Back in the Pink
Preserving and celebrating the LGBTQ+ history of Bradford.
Join us to preserve and celebrate Bradford’s LGBTQ+ heritage with picnics, festivals and the creation of a new archive.
Bradford 2025 and Castles in the Sky Projects are proud to present Back in the Pink, a series of special events and a new archive celebrating the rich and radical history of LGBTQ+ life in Bradford.
Paying homage to Bradford in the Pink, a series of festivals that took place in Manningham and the city centre some 40 years ago, Back in the Pink will return the histories of LGBTQ+ people in Bradford to the spotlight, celebrating their achievements and their stories – and connecting them with life in Bradford in 2025.
Pink in the Park, the first event in June, was a fun and free day out for people of all ages and backgrounds in Peel Park – offering an opportunity to step back in time and explore the city’s LGBTQ+ history with DJs, performances, screenprinting, workshops and a picnic.
In October, there’ll be the Back in the Pink weekender, a weekend-long celebration with new artist commissions, parties inspired by classic Bradford gay nights and venues, talks and workshops that reaffirm Bradford’s significance as a place for LGBTQ+ communities then and now.
Back in the Pink Weekender
Back in the Pink, Bradford 2025’s series dedicated to the rich and radical history of LGBTQ+ life in the city, continues with a weekend-long celebration of gay life – past, present and future.
Travel back in time to explore the activism, community and culture of Bradford’s LGBTQ+ communities in the late 20th century. Connect with today’s LGBTQ+ community at workshops, discussions and a Saturday-night party. And consider how together, we can preserve our own communities’ histories for generations to come.
Scroll down for a summary of what’s on at our big pink weekender.
What's on
8 Sep 2025
Remembering the Junction
Queer Places
Explore memories of city centre pub The Junction.
10 Oct 2025
Bradford LGBTQ+ History Walking Tour
Alice Parsons, Castles in the Sky Projects
If the streets could talk, what would they have to say?
10 & 12 Oct 2025
OUT All Night
Castles in the Sky Projects
Explore the Back in the Pink pop-up exhibition.
11 Oct 2025
Big Nights OUT
Castles in the Sky Projects
Learn how nightlife spaces supported community building.
Immersive Heritage Commissions
We are looking for 3 Artists to respond to the themes of Back in the Pink’s October weekender shining a spotlight on the phenomenal legacy of activism and nightlife in the LGBTQ+ community in Bradford. These artworks will be hosted either as part of an Immersive exhibition celebrating Bradford’s LGBTQ+ heritage or as part of the Back in the Pink weekender which will include talks, workshops and a performance party event. The exhibition will wrap around the whole weekend.
The artworks should be inspired by the materials of the Bradford LGBTQ+ archive newly formed by Castles in the Sky which the artists will have guided access to (see below timeline for available dates).
The focus of the exhibition is the role that night life spaces in Bradford’s LGBTQ+ community, specifically with a focus on how they have interacted with activism and social justice and the radical intersectionality of Bradford’s LGBTQ+ history.
The Artwork can be any artform, but we are particularly interested in receiving applications which are from a sculpture, immersive or installation perspective.
Help build the Bradford LGBTQ+ Archive
Back in the Pink will collect both items and oral histories to document Bradford’s LGBTQ+ history – groups such as Lesbian Line and Bradford Gay Switchboard, venues like the Junction and the Bavaria, and publications including Graft, Bradford Gay and Antics. This material will form the first Bradford LGBTQ+ Archive, and will also feature in an accompanying publication and an LGBTQ+ heritage walking tour of the city centre.
If you’re interested in donating materials to Bradford LGBTQ+ Archive, or if you’re happy to be interviewed as part of the oral histories project, please contact [email protected].
Co-produced by Castles in the Sky and Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. Funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Image © Emma Bentley Fox