DIY Pride - NOW the DIY Anti-Corporate Hootenanny

UPDATE:

We come with some unfortunate news about DIY Pride which was planned for the 30th August, this coming Saturday. We regret to say that we’ve had to cancel DIY Pride. This was not an easy decision to make and we sincerely apologise for how close it comes to the scheduled day; however, we felt it was a necessary and important one to make. As we value transparency and honesty, below is a breakdown of why we have chosen this course of action. While we’ve had to cancel, we will be running a replacement event at the same location as before: DIY Anti-Corporate Hootenanny.

Covid:

The main challenge is that various committee members have been exposed or tested positive for Covid. On Monday, a committee member tested positive for Covid. A number of other committee members have been in close contact with this person and at least one other committee member has subsequently tested positive.

Unfortunately, with so many of the committee exposed to Covid, we felt it would not be fair to go ahead with the event as originally planned. We prioritise the health of our community and committee, and if exposed members attended to perform their duties on the day there is a risk of spreading Covid regardless of negative test in the lead up and on the day. We deemed this neither ethical nor safe, and so took the decision to ask these individuals to continue their quarantine instead of attending the event. This led to our second issue

Capacity:

Each committee member took on a share of the responsibilities and duties for on the day happenings. Since many of the leads for roles will not attend as they have either tested positive for Covid or have been in close contact with those who have, any event would need significant temporary cover for on-the-day roles. We carefully assessed whether it would be feasible to provide temporary cover from within the committee and existing pool of volunteers and ultimately decided that there was not sufficient capacity to run the event as planned; we would need more time and resources to do so. In some instances, we concluded that it would be inappropriate for a role to be covered on a temporary basis at short notice.

At present, we would be relying on very few members of the committee to cover all of the duties for running the daytime and evening events, putting strain on the capacity of each person. For the welfare of our own team, we decided the event was no longer viable to be run as it had originally been intended to.

Alternatives:

Since Monday, we have been discussing how we might move forward with the day and event, as well as alternative options. We feel DIY Pride is an important community gathering and alternative to Reading Pride, also occurring on the same day. As such, we gave careful consideration to various options of running the same event, however we came to the conclusion that, for the sanity of all involved, the best outcome was to cancel DIY and replace it with a smaller event–hence DIY Anti-Corporate Hootenanny.

Tickets will be refunded in full to all ticket holders, so you should receive confirmation of this from OutSavvy very soon. Please allow up to 5 business days for your refund to process.
If you would like to attend our alternative event, we are running this via door sales only, on a first-come, first-served basis continuing at a donate-what-you can price. All donations will cover any running costs and any left over donations will be donated to charity. Please be aware that as the venue capacity is now 50 people within the building at any given time, we may have to ask you to wait outside until a less busy time.

We are sorry that we are making these changes at such short notice and we are coming to you with them at the earliest possible opportunity and we apologise for any inconvenience this has caused. Please do remain in touch with us about any further questions or concerns—we welcome the feedback!

With Love and Solidarity,
DIY Pride Committee

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A Pride to be Proud of: Reading’s DIY Pride is taking place on Saturday 30 August 2025 at the Rising Sun Arts Centre from 1pm to 10 pm.

Tired of the corporate pinkwashing of Reading Pride? Longing for a Pride that represents our community’s radical roots? Want to build a community with LGBTQIA+ folks interested in collective action and mutual aid? Join us (a loose collective of Reading-based queer groups, communities, and organisations) for the return of Reading’s DIY Pride event!

At DIY Pride, everyone can get involved, making it more of a do-it-together Pride. We are looking for trans-inclusive, intersectional, anti-racist, anti-capitalist folks, who firmly believe there is no Pride in Genocide, to take part in (volunteer, fund-raise, perform, create) our one-day event.

Throughout the day, the RSAC inside and outside spaces will host family-friendly workshops, interactive activities, provocations, and performances. Refreshments will be available throughout the event, with food provided by Serving Bristol, a queer-run non-profit supper club with all proceeds to gender-affirming care. In the evening, the RSAC ground floor Main Hall will transform into an adult-only performance space, highlighting cabaret acts and performance artists from Reading’s seriously talented queer community.

Ticketing 

We have 3 ticket types available:

• Day 1pm - 6pm (If you only wish to attend the day activities, or are under 18)
• Night 7pm - 10pm (If you are over 18 and wish to attend just the cabaret)
• Day + Night 1pm - 10pm (If you are over 18 and wish to attend the family friendly and cabaret)

Book now via Outsavvy

Head to our website to find out more, read our manifesto, and get involved! - diypriderdg.co.uk 

Join our mailing list for updates on the event tinyurl.com/diypriderdg

Email doubleokaygroup@gmail.com if you’re interested in volunteering!

Follow us on Instagram:

@diypriderdg

@wearedoubleokay

@rdgqueersocial

@reading.sapphics

@dogmouththeatre

@serving.bristol