Pink Festival returns for more summer fun

• Cabaret Tent line up at the Cambridge Big Weekend on Sat 8th July 7-10pm • Wonderland club night event at the Cambridge Junction on Sat 8th from 10pm • Summer Queer Arts programme launched • Profits from the weekend of events will be going to local LGBT+ charities

During Cambridge’s busiest weekend in July, The Pink Festival will be hosting a number of events through the city to help spread vibes of love, unity and celebrate the diversity we hold dear in this wonderful city.

The Pink Festival Group, newly reinvigorated in 2016 as a registered charity, no longer holds events in Cherry Hinton Hall as it once did but now makes use of the city centres best venues and events to help showcase LGBT+ communities and raise funds for local charities.

This year the Pink Festival will be on show at two events on Saturday July the 8th, the first being The Cabaret Tent at The Big Weekend, Cambridge’s weekend showcase on Parker’s Piece. The Cabaret Tent will be open to all on Saturday night between the hours of 7-10pm and will see a number of acts from comedy, drag acts and singers along with some fun audience participation! Acts include the Cambridge drag sensation, The Fleurettes, glambolic songstress Titti Trash and comedians Ali Warwood, Lucy Thompson, Trisha Timpson, and John Pendal.

The fun continues at the Cambridge Junction for Wonderland, a night of crazy rainbow-tinged beats and treats!

Encounter the fabulous Mark Doyle (Fierce Angel) pumping out tunes on top of his giant mushroom, step through the looking glass to discover the Beyoncé Experience, then go ahead and 'Drink Me' to find the Mad Hatter guiding you to Dot Cotton, "You Know It Makes Sense" and much more until your fairytale ends with a happily ever after.

The Pink Festival will also be launching its summer Queer Arts project, in partnership with the Cambridge Junction.

The project aims to provide a platform and voice for queer arts in Cambridge. London based artist Brian Lobel who will be running his ‘Cruising for Art’ project here in Cambridge.

Cruising for Art, 'a mischievous living installation' (The Guardian) will take over the nooks and crannies of Cambridge Junction, and feature the performance of established queer performers alongside up-and-coming young LGBTQ participants. Cruising for Art, originally commissioned by the Victoria & Albert Museum, transforms the idea of intimacy in performance, making the entire space a 'cruising ground' where artists and audiences connect via one-to-one performances, some of which will be playful, others meditative, some frightening, some sensual, all one-to-one.

Brian Lobel proposes to do 2, full day workshops with young and emerging LGBTQ performers at Junction in August/September, through which these performers will a) learn about the history of both one-to-one performance and queer cruising rituals, b) develop a project/performance themselves. Brian has led dozens of workshops on the theme of one-to-one and has curated Cruising for Art in Edinburgh, Utrecht, Brussels, Brighton, Helsinki and more. Cruising for Art (also called KISS MY DANCE) is currently a regularly party night thrown by DanceHouse Helsinki.

The evening event for Cruising for Art will feature up to 12 performers from the workshops, and 3 professional queer performers (Cruising for Art has worked with over 100 artists), and will feature a handful of cabaret turns - all this matched with a DJ makes for a memorable and playful night.

The date for this performance will be Wednesday 13th September and link into the Lucy McCormick show ‘Triple Threat’ at the Cambridge Junction on the same night.

Lara Jaffey, Chair of the Pink Festival charity says “After the success of our events in 2016 we are thrilled to be back at The Big Weekend, Cambridge Junction and to launch our newest project helping to raise the profile of queer arts in the City. We are very excited about developing this idea to help put Cambridge firmly on the Queer arts map over the next few years.”

The second arts project to launch this weekend will be adapting traditional fairy tales and well-known stories with local participants who will be working with Joseph Ballard, a theatre producer and playwright. LGBT+ issues will be explored and woven into stories and alternative endings over series of workshops called ‘I Believe In Fairies’, to develop both storytelling, writing and performance skills. No previous experience is necessary, as support will be given for new writers and performers. The project will culminate in a showcase cabaret evening later this year.

For all the latest information about the weekend events see our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pinkfestival