Five local queer collectives have released a statement addressing concerns surrounding Manchester festival Homobloc.
In a "final statement" shared with Resident Advisor, High Hoops outlined a list of concerns raised by artists and promoters employed by Homobloc, the brainchild of long-running local queer party Homoelectric. The statement has been supported by Meat Free, Tough Act and members of All Hands On Deck and Love Muscle.
The concerns include poor pay for local performers, a lack of transparency surrounding charity donations and the festival's ties to Saudi Arabia—whose oppression of LGBTQIA+ rights is well documented—via its affiliation with The Warehouse Project. (Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, AKA PIF, has a stake in Live Nation worth $1 billion. Live Nation owns shares in The Warehouse Project.)
"While of course any club night needs to make money, Homoelectric deciding to work with The Warehouse Project to produce Homobloc, in effect employing many of their business models, [has led to] a number of concessions and [caused them to lose] sight of the community they're meant to be serving—for profit," the statement read. "The Warehouse Project is a highly lucrative and successful business and as such it's of course set up to make money. That's why they have such high ticket and drink prices, it's why they have such incredibly early final entry times and it's why they employ restrictive exclusivity clauses for DJs."
The statement continued: "We think a queer event of this size and involving this much money in our city should be predominantly run by, and on the feedback of, queer people who live this life everyday in our community. Just because a gap in the market exists doesn't mean it should be exploited and filled by people who have no experience of growing up LGBTQIA+."
The statement also stressed that the criticisms are meant to start a conversation and initiate change, rather than simply being an attack on Homoelectric. It follows another statement from High Hoops, posted last Tuesday, November 22nd, which raised some of the same concerns publicly for the first time.
RA also spoke to the founder of another queer dance music crew about the way in which a number of collectives were misled into promoting Homobloc's debut edition in 2019. The DJ and promoter, who asked to remain anonymous, said promoters from across the UK were approached by Homoelectric and asked to share promotional material for the new festival via social media. The source said they were asked to do so under the pretence that they would be performing at Homobloc.
But according to the source, when the lineup was finally released weeks later, many of the collectives weren't on the bill. "It felt like they were using the clout of local queer nights to establish the brand," the source said. "People bought tickets thinking their friends were going to be playing. There was also absolutely no mention that this was going to be a collaboration with The Warehouse Project, and in hindsight that felt very disingenuous."
In a statement sent to RA, Homoelectric founder Luke Cowdrey, AKA Luke Una, addressed some of the issues in the joint statement. On working with The Warehouse Project, he said they did so to "help with the considerable advance work, production and risk that an event like that [Homobloc] brings." He also stressed that Homobloc has raised close to £100,000 for charity over the last two events, and that there were "200 fully-paid, mainly local, mainly LGBTQIA+ artists and performers" involved in this year's edition.
Sam Kandel, cofounder of The Warehouse Project, also sent a response to RA. "The Warehouse Project's role in the event is to support from a production perspective and to help them realise their vision," he said. "We're able to share the physical infrastructure and some of our core team, without which the event wouldn't be viable."
Billed as a "queer block party for all," Homobloc has been running at the 10,000-capacity Mayfield Depot since 2019. Homoelectric, one of Manchester's favourite queer parties, launched in 1997.
Read the statement and both responses in full, as well as High Hoops' initial Instagram post. High Hoops' statement, supported by Meat Free, Tough Act and members of All Hands On Deck and Love Muscle
"As LGBTQIA+ people we're not afraid to have difficult conversations with ourselves and our friends and hold each other accountable, because it's all we have ever known and it's because we care. If the organisers of Homobloc take this as an attack or attempt to 'cancel' them then they have once again grossly misread the situation and the genuine feedback that is being given from the network of parties and performers that they have and continue to employ.
The statement we put out was never meant to diminish Homoelectric's history in Manchester. It was written to try to bring conversation and hopefully change, after previously meeting with the organisers on two occasions which brought neither [conversation nor change] to the table. But our bigger concern with this was seeing queer voices being shouted down and attacked by straight voices, which is all too familiar for us.
