Printworks ceiling to be lit up with 'gorgeous faces' this Pride Month - Manchester Evening News

Printworks ceiling to be lit up with 'gorgeous faces' this Pride Month 'The fact that people will be coming through here all the time and get to see our gorgeous faces is just fab'What's

OnAdam Maidment What's On and LGBTQ+ Writer14:58, 03 Jun 2025RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Lill features in a huge new Pride Month display illuminating an iconic Manchester venue(Image: Jason

Lock) The largest digital ceiling in Europe has been transformed into a sea of bright colours and inspiration to coincide with Pride Month.

Last year, The Printworks reopened following a huge £21m revamp which saw it become the home to a whopping 1000m screen, which takes over the entire ceiling across the venue's alleyway and

has featured everything from Coronation Street stars and virtual flower displays in the months since.

This June, the screen has been taken over by LGBTQ+ charity Kaleidoscope Trust who have partnered with the Printworks on an inspirational and upbeat collection of visuals featuring Pride

flags, disco balls, Drag Race UK stars and powerful messages.

Amongst those to feature in the display, which is free to view, are RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Lill and The Great British Sewing Bee winner Luke-Matthew Iveson - aka Sewer Luke - who both

hail from Manchester.

“It’s really special,” Lill, who appeared on the most recent series of Drag Race UK, told the Manchester Evening News of being part of the project. “I love Manchester and it’s just nice to

be able to show that you’re proud of who you are.

The Great British Sewing Bee winner Luke-Matthew Iveson - aka Sewer Luke - also features in the Pride campaign(Image: Jason Lock)Article continues below “I think the fact that people will be

coming through here all the time and get to see our gorgeous faces up on the screen is just fab. It’s nice to be a representative for the queer community here in Manchester.”

Luke-Matthew, who was crowned The Great British Sewing Bee winner in 2024, added: “When it comes to Pride and working with queer people, it’s often on things that happen within the Village

and within queer spaces so it’s nice that there is something like this outside of those places too.

“I think, with this, we can have the discussion that Pride is still needed in order to change those expectations and to be part of a campaign in a space that might not necessarily be the

first that you would associate with the community.”

Whilst celebratory, the campaign, which also features the likes of political activist and UK Black Pride co-founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, is also a chance to reflect on the fight for LGBTQ+

rights both here in the UK and around the world.

The bright and loud Pride display is in collaboration with human rights charity Kaleidoscope Trust(Image: Jason Lock) Kaleidoscope Trust, which campaigns for the human rights of LGBTQ+

people around the world, has reported that LGBTQ+ people still face criminalisation and persecution simply for being themselves in more than 65 countries.

“There are so many places in the world where a project like this just could not happen,” Sian Lambert, Project Manager at Kaleidoscope Trust, said. “In Hungary, for example, they just passed

a law where they banned Pride. Many people in the countries we work in cannot celebrate Pride in a public way because visible queer representation in the streets can just be so dangerous.

“So, it’s really important that we have this visibility here and that we are encouraging and inspiring people in those countries where it is just not possible. Obviously, we all want a world

where LGBTQ+ people around the world can be free, safe and equal and we hope that this can have a small part to play in that.”

Lill said it was 'really special' to be featured within the inspirational Pride visuals(Image: Jason Lock) Asked what Pride means to them, Lill said: “Pride to me is about community, it’s

about coming together with your friends and your family. As a performer, it’s usually an extremely busy month but it’s always so worth it at the end of it all. You really do end up feeling

like you’ve achieved something or been a part of something that’s bigger than you.

“Pride can be a celebration, but it is also a protest. At the moment, there is just so much work still to be done and it’s just important that we’re all in it together and making the most of

it to help others.

“I remember coming to Pride for the first time and just thinking ‘oh my god, this is a completely different world’, but everyone just seemed to happy and so free to be themselves. That’s the

world I want people to grow up in - to have a freedom for self-expression."

Taking over the largest digital ceiling in Europe, the Pride Month display will be available to view for free throughout June(Image: Jason Lock) Luke-Matthew said: “Pride Month is definitely

a celebration in terms of how far the community has come but, now more than ever, it’s also about that visibility and remembering that Pride is a protest.

“To be able to inspire new generations of LGBTQ+ people and allies with a project like this at the Printworks is just so important. I certainly had representation growing up and to

potentially now be someone else’s representation is huge.”

Article continues below The Printworks' Pride Month display with Kaleidoscope Trust will be running throughout June.