HELSINKI PRIDE WEEK IS CELEBRATED AGAIN THIS SUMMER
Helsinki Pride Week, which celebrates equality, returns to its former place in June, which is internationally recognized Pride Month. Helsinki Pride is Finland’s largest human rights and cultural event. The week is produced by the Helsinki Pride Community, dozens of partner organizations and numerous volunteers.
Helsinki Pride 2021 will be celebrated from 28 June to 4 July. As in previous years, the program consists of a variety of program contents, such as workshops, excursions, peer meetings, lectures and presentations.
Helsinki City Hall as the Pride House
The rainbow-colored program takes place around the city throughout the week. However, the heart of Helsinki Pride Week is Pride House. This year, Helsinki City Hall proudly serves as the main venue Pride House. For the second year in a row, the City of Helsinki is one of Helsinki Pride Week’s main partners. During the week, the City Hall will host various discussions, meetings and a photo exhibition.
“” Even in Finland, equal civil rights, dignity and the right to self-expression are still not taken for granted. Pride highlights important themes, offers meaningful encounters, makes noise about key grievances and the City of Helsinki is proud to be a partner in all this. So it is natural that the city hall in the summer glows in the colors of the rainbow during Pride’s time, ”says Mayor Jan Vapaavuori.
As usual, you can also find Pride Info & Shop in Pride House. Rainbow youth and their friends are celebrating at their very own Youth Pride House in Vallila’s Fredriksberg. Youth Pride Week is celebrated for the tenth time this year.
The 2021 theme highlights a multiple anniversary year
The year 2021 is a special anniversary year because that is when it will be over
50 years since the criminalization of homosexual acts
40 years since homosexuality was removed from the mental health classification
30 years since the founding of the Helsinki Pride community (Seta, Helsinki region).
We are proud of the change that has already taken place and the milestones we have achieved through hard work. An equal world is not yet complete. It is an ongoing site where work is being done so that in the future everyone can be free.
The official protector of Helsinki Pride is Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Prime Minister Marin is the first protector to commit to the role for two consecutive years.
“Helsinki Pride is celebrating many significant achievements this year. Changes in legislation and attitudes have not happened by themselves, but are the result of determined human rights work. This work is still ongoing. It is a pleasure and an honor to be the patron of Helsinki Pride, ”says Prime Minister Marin.
Helsinki Pride Week takes place in a hybrid format
In the fall of 2020, despite exceptional circumstances, we were able to produce an impressive and safe week of events thanks to the strong support of the community, partners and volunteers. Also this year, Helsinki Pride will be implemented in a so-called hybrid form. In practice, the hybrid form means that the events will be organized as physical gatherings within the limits of current authority recommendations. We support program organizers in the use of various online platforms so that participation in the event is also accessible to members of the community at risk. In addition, we post a daily program on our event page. The hybrid form allows the event to take place in its usual place despite different interest rate scenarios.
A redesigned web flow is created for event pages. Everyone can join to show their support, support and celebrate Helsinki Pride Week. Small groups, communities and groups of friends make Pride visible on the streets and online, as well as on social media. We will take over the city space through a week-long impact campaign, which will be implemented together with the official partners of the event. The campaign also highlights the theme of the year, which commemorates the anniversaries of Finnish rainbow history. At the same time, we are making visible the work that still needs to be done for a truly equal and secure Finland.
Helsinki Pride Week culminates in a concert at the Helsinki Ice Rink
The Pride procession or the Park Festival, which brings together tens of thousands of people, cannot be held responsibly even this year. Instead, we celebrated on Saturday, July 3, with the Helsinki Pride 2021 concert, which will feature SANNI, Tuure Boelius, Yeboyah, Benjamin, NikoLa & Pola Ivanka on stage. The concert will be hosted by Cristal Snow and Lola Lorenzo. The concert will be held in the Black Box of the Helsinki Ice Rink. The concert can be watched live on Pride Stream and Yle Teema.
We will update more detailed information about the events on our website www.pride.fi.
Additional information:
Aaro Horsma,
Executive director
Helsinki Pride community
045 121 0026, Aaro (at) pride.fi
Sanna Forsström
Head of Brand Unit
Helsinki City Hall
040 53 13 713, sanna.forsstrom (at) hel.fi
Elisa Gebhard
Special Assistant
Communication and media relations
0295 160 058, elisa.gebhard@vnk.fi