Southampton Pride goes digital thanks to Solent

As home to a diverse community of staff and students, we are proud to be supporting Southampton Pride for a fifth consecutive year, celebrating diversity across the city - with our involvement this year being more crucial than ever.

Like many key city events throughout 2020, Southampton Pride is going virtual on Saturday 29 August. Southampton Pride organisers are providing you with live music performances, acts and activities that all the family can get involved with from home.

As we see activities slowly start to increase on campus, and with safety measures in place, Solent University staff and students are stepping in to provide crucial technical support by live broadcasting the event from our studios at the University to the local community and nationwide.

With three high-definition multi-camera studios, complete with broadcast standard equipment, Solent students are ensuring the smooth live delivery of this event in line with Government guidelines, including managing the schedule of pre-recorded performances and events and the live hosting of Pride from our on-site studio.

Julianne Watling-McCarthy, Event Organiser at Southampton Pride, said of Solent’s involvement this year: “Solent University has supported Southampton Pride since we began in 2016 and the event really wouldn’t be possible without local organisations like Solent helping us. Solent students have provided media support every year and this year we are extremely lucky to have their guidance and technical help with our Digital Pride live stream. We are incredibly proud to have Solent as one our long-standing sponsors.”

Professor Karen Stanton, Vice-Chancellor at Solent University, said: “Solent University is home to a diverse community of staff, students and alumni and I am proud that we have supported Southampton Pride for many years, being a partner of this key event that celebrates diversity and inclusivity across the city. This year would have been my first Southampton Pride and, having heard from colleagues how it has grown over the years, I am disappointed we are not able to celebrate in Guildhall Square together this year. It’s great to see that the organisers are still keeping the energy alive by offering this virtual programme and I’d like to thank everyone involved for making this possible”.

While we're sad not to be celebrating this event on Guildhall Square with the local community, many staff, students and alumni are getting behind the spirit of Pride. We're very much looking forward to Southampton Digital Pride on Saturday 29 August from 1pm live on Facebook and YouTube. Be sure to keep an eye out for Solent University videos during the live stream!