"The Day The World Came To Huddersfield" new short film released online
The UK’s first ever national Pride took place in Huddersfield on 4th July 1981. To mark the fortieth anniversary, a series of arts events are taking place up until September 2022, an arts and archive, multi-media celebration of a milestone in the LGBTQ+ history of the UK.
In February 2022, one of the original shops on the Pride march route, 8 New Street, was used for a unique exhibition as the first part of this project was delivered. 8 New Street was chosen as the shopfront has changed so little since 1the 1980s. A four-minute film was made by Hanging Boots Creative using recovered pictures from the 1981 march, some new portraits taken by Ajamu X, both of the LGBT+ community that marched in 1981 and who live in Huddersfield today, some specially commissioned animations, and words written by Stephen M. Hornby, a playwright working on the project. The film was projected on to the shop front for the whole of LGBT+ History Month 2022.
The archive elements were from pictures recently donated to the West Yorkshire Archive Service and from the Robert Workman Archive at the Bishopsgate Institute in London. Kirklees Council, a partner on the project, estimates that the footfall for February of people passing the shop whilst the film was being projected was over 100,000 people.
The response has been so positive that the projected elements were then reconfigured into a short film that anyone can now enjoy on the LGBT+ History Month YouTube site by clicking #Pride1981 short film
The project moves on now to the next two elements:
Photographic Exhibition: Internationally renowned photographer Ajamu X has taken a series of 20 portraits of people who marched in 1981 and people who are part of the LGBTQ+ community in Huddersfield today. Ajamu was born in Huddersfield and saw the original Pride 81 march. The exhibition will run at the Lawrence Batley Theatre from 9th July to 9th September 2022. After that, the portraits will become a part of the permanent collection at Huddersfield Art Gallery.
Immersive Performances: Inkbrew Productions will create an immersive performance recreating Pride 1981 in Huddersfield Town Centre on 2 July 2022. The audience will be participants in the march, co-creating the piece with actors playing activis, who tell their stories as they march. Ten monologues written by award winning playwrights Stephen M Hornby, Abi Hynes, Peter Scott-Presland (an original Pride 81 marcher) and Hayden Sugden form the heart of this piece. They will also be performed as a showcase at the Lawrence Batley Cellar Theatre, Huddersfield and the Kings Arms, Salford from 1st-3rd July 2022.