The charity that runs Newcastle Pride has closed and begun to transfer the festival to Curious Futures, the new trading subsidiary of the charity Curious Arts.
But Northern Pride said its closure is not financially motivated or a forced wind-down, instead describing it is a “planned and positive transition”.
It comes a month after Manchester Pride went into liquidation, leaving performers from the August event awaiting payments for their work.
Northern Pride has ceased trading with immediate effect, closed all of its outstanding commitments responsibly and donated its remaining £8,500 of funds to Curious Futures to aid with the 2026 event, the charity said.
The entire Northern Pride team are volunteers, meaning no redundancies have been made.
The charity said it was the “right moment” to hand the festival over to a new custodian, because its volunteer model and single board infrastructure was “not sustainable” for a festival of Newcastle Pride’s scale.
Curious Arts has been a partner of Northern Pride since 2018, with Northern Pride saying that the charity’s new trading subsidiary, Curious Futures, is “perfectly placed to take Pride into its next chapter”.
“Capacity with an organisation like Curious Futures, operating as a not-for-profit business, will increase capability and capacity across event organisation and delivery year-round,” Northern Pride said.
It said Curious Futures was “committed to supporting and championing LGBT+ communities”, adding that the spirit of Newcastle Pride would continue with the “addition of fresh ideas and new partnerships”.
Curious Futures will host stakeholder events including community consultation sessions early next year to help shape the 2026 event – which will take place on 25 and 26 July – and future years.
Northern Pride’s volunteers and supporters can continue to be involved during the transition period and are being encouraged to engage with Curious Futures if they wish to support the event in future.
Ste Dunn, former director of Northern Pride, said: “It has been an incredible 17 years for the Northern Pride Charity, a team of volunteers, past and present, who’ve acted with real passion for our community.
“Newcastle Pride hasn’t been without its challenges, especially over the last five years – from celebrating online during the pandemic, to navigating the cost-of-living crisis and even battling the extreme weather of 2023.
“After two strong years of stability and success, now feels like the right moment to hand things over. The board and I will support the transition, and I have every confidence that the Curious family will do an incredible job as the new custodians of Newcastle Pride.”
Sian Broadhurst, chair of Curious Arts, said: “With Pride events and festivals across Teesside already delivered under Curious Arts, this is a brilliant next step for our community and the Curious team.
“I was involved in the early years of Northern Pride and it has been a joy to watch the event grow into what it is today.
“We’re excited to carry on this journey, with fresh ideas and our community at the heart.”