Festival Director Tom Bílý: Prague Pride will again be without a parade, but will offer a hundred other events where we can be together and build community
How does it actually look in the world with pride festivals this year?
Some are taking place. Others have been cancelled, either completely or have gone online, as we did last year. Pride season started with Mardi Gras in Sydney. There's also Vienna Pride in June, even World Pride in Copenhagen the second week of August. There's supposed to be a parade in Vienna. They're planning to really follow all the government regulations, two-meter spacing, respirators.
What will be possible in Prague this year and what won't?
For us, the big advantage this year is that Prague Pride took place last year. So we have experience in how to make the festival safe and in compliance with government regulations. We were aware that the covid could still be here with us, and we adapted to that in our planning. Of course, at the beginning we thought that this year we would be able to do a parade and music program on Letná. We had a pre-set deadline by which we had to be clear. Unfortunately, we had to make the decision that we were going without the parade and without Letná.
The general link between all festival events this year is that we are not doing mass events. We try to have individual festival venues outdoors. Pride Village is traditionally on Strelecki Island. We moved the Pride House to the Karlín Barracks, which offers a huge courtyard. The Pride Life festival space, which is indoors and focuses on intergenerational bonding, will host only capacity-limited events. And at the same time, we are also counting on an online programme from the start. It will be smaller than last year and is not only for those who can't attend the festival because of covid, but also for people who can't come because they are not exempt, can't make it for personal reasons or are from the other side of the country.
So there will not be a parade again. The objection is that it could have been at least for those who are vaccinated...
We understand that people's disappointment with the parade will be huge. This is the second year. But we're not in a position to control what kind of people will be in the parade. We'd like to keep the tradition of the parade being open to everyone without restrictions, and not dictate who can and cannot come.
Even if we make rules - only vaccinated people or people with a negative test are allowed to be here, and they have to keep a two-metre distance apart - we would be putting the responsibility on the participants. But there is no guarantee that people will comply. That would be irresponsible of us, and that's why we have decided, despite the disappointment of the visitors and our team, to make a safe festival and postpone the two bigger events for another year.
Does it make sense to hold Pride without a parade?
It does, because Prague Pride is not just a parade. We're bringing a hundred events Monday through Sunday the first week of August. The festival has cultural events, education, entertainment. We mustn't forget that for many LGBT+ people, Prague Pride week is basically the only week of the year when they can really be themselves. We see it as absolutely essential to make the festival just for those people who hide their true identity in various ways in everyday life.
What are the main pillars of the programme we can look forward to?
We have four festival venues and four main types of activities. Pride Village on Strelecki Island is well known to most people as an outdoor space focused on summertime cool, chill out to the sound of music or with a bit of sport. The outdoor programme is even more important this year, with picnics and walks through Prague.
Other parts of the programme will focus on education and culture. These types of events will mostly take place at the Pride House in the Karlín Barracks and at Pride Life in the premises of the organisation Život 90, with whom we are collaborating on a programme focusing on the topics of social work, connecting generations, and dignified LGBT+ ageing. Participants can look forward to lectures, theatre, art exhibitions, literary talks and more.
And let's not forget the fourth space, which is virtual. In it, we will open up debates that one might not come to in person because the topic is too sensitive. The stream will also run on Saturdays, when we are planning a roughly two-hour broadcast. It will take the form of a talk show with interesting guests. So even people who can't come or can't come can watch the stream on Saturday afternoon and be with us at least a little bit.
What will the festival Saturday look like in general?
There will be a picnic in Pride Village, which is a very popular festival activity. People can come, stretch out a blanket on the grass, have a drink and a bite to eat, and just be together, which is a terribly important pillar of the whole festival: being together, connecting, belonging to a community.
We're heading to Pride House for two major events on Saturday. In the afternoon, there will be Pride Voices - a talk show in English with very inspiring people. Then in the evening we are planning a screening of the documentary on marriage for all, The Law of Love. If everything goes well, it will be premiered in cinemas during the week of Prague Pride.
At the same time, my team and I are coming up with another programme, which we informally call "Ride Prague". The aim is to expand the reach of LGBT+ people to other parts of the city. Prague offers a lot of places that are "gay" - various wine bars, cafes, bars, but it can also be places like Petřínské sady by the statue of Karel Hynek Mácha. We want to offer people the most interesting way to spend a pleasant time in the city.
Will there be guests from abroad this year?
We expect that they will be here this year. As well as international speakers, we are expecting LGBT+ activists from Eastern and South East Europe to be at Pride Voices.
We hope that there will also be people from abroad among the festival visitors. I expect several thousand of them to come eventually, especially from the nearest countries - Poland, Slovakia, Germany. For the participants from the East, that week in Prague is a week of freedom. The mission of Prague Pride is not only to try to improve the quality of life of LGBT+ people in our country, but also to support LGBT+ people abroad, especially in those countries where they have a harder life than we have here.
The theme of the festival is coming out. Prague Pride already had such a theme in 2013, when it chose the slogan Coming out with colour. Why coming out again?
Coming out is a theme that is fundamental to LGBT+ people and has a huge range of meanings. Every LGBT+ person goes through coming out at some point in their lives - and often repeatedly to almost constantly. Most of society doesn't realise how big a topic this can be for LGBT+ people. The number of LGBT+ people who are willing to be completely open about their sexuality is very low - somewhere around 18%. So clearly coming out is not a topic that has been exhausted. We want to look at it from different angles and really go into it in depth.
How has the pandemic affected your work with financial partners?
Our budget is about a quarter of what it was last year. And 2020 was already a covid year and the festival was very limited in its scope. Of course, the pandemic and its economic consequences are also reflected in the willingness of companies to work with us. On the other hand, I have to appreciate that at least key partners are staying with us. We have a general partner, Vodafone, which has been with us for several years. Our big partners have not left us in the lurch and thanks to them we are able to organise the festival.
