About Us
Mission
The Rose City Pride Bands is a welcoming space for members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community to forge connections through music. We cultivate a network of instrumentalists, music enthusiasts, and members of the LGBTQ+ community to entertain audiences and use music as a vehicle to unify our communities.
We believe music empowers communities to collectively build harmonious societies.
History
The Rose City Pride Bands was founded in 1990 as the Rose City Gay Freedom Band. Our first official public appearance, at the pride parade on the park blocks, involved perhaps ten musicians—a group so small that our first director sat on a chair and conducted with one hand while playing his tuba with the other. By the fall of 1991, the band had grown to include a forty-piece concert band and a well-stocked swing band, while the marching band continued to grow in size and in presence.
In the last 35 years, our musicians have performed for hundreds of thousands of people in dozens of venues across the metro area. We continue to uplift our community by performing boldly, intentionally, and authentically at arts centers, local schools, dance halls, concert venues, town squares, and more. As an active member of the Pride Bands Alliance, our members regularly attend their annual conferences and serve on their Board of Directors and various committees.
In 2019, in an effort to be more inclusive, the Rose City Gay Freedom Band became known as the Rose City Pride Bands. We celebrated our 35th anniversary season in 2024–2025, and in our 36th season, we launched the Rose City Symphonic Band, our first new ensemble in more than three decades.
Associations
The Rose City Pride Bands is a proud member of the Pride Bands Alliance, an international musical organization of LGBTQ+ community concert and marching bands. Founded in 1982, Pride Bands Alliance promotes Music, Visibility and Pride by connecting and supporting LGBTQ+ community bands and stimulating public interest in the unique art form of community bands in our culture.
The Rose City Pride Bands is a proud member of the Association of Concert Bands, a nonprofit that supports adult concert, community, and municipal bands. The Association of Concert Bands was formed in 1977 to foster excellence in concert band music through performance, education, and advocacy.
