Pride goers to enjoy.

Get ready to don that lycra leotard and ‘be active’ as ‘Pride Sports’ takes place at Lifestyles, Wavertree from midday – 5pm (registration from 11am). Hosted by the Merseyside Marauders Football Club, this active afternoon will celebrate LGB&T community sports with participants able to take part in a number of sporting pursuits and tournaments including Water Polo, Rounders and Tug of War. The highlight of the day will no doubt be the 5-A-Side football tournament. Why not get a team together or come along alone or with friends and meet new people? Those who enter will be in with a chance of winning the ultimate accolade- the first ever Liverpool Pride Sports 5-A-Side Champions! It costs just £5 per person to take part, which is payable on the day. (Over 18s only).

Councillor Wendy Simon, Liverpool’s cabinet member for culture and tourism said: “There are so many events which form part of the inaugural Liverpool Pride Festival that there truly will be something for everyone to see or do. It looks set to be a fantastic weekend celebrating LGB&T life and I would urge people to go along, get involved and enjoy it.”

There is also a raft of arts and culture to get your teeth into. Why not learn something new by attending an exhibition or talk and connect with others at a gallery or cinema?

The highlight of Liverpool Pride’s cultural offer comes from Tate Liverpool, with a fabulous 2 FOR 1 OFFER for the Picasso: Peace + Freedom exhibition Pre-book your ticket to attend Tate Liverpool’s major summer exhibition Picasso: Peace + Freedom before 5pm Monday 2nd August and get two for one entry during the weekend of Liverpool Pride. To book, pick up a pride brochure for the exclusive special offer code and call 0151 702 7400, or call in to the Tate Liverpool foyer desk.

Tate Liverpool also presents Language as Sculpture Drop in to Tate Liverpool during Liverpool Pride and enjoy a free tour of their new collection display co-curated by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. The display features art¬works from the Tate collection which explore the numerous ways in which artists have engaged with language through their art. Talks regarding this exhibition will run at 1.30pm and 2.30pm.

The Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street presents a free talk surrounding the David Hockney Polaroids, Pools and Painting exhibition. This FREE curator-led talk takes place from 1pm – 1.30pm and focuses on the highly popular Peter Getting Out of Nick’s Pool, a portrait of Hockney’s lover of five years, Peter Schlesinger. The talk will examine how the painting was constructed around the artist’s memory, the influ¬ence of Polaroid photog¬raphy and the Californian dream in the context of Hockney’s early career. Collect a ticket from the Walker welcome desk or call 0151 478 4697 to book.

Take in an exhibition tour of ‘Arabicity: Such A Near East’ at 2pm at the bluecoat. Six contemporary Arab artists explore cultural heritage through painting, photography, video and installation. Their representations of self and personal iconography include Chant Avedissian’s enchanting paintings of popular icons, from princ¬es to pop stars, whilst photographer Raeda Saadeh questions gender and identity by posing in famous paintings or staging witty tableaux. Free

Swedish Film Maker Marcus Lindeen brings his 2009 film, Regretters to Picturehouse@ FACT at 3pm. Mikael and Or¬lando, well into their 60s, meet for the first time to talk about their lives and, the one defining regret they both share, their sexual reassignment. This event will be followed by a special discussion with the filmmaker Marcus Lindeen. Regretters is part of the film programme for the exhibition, Persistence of Vision. (Swedish with English subtitles) Tickets £5 (£4 FACT mem¬bers & concessions) Book online at www.picturehouses.co.uk or by phone 0871 902 5737

Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock is thrilled to announce the extension of the Hello Sailor! exhibition especially for Liverpool Pride. Hello Sailor! Is a free exhibition looking at life on board passenger and merchant ships from the 1950s to 1980s, when being at sea was one of the few places gay men could be themselves. Gay culture has long been a feature of seafaring life for centuries, but it is still largely a hidden one even today. Hello Sailor! reveals this hidden history for the first time.

Rounding the day off at Picturehouse @ FACT from 7pm, Clapperboard presents Frank Clarke and a screening of The Fruit Machine with special guests, in association with Picturehouse @ FACT, Homotopia and Outsiders. Directed by Philip Saville & written by acclaimed Liverpool writer Frank Clarke (Letter to Brezhnev).Fruit Machine is the story of Eddie, who runs away from home and visits the gay disco ‘Fruit Machine’ with his friend Michael, where he witnesses a murder. They escape, but now the killers after them...Tickets are £10 and include a complimentary after show drink at 3345 Parr Street Book online at www.picturehouses.co.uk or by phone 0871 902 5737

Liverpool Pride promises to be a fabulous two day event, we invite the people of Merseyside and beyond to come along and get involved, either in Saturday’s street party at the Rainbow Circus or if sports and arts are more your thing then come along to Chill Out Sunday and check it out!