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Fnatic's "League of Legends" team won the first-ever League of Legends World Championship in 2011, and also holds the record for the most League of Legends Championship Series split titles in the LEC, totalling seven of the thirteen played so far. In the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split they became the first LCS team to finish a split undefeated. |
Fnatic's "Counter-Strike" team, which has traditionally been located in Sweden, is also considered one of the best in the video game series' history, having won three "Global Offensive" Majors and several other tournaments. |
The organization was founded on 23 July 2004 by Sam Mathews and Anne Mathews. After playing several years for Fnatic, Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, a Counter-Strike player, became the Chief Gaming Officer of Fnatic in 2012. Wouter Sleijffers replaced Anne Mathews as CEO in 2015, whilst Sam Mathews is the Board Chairman. |
Between 2008 and 2009, Fnatic was sponsored by MSI and SteelSeries, spurring a temporary name change to FnaticMSI. On 1 June 2011, Fnatic partnered with EIZO to launch their gaming monitors into the market. |
In 2006, Fnatic acquired a "World of Warcraft" team, Fnatic. WoW. Returning to represent Fnatic in the "World of Warcraft" 3v3 community was players TooGood, Vo0, and Ztrider. The Fnatic. WoW division won top finishes in events including BlizzCon, Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) and Major League Gaming (MLG). |
In 2007, Fnatic acquired a "DotA" team, Fnatic. DotA, represented by Ritter "Ritter" Rusli, Romi "melen" Gunawan, Ariyanto "Lakuci" Sony, Sugiarto "BaHaMuT" Cahyadi, Jeffry "Neo" Lu. They were formerly known as XcN DotA. |
In 2008, Fnatic picked up a new "DotA" team with a roster of Edvin "Kwom" Börjesson, Jonathan "Loda" Berg, Rasmus "Misery" Berth, Rene "Kebap-" Werner, and Aringazin "Aidar" Aidar. |
In 2010 FnaticMSI.HoN was restructured with a roster of Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, Henrik "Freshpro" Hansen, Jascha "Nova" Markuse, and Tal "Fly" Aizik. |
In January 2012, Fnatic took on "RaidCall" as a sponsor. With the new title sponsor, Fnatic expanded into South Korea and became the first non-Korean esports team to acquire a professional gaming house in Seoul. |
In 2012, Fnatic picked up the former GamersLeague "Dota 2" team in order to compete with other top teams. The team placed fourth in ESWC, but soon after, the team parted ways with Fnatic. |
In August 2014, Fnatic announced that it had partnered with Luke Millanta to produce a number of "Counter Strike: Global Offensive" weapon finishes. |
In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to "Dota 2", acquiring and sponsoring Team Malaysia. |
On 1 October 2015 sports betting website Dafabet became a sponsor of Fnatic. |
On 23 March 2017, Fnatic announced that it will be making a one-off return to "Heroes of Newerth" with an all-Swedish roster made up of Makke, iNsaniA, Xibbe, Boxi & miCKe and will compete at the HonTour Season 5 World Finals in Bangkok. On 2 April 2017, Fnatic became the champions of HonTour Season 5, defeating [MiXs] Phoenix MiXs on the grand finals. |
On 6 October 2017, Fnatic joined the competitive "Rocket League" scene after acquiring the former roster of "Leftovers". |
On 12 April 2018, Fnatic joined the competitive "Rainbow Six Siege" scene after acquiring the former roster of Mindfreak. |
The company has its headquarters in London, near the Silicon Roundabout at Old Street, with a full-time senior management team including a CEO, CGO, Sales Director, Accounts Director and Head of Creative Services. |
Fnatic also runs an independent digital agency, "Sannpa", for businesses looking to be involved in esports. |
In April 2019, Fnatic raised $19M in Series A funding round and restructured its leadership as it plans a major expansion in Asia and North America. |
In November 2019, Fnatic announced it had entered into a partnership with Japanese company Sanrio to collaborate on content and merchandise around its Hello Kitty brand. |
Source |
On 3 April 2018, Fnatic announced that it was entering and competing in the upcoming "Clash Royale" League. They finished 7th in the group stage. |
In "Clash Royale" League Season 2, Fnatic finished 4th in the Group Stage of West Region, thereby failing to qualify for finals. |
Fnatic entered the "Counter-Strike" competitive scene in 2004, when the team was founded by Freek "FraK" Tammeling. The initial roster, led by Benjamin "diGitaL" Hildén, managed to win CPL Singapore 2005 but struggled to make much of an impact at other international events. At the beginning of 2006, Fnatic released the entire lineup except for sniper Harley "dsn" Örwall, who was tasked to assemble a new roster. Örwall recruited Patrik "cArn" Sättermon, the in-game leader of Eyeballers; Oscar "Archi" Torgersen, from Team GoN; and Begrip duo Patrik "f0rest" Lindberg and Kristoffer "Tentpole" Nordlund. This lineup would go on to win many major events in 2006, culminating with a 1st-place finish at CPL Winter 2006. In 2011, Fnatic's "Counter-Strike" team placed top three in many events with their newly acquired player, Michael "Friis" Jørgensen. This simultaneously led to dropping many uncontracted players such as Qet ("Counter-Strike"), Lauke ("UT") and Vo0 ("Q3"). |
cArn gained a reputation as one of "Counter-Strike"'s premier in-game leaders and strategy callers from 2006-2012 due to his ability to lead several completely different Fnatic rosters to major tournament wins. However, in March 2012, he announced his surprise retirement before the IEM Season VI World Finals, going on to become the first Chief Gaming Officer (CGO) for Fnatic. Xizt took on the role of the in-game leader, replacing cArn with Finn "karrigan" Andersen, another Danish player. The new team won their first major LAN event at Copenhagen Games 2012. On the same weekend, FnaticRC.aLive won his first ever major tournament at IPL4 Las Vegas. |
After Fnatic CS won 2012 DreamHack Summer and the Swedish Championships, Rasmus "Gux" Stahl retired from "Counter-Strike", leaving an open spot in Fnatic. On 26 June, Fnatic announced that Martin "trace" Heldt will join the team. In August, Richard "Xizt" Landstorm left the team to play CS:GO for NiP; Emil "FYRR73" Karlsson was announced as his replacement. |
When Fnatic switched to "Counter Strike: Global Offensive", they became one of the top teams in the world. In order to complete the roster, Fnatic announced that Xyp9x & JOKERN will join them to compete in "Counter Strike: Global Offensive". The team was able to finish in the 3rd/4th position of the EMS Season 1 Finals. |
In late 2013, Fnatic won their first ever major tournament in "Counter Strike: Global Offensive", under the guidance of their new leader, Markus "pronax" Wallsten, taking out the team Ninjas in Pyjamas. In 2014, Fnatic took in 2 ex-LGB players, Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer and Freddy "KRIMZ" Johansson. They went on to win ESL One Katowice 2015 after defeating NiP, and on 24 August 2015, Fnatic won ESL One Cologne 2015, after defeating Team EnVyUs. Because of this roster's back-to-back major wins and 11 other international titles, some consider this Fnatic team to be the strongest roster ever assembled in the history of CS:GO. |
In November 2015, after a few disappointing tournament performances, pronax decided to take a hiatus from competitive CS:GO. He was replaced with Dennis "dennis" Edman from international team G2 Esports. In December 2015, Fnatic beat NiP 2-1 and secured their second Fragbite Masters win, the other being in season 3. Fnatic regained the #1 position in HLTV.org's team rankings after the tournament, and remain the #1 ranked team in the world until 18 April 2016. |
In April 2016 olofmeister hada wrist injury, and John "wenton" Eriksson took his place temporarily. |
On 15 August 2016 Fnatic announced that flusha, JW, and KRIMZ will be transferred to GODSENT and the team would be welcoming Twist and Lekr0 in return. Wenton, who is already a sub for Fnatic, will be completing the lineup. |
On 20–21 August 2017 Fnatic announced that olofmeister will depart from Fnatic join FaZe Clan, and dennis will also leave Fnatic and joined GODSENT; they would be replaced by Golden and Lekr0. |
As of December 2019, Fnatic's roster consists of JW, KRIMZ, Brollan, flusha and Golden. The latter two both rejoined Fnatic in September 2019. Since the roster move, Fnatic has enjoyed much success, winning Dreamhack Master Malmo, placing second at Starladder Starseries I-League Season 8, and placing third to fourth at the ECS season 8 finals, after losing to Team Liquid in the semi-finals. |
Bold denotes a CS:GO Major |
On 30 March 2012, Fnatic's "Heroes of Newerth" team, consisting of Johan "N0tail" Sundstein, Jascha "NoVa" Markuse, Tal "Fly" Aizik, and Adrian "Era" Kryeziu officially switched to "Dota 2". By early September of the same year, a roster was finalized with the addition of Kai "H4nn1" Hanbückers and Kalle "Trixi" Saarinen, the latter of whom replaced Jascha "NoVa" Markuse. |
In 2014, Fnatic parted ways with its "Dota 2" squad with each member deciding to leave the organization. |
In 2015, Fnatic announced a return to "Dota 2", acquiring the roster of Team Malaysia. |
Fnatic placed 4th at The International 2016. |
Fnatic entered the "League of Legends" scene in March 2011 by acquiring the roster of the esports team myRevenge. Two months later, the squad consisting of xPeke, LaMiaZeaLoT, Shushei, CyanideFI, Mellisan and MagicFingers qualified for the Season 1 World Championship after WetDream left. Fnatic performed well during the championship and after taking down against All authority 2-1 they were crowned the Season 1 world champions. |
In season 2 and the preseason before it, the team participated in the Intel Extreme Masters Season VI circuit and Azubu The Champions Spring 2012, where they reached the quarter finals. After that, the team lost many of its players. Between June and September 2012, Shuhei, Mellisan, Pheilox, and Lamia moved on and were replaced by sOAZ, and nRated. Among these roster changes the team did not manage to qualify for the Season 2 World Championship after losing the deciding series in the Regional Finals with 0-2 against Counter Logic Gaming EU. |
In the Season 3 preseason Rekkles was recruited and Fnatic won DreamHack Winter 2012, finished second at IPL 5 in Las Vegas and IEM Season VII – Global Challenge Cologne. |
Rekkles did not meet the minimal age requirements for Riot's Season 3 League Championship Series and was replaced by YellOwStaR on 26 December. |
In 2013, Fnatic won the Spring Split of Season 3, but during the Summer Split, the team struggled and decided that a player change was necessary. In July 2013, Fnatic announced changes to their League of Legends roster. nRated, the main support, left the team and YellOwstaR, the former AD carry, switched roles to play support. Puszu then joined the team in their Cologne gaming house to finish Season 3 as Fnatic's AD Carry. Fnatic later won the Season 3 Summer Split and qualified for the World Championship in Los Angeles, California. |
During the Group Stage of the Season 3 World finals, Fnatic went into the quarter-finals against Cloud9, considered the best team in North America at the time. After defeating Cloud9 2–1, Fnatic advanced to the semi-finals against Royal Club Huang Zu. They later lost against Royal Club and placed tied for third place. |
In the 2014 season Rekkles rejoined the team and Fnatic secured their third LCS title after defeating SK Gaming in the playoffs final of the Spring Split. The Summer Split saw Fnatic struggle against Alliance in another playoffs final but even after losing the match, Fnatic had collected enough points to qualify for the 2014 World Championship. |
The World Championship saw Fnatic placed in Group C with Samsung Blue, OMG, and LMQ. The team was only able to win 2 out of 6 matches, meaning that they would go no further in the tournament. |
In the 2015 preseason sOAZ, Rekkles, xPeke and Cyanide left Fnatic and were replaced by Huni, Reignover, Febiven, and Steeelback. |
Fnatic won the 2015 Spring Split, after beating the Unicorns of Love on 19 April 2015 in Madrid, Spain in the playoffs grand final that went 3-2 in favor of Fnatic. They would later attend the Mid Seasonal Invitational, an international competition attended by the top teams of each region. They went 2–3 in the group stage and made it to the playoffs. They were matched against former world champion SK Telecom T1, to whom they lost 2–3. |
In the 2015 EU LCS Summer Split, Fnatic became the first LCS team to complete a regular split undefeated, finishing with a score of 18 wins and 0 losses. They would go on to win the 2015 EU Summer Split Playoffs, beating Origen 3-2, and qualifying for the 2015 League of Legends World Championships as the #1 seed from Europe. |
In the 2015 "League of Legends" World Championship, Fnatic won Group B in the group stage with a 4–2 record. In the quarterfinals they defeated the Chinese team EDward Gaming with a score of 3-0. In the semifinal they ended up losing to the Korean team KOO Tigers with a score of 0–3, giving them a third/fourth-place finish in the tournament. |
The 2016 preseason saw the departure of Huni, Reignover and Yellowstar from the team. It was then announced that they would be replaced by Spirit, Gamsu and NoxiaK. |
In the 2016 Spring Split the team struggled to find its footing at first but the replacement of NoxiaK by Klaj saw an improved Fnatic make it to the final of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice where they lost 0-3 against SKT T1. The team finished the split in sixth place and made it to the playoffs where they upset Team Vitality 3-1 before losing to eventual champions G2 Esports 3-1 in the semifinals. They then defeated H2k Gaming 3-2 to secure third place overall. |
A month later, Fnatic announced the return of Yellowstar to the lineup for the 2016 Spring Split. |
On 13 May 2016, Fnatic announced the departure of Noh Yeong-Jin, better known as Gamsu, from the starting line-up. Gamsu had been with the team for 7 months, joining alongside his Korean counterpart and friend, Dayun "Spirit" Lee, at the start of the 2016 season. Together, the team battled against the odds to reach the Grand Final of IEM Katowice as well as clinching 3rd place in the LCS Spring Split. He was replaced by former G2 Esports top laner Mateusz "Kikis" Szkudlarek, after stepping down from their main roster. Kikis debuted with Fnatic during the start of the 8th week of the EU LCS. Fnatic finished the 2016 EU LCS Summer Split regular season in 4th after a playoff match against H2k-Gaming. They would go on to play H2k again in the playoffs. In between the two fixtures, Fnatic parted ways with head coach Luis "Deilor" Sevilla and replaced him with Nicholas "NicoThePico" Korsgård. After their series against H2k was delayed due to technical issues, H2k defeated Fnatic 3-0 on 16 August 2016. |
On 18 October 2019, Fnatic entered the "PUBG Mobile" scene after signing the roster of Indian team XSpark. Following the acquisition, Fnatic announced plans to construct a gaming facility in India. |
On 12 April 2018, Fnatic signed their first "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege" team just days before the Season 7 APAC (Asia Pacific) Finals where they placed first, beating Japanese rivals, PET Nora-Rengo. Fnatic acquired the former Australian roster of Mindfreak. The original roster consisted of Matthew "Acez" McHenry, Jason "Lusty" Chen, Etienne "Magnet" Rousseau, Daniel "NeophyteR" An, Ethan "RizRaz" Wombwell, and Jayden "Dizzle" Saunders as coach. |
On 19 May 2018, Fnatic went out in the quarter finals of the Season 7 Finals losing to eventual champions Team Liquid. On 17 November 2018, Fnatic unexpectedly beat top North American team, Evil Geniuses 2-0 in a stunning upset in the Season 8 Finals. The following day, Fnatic fell to G2 Esports without winning a single round in either of the played maps, losing 6-0, 6-0, and placing 3-4th in the event. |
On 30 November 2018, Fnatic signed Jake "Virtue" Grannan as a sixth player after having their coach, Dizzle, substitute for Magnet after he contracted appendicitis, leaving Fnatic a man down in the Season 8 Finals. Virtue officially replaced NeophyteR after the latter left in early March 2019 after having Virtue play for him on many events since his signing. On 12 March 2019, Fnatic signed Ryan "Speca" Ausden as a sixth player after Virtue filled NeophyteR's spot. On 19 May 2019, Fnatic placed 3-4th in the Season 9 Finals after beating their rivals, PET Nora-Rengo in the quarter finals but losing to eventual champions Team Empire. Fnatic placed 13-16th in the Six Major Raleigh 2019, falling to both DarkZero Esports and FaZe Clan without taking a single map. At the Season 10 APAC Finals, Singaporean Aerowolf upset against Fnatic, winning 2-1 and stopping Fnatic from qualifying to the Season 10 Finals and possibly prevented them from reaching the Six Invitational 2020. |
After a disappointing result at the Season 10 APAC Finals, RizRaz and Speca both left, with the former retiring from competitive "Rainbow Six Siege". They were replaced by Tex "Tex" Thompson from fellow Australian Pro League team, Team Sinister, and the only notable Chinese player in "Rainbow Six Siege," Patrick "MentalistC" Fan from Aerowolf. |
On 8 November 2014, Fnatic signed its first Smite team, acquiring the roster of Exposed Secrets. The team made it to the semifinals of the Season 1 EU regional Championship but did not manage to qualify for the SMITE World Championship. On 23 December 2014 the team disbanded. |
On 6 March 2015 Fnatic announced signing the roster of SK Gaming. The team competed in the Smite Pro League and finished 5th in the Summer Finals, winning $18,250. |
For the Season 3 Spring Split, Fnatic announced the addition of BigManTingz and Jiffy to the team after Badgah and CaptainTwig left at the start of 2016. The team finished the season in 8th place with an 8-20 record. |
The Fnatic SMITE team disbanded on 18 July 2016. |
In November 2012, Fnatic announced that they picked up a "ShootMania Storm" team. The team recruited Kévin "Strenx" Baéza, a former member of their previous "Quake" team, as well as two new players, Maikel "LeKaiM" Peeters and Jean Pierre "JiePie" Janssen. The trio won numerous small cups, and the Shootmania Launch Party, where they won $30,000. In December, Christoffer "Luxxiz" Losell joined the team after the departure of LeKaiM. |
On 8 January 2014 Fnatic announced the departure of their ShootMania squad and the closure of their Shootmania division, stating a decline in quantity and quality of ShootMania tournaments as the main reason. |
With DXRacer joining the list of sponsors, Fnatic decided to expand to Korea. On 19 March 2012 they announced that they would open a Fnatic Gaming House in Seoul. They became the first foreign team to establish a permanent training facility for players in Seoul. |
Fnatic then acquired several talented players from the Korean StarCraft II scene. In January, "DeParture" and Warcraft legend "Moon", and "aLive" moved into the gaming house. They were coached by Hwanni, who also joined Fnatic that month. Later, OZ and Luvsic signed a contract with Fnatic. In 2012, Rain announced his retirement and left the team, followed by Byul, Ares and Moon. Only two players were left in Korea, forcing Fnatic to announce their closure of their gaming house in Seoul and the end of their contracts with aLive and OZ. Harstem was later promoted from the Academy to the main roster, and the team picked up SaSe, another well known player in the scene. |
In 2008, Fnatic picked up Maximo12, a