While of course any club night needs to make money, Homoelectric deciding to work with The Warehouse Project to produce Homobloc, in effect employing many of their business models, [has led to] a number of concessions and [caused them to lose] sight of the community they're meant to be serving—for profit. The Warehouse Project is a highly lucrative and successful business and as such it's of course set up to make money. That's why they have such high ticket and drink prices, it's why they have such incredibly early final entry times and it's why they employ restrictive exclusivity clauses for DJs.
We think that a queer event of this size and involving this much money in our city should be predominantly run by, and on the feedback of, queer people who live this life everyday in our community. Just because a gap in the market exists doesn't mean it should be exploited and filled by people who have no experience of growing up LGBTQIA+.
Many of the points in our statement were made to inform and allow people of our community to use critical thinking on the matters raised. The link to Saudi, however much the team at The Warehouse Project tries to trivialise it, exists. Whether it's a 0.1 percent, one percent or ten percent stake in Live Nation, there's still a traceable link back from anything The Warehouse Project finances to PIF. We hope opening that discussion has allowed people to research for themselves and see how comfortable they are with a financial link, albeit small, from a queer festival to a government with human rights abuses.
We believe there can be change and to move forward there should be greater transparency on charity donations from Homobloc's PROFITS and not from the local queer community through donations. While we agree the money from the 2022 event raised will go a long way, we think from the gigantic profits the event rakes in, the breakdown of this amount feels like the bare minimum comes from the huge takings of the organisers. Secondly, there needs to be more engagement with the local community. With several North West queer-run club nights distancing themselves from the event, this should be a telltale sign that many queers feel alienated and put off by the internal structure of the event, huge profits for non-LGBTQIA+ directors and minimal pay for local performers.
Our statement is out now and it's up to Homobloc and The Warehouse Project to take on board the comments and address these concerns themselves, which have been raised again and again by many DJs, promoters, performers and punters, most of whom don't feel comfortable to speak out due to their power and influence in Manchester."
Luke Cowdrey (Homoelectric founder)
"We appreciate and acknowledge the considered statement that High Hoops has made regarding Homobloc. Homoelectric was founded nearly 25 years ago in Manchester and has always been an inclusive experience centred around bringing people together. Our slogan 'For homos, heteros, lesbos, don't knows' has always been our mantra.
In 2019, we dreamed of hosting a bigger party. WHP were setting up for a series in Depot Mayfield and it felt like a great thing to collaborate with them on, to help with the considerable advance work, production and risk that an event like that brings.
As with Homoelectric, the ethos for Homobloc is to build a creative and inclusive party. To break down barriers. The LGBTQIA+ community is intrinsic to the event and Homoelectric has always taken on board the feedback from the community (including some raised by High Hoops themselves) and will always continue to do so. Each year we have tried to include more members of the community, be that performers, programmers, charities and all those working behind the scenes, including those at management level, to help guide the festival with authentic queer leadership.
This year there were 200 fully paid, mainly local, mainly LGBTQIA+, artists and performers included within the show, and as Homobloc continues to evolve our ambition is for this number to grow.
It has been questioned how and where the charitable funds that we raised came from: this was broken down clearly after the 2021 party and will be again once this year's fundraising is concluded. The donation directly from Homobloc makes up around 50 percent and the other Homobloc activations make up the balance (this doesn't include any bucket collections on the night, which are on top). We are happy to share all of this in detail with High Hoops. Homobloc will have raised nearly £100,000 over the last two events, which goes directly to LGBTQIA+ charities and this is the best testament to Homobloc's success.
Sam Kandel (The Warehouse Project cofounder)
"Homoelectric has been a constant and much loved presence in Manchester for over 20 years. Given their legacy in the city and the pioneering work they've done, we believe they're an appropriate outfit to host an event such as Homobloc.
The Warehouse Project's role in the event is to support from a production perspective and to help them realise their vision. We are able to share the physical infrastructure and some of our core team, without which the event wouldn't be viable. Homobloc is a special show and we are proud to be in a position to make a contribution.
As an organisation we're always looking at ways to improve. We're speaking to High Hoops directly and hope to meet with them in person very soon to address some of the points they have raised."