Homotopia Festival Returns to Liverpool for 2025 with Theme ‘Uprising’

Liverpool’s Homotopia festival is back for its 21st edition, running from 1–30 November 2025, celebrating LGBTQIA+ culture with the rallying theme Uprising. As the UK’s longest-running LGBTQIA+ arts and culture festival, Homotopia promises an unmissable programme of performances, film screenings, exhibitions, talks, workshops, walks, and parties across the city.

Taking place at iconic venues including Unity Theatre, Everyman, Playhouse, FACT, St George’s Hall, the Royal Standard, Bluecoat, and two events at St Helens libraries, more than 70% of the festival’s events are free to enjoy.

The festival opens with a cabaret-style launch party at Unity Theatre on Saturday 1 November, turning Hope Place into an immersive space of playful, boundary-pushing performance and community solidarity. Highlights throughout the month include:

• Remember Nature at FACT on 4 November, an artist-led action honouring Gustav Metzger’s vision of art as a force for change.
• Drag Down the Borders on 9 November, showcasing migrant drag and cabaret talent while raising funds for refugees locally and abroad.
• Scrambled by QueerCore alum Grace Tompkins at the Playhouse Studio on 13 November, exploring human connection in the digital age.
• Mr Blackpool’s Seaside Spectacular at Unity Theatre on 14 November, a humorous end-of-the-pier show from Harry Clayton-Wright.
• An Evening with Dross at Unity Theatre on 15 November, blending lip-sync, physical theatre, and queer resistance.
• The Queer Places Heritage Trail, If These Walls Could Talk, revealing hidden queer histories across Liverpool streets and buildings.

Emerging LGBTQIA+ artists from the city region – Willzy, Claire Beerjeraz, HRH Aphrodite, and Laura Bee – will also feature in the festival’s QueerCore artist development programme, with exhibitions, interactive performances, and a Young Homotopia showcase at Unity Theatre on 12 November.

Natalie Lloyd, Homotopia festival producer, said: “After pausing the festival for a year, we’re back with a bang. Uprising is about resistance, solidarity, and celebrating the boldest voices in queer art and culture. It’s a love letter to our community, our peers, and the incredible talent embedded in Liverpool’s identity.”

For full festival details, bookings, and the complete programme, visit homotopia.net.