Let’s find out about the Manchester Fetish Weekender for 2024! We caught up with the organisers to get you the inside information you need !
Can you give our readers an overview of the Manchester Fetish Weekenders and what to expect?
We want MFW to be an event for anyone 18+ to be able to attend, come and learn something new, and enjoy the outstanding talent that Manchester and the rest of the UK has to offer. Whether you are brand new to fetish or a seasoned pro, we want to create an environment where all feel welcome and without judgement, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.
Expect to see great DJs, outstanding performances, lots of educational panel discussions, workshops and demos, and a lot of other fun activities.
What inspired the concept of this event?
The initial idea of the event has been in the head of our director, Dan, for quite some time. He and the rest of the MFW team have spent years attending events in the UK and Europe and have all felt a similar sense of lacking in terms of inclusion and education. The team came together to make their passion a reality and create an event that has space for everyone and allows people to learn and grow.
We have seen many accounts over the years of people being injured or harmed due to a lack of education in kink and we want to make a change to that. Kink is becoming very mainstream, and with that comes a simplification in how our way of life is shown to newcomers – specifically in the safety and safeguards of the actions that are seen in tv, film, and especially porn.
Who is the Manchester Fetish Weekender aimed at?
Everyone over the age of 18 that’s looking to explore, educate themselves, and meet like-minded people. We welcome people from all experience levels.
What are the primary goals you aim to achieve with this event?
Our focus is on fostering an inclusive and safe community that has space for quality education and lots of fun!
This looks like an amazing event, having organised this over a weekend, I am guessing you faced some logistical challenges you faced, and how did you overcome them?
We have faced many challenges whilst organising this event – double bookings, working around other event timings, and scheduling conflicts just to name a few. Some have been trivial, but some have been quite difficult for us to work through, but we are grateful to have a strong team that can work together well. The biggest issues we’ve has is trying to fit our event into a scene that is already well established – we definitely feel like the newcomers on the block. We’ve spent a long time working on our relationships with venues, other events and artists which has meant that we’ve been able to work together to deal with issues that have arisen.
All of this is whilst the team also work around their daytime jobs, as this is a passion project. Most evenings, we work well into the early hours of the morning to get everything done and prepared, but we are so excited for everyone to see our hard work pay off in October.
Do you need any volunteers to help out or have you got everything covered now?
We have a great team of volunteers at present, but we are always looking for more. Having people to help with wristband checking, venue setup and take down is invaluable to us. There will also be opportunities for volunteers to learn how to become dungeon masters.
How will you ensure that this will be a positive experience for those attending?
Right from the start, we have focused on our community survey. We have designed the weekend around the feedback that we have received from the community that the event is aimed at.
We have been working with other events and organisations, and Manchester City Council to make sure our event can be a positive influence on the wider community and help bring a more inclusive atmosphere to the scene. We’ve created training videos for venue staff and our volunteers that gives information about kink and fetish, our ethos, safeguarding, signposting and reporting, playroom and dance floor etiquette, how to check up with safe words and how to interact in play situations that they feel are unsafe.
Which promotional activities were the most successful?
We have found that being a part of the community has been the best way for getting the word out. You may see us at events all over Manchester in our yellow latex!
Part of the reason we wanted to take this approach is that we get to meet the community and hear feedback face to face and get to know the people attending our event. Creating a sense of togetherness is an important aspect of this weekend for us.
What are your plans for future events?
We would love to take a smaller version of our event around the country to spread our message. We have registered interest for Edinburgh Fringe for 2025 along with Glastonbury Festival where we aim to have panel discussions, DJs, and performers. With fetish being so mainstream, we feel that it’s time to start talking about it, responsibly, at big mainstream events.
We want to grow the event and hopefully create a festival in Manchester to bring our city back to the forefront of inclusive fetish events.
So, what is the best way to buy tickets or get involved?
Directly through our website or via a link on all our social media @mancfetish
There we have our ticket links, and the links to our surveys!
Where can people find out more?
Website: https://manchesterfetishweekend.com/
Twitter @mancfetish
Insta @mancfetish
Fetlife @mancfetish
Facebook @mancfetish
