ShanghaiPRIDE CELEBRATES A SUCCESSFUL NINTH YEAR

Shanghai, June 22, 2017—The ninth annual ShanghaiPRIDE festival on June 15-18 with auxiliary events in March, April, and throughout May and June brought together over 6,000 attendees under the theme “The Time is Now,” with a series of cultural, social, and educational events inspiring the community to love fearlessly, live openly, and promote acceptance and equality. This year’s festival also set the stage for next year’s groundbreaking national CnPRIDE, which will launch Pride festivities across the country.

“Shanghai has become more diverse and tolerant in the past nine years,” said Director of ShanghaiPRIDE Evie Wu. “We received much positive feedback from grassroots organizations during Pride week, which has encouraged us to continue moving forward. The Time Is Now for CnPRIDE!”

Pride9 promotional efforts in the run-up to the festival featured Neocha’s key visual campaign spotlighting six members of the city’s diverse LGBTQ community, as well as Wunderman Shanghai’s digital campaign “One Step Toward Love,” eliciting support from cities around the world.

ShanghaiPRIDE 2017’s pre-festival events began on March 9 with Women Up! discussing anti-domestic violence in conjunction with International Women’s Day, followed by the annual talent show Pride’s Got Talent on April 22, and continuing with the Rainbow Bike Ride on May 20 in solidarity with the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia earlier that week. Heading into Pride month, Pride Talk on June 10 at Colca saw 10 speakers from across China and abroad share stories on topics ranging from coming out, family acceptance and asexuality to cross-dressing and intolerance within the queer community.

ShanghaiPRIDE Theatre Festival (ShPTF) kicked off with improv shows on May 12 and 27, followed by sold-out performances of One World Theatre’s bilingual production “Tall Tall Mountain & Strange Birds” on June 9 and 10 at the Theatre in the Tianzifang. On June 15-18, Shanghai Jinhui Entertainment Corporation’s innovative production of “Wow! Live Webcast” at the Lyceum Theatre truly wowed the audience with its murder mystery live-streaming showdown.

As a change in format this year, ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival (ShPFF) presented two days of movie marathons on June 11 and 18 to screen nearly 40 films from China and around the globe, including Berlin International Film Festival Teddy Award 2017 winner “Small Talk,” acclaimed American documentary “The Trans List” and India’s first silent LGBTQ film, “Sisak.” The screenings, held at the Goethe Institut and The British Centre Shanghai, with support from the Canadian, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Peruvian and US consulates, also gave viewers the opportunity to see the winners and nominees of the ShPFF Chinese Short Film Competition. The winning film, “Cocoon,” will go on to compete at the prestigious UK Iris Prize Festival, which has a top award of £30,000. Due to the overwhelming response to ShPFF, a third day of screenings was held at XinCafe on June 20 featuring Charlotte Bunch’s “Passionate Politics,” with the renowned figure appearing for a panel discussion.

The Pride9 nightlife offerings kicked off with the Ladies Night on June 15, which filled red-hot venue Celia by Pulse with the women of Shanghai and their allies in drag. The annual event featured dance performances and exciting raffle prizes from event sponsor TOIs and more.

This year’s Pride Art event invited the community to submit photos embodying the festival theme for the chance to win cash prizes. The top entries chosen were showcased at the exhibition hosted by Henkes beginning on June 16 and running through June 25. An online showcase at shpride.com will run from June 25 to July 15.

The first-ever Pride Rocks musical showcase got the crowd rocking on June 16 at M64, with performances by Shanghai musical groups Joelle Jay, Vodka Slaves and MIMI.

The festival’s biggest day, June 17, saw the return of the Pride Run, with over 200 participants beginning at six locations to meet at Title Sponsor Andaz Xintiandi, Shanghai, sporting their special-edition Nike BETRUE T-shirts and joining other members and allies of the community for a sunny Pink Brunch. Proceeds from the Pride Run will support the Common Language Rainbow Anti-Gender-Based Violence Service Center Hangzhou Station Project “Growth Group.”

Also on June 17 at Andaz Xintiandi, Shanghai, LGBTQ Groups Open Day & Forum gave 30 organizations from 13 provinces and regions across China the chance to share their work with the community. Forum topics included queer family matters such as same-sex marriage and raising children, as well as LGBTQ initiatives such as training educators and psychological consultants, and advocating for diversity in collaboration with businesses.

On the night of June 17, partygoers in pink flocked to 8Art Hotel for the ShanghaiPRIDE Official Party. With DJs Sugar and Orange spinning at the “Yes to All” deck and performances by Shanghai’s top drag queens clad in glitter, the Pink Party was a rosy night to remember.

Raffle prizes sold throughout the festival will support CnPRIDE as well as the Teacher Gender Equality Education Workshop by the Guangzhou Gay and Lesbian Campus Association of China.

The celebration continues in the coming weeks with One World Theatre’s absurdist romantic comedy “Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties” on June 23-25 at The Market. Finally, the Shanghai Hyperbolic Singers, Shanghai’s first and only LGBTQ choir, which has performed at past Pride events as well as the 2015 Red Ribbon Gala Dinner, take to the stage at Huangpu Theatre on June 24 for a performance of Chinese pop classics.

ShanghaiPRIDE is a non-profit, volunteer-run event supported by the aforementioned sponsors, in addition to this year’s Title Sponsor: Andaz Xintiandi, Shanghai; and Gold Sponsors: The Dow Chemical Company, IBM, Rainbow Rabbit, TrueBaby, Neocha, Wunderman Shanghai and Nike+ Run Club.