Branches urged to join UNISON Scotland in sponsoring Glasgay!

To all branches in Scotland

The Scottish Communications & Campaigns Committee and the Scottish LGBT Committee have been long time supporters and sponsors of Glasgay!, the international arts festival.

Despite the most significant credit crunch of the last century the Glasgay! festival played to sell-out audiences and its exhibitions and some performances made headlines internationally, hitting nearly three-quarters of a million websites and blogs worldwide.

The festival doubled its audience on prior years and received four and five star critiques for its top quality Commissioned Productions, the most popular of which was a total sell-out smash hit, THE MAW BROON MONOLOGUES by Jackie Kay, and sponsored by UNISON Scotland.

In an excellent programme that was both popular and edgy it generated a huge amount of social commentary and continued to highlight prejudice, discrimination and inequality.

Glasgay! remains one of the most vital engines for social justice and equality and last year it was exceptional in its ability to galvanise support for its events. As a truly international celebration of the strength of the LGBT community Glasgay! enjoys the support of a broad audience, not just LGBT.

Glasgay! puts Glasgow and Scotland on the map as a vibrant and safe destination for international visitors - a mission, which over the next five years, as the city heads towards the Commonwealth Games, cannot be underestimated or undervalued.

We were saddened therefore, to learn that Glasgow City Council has slashed its funding to Glasgay! this year by 50% which will significantly impact on the festival and the successful work it has done over the last 20 years.

UNISON Scotland are continuing to sponsor this event and we continue to have input into the festival programme by a board member directly elected from the LGBT Committee.

To enable the event to build on the successes of last year, we are writing to branches to ask if they will consider making individual donations to the festival.

Donations can be sent to -
Gala Scotland Ltd
87-91 Saltmarket
Glasgow G1 5LE

If you require any further information, please contact Eileen Dinning. Thank you in advance for your support.

Chris Bartter, Secretary to Communications and Campaigns Committee
Miranda Jaques-Turner, Co-Convenor, LGBT Committee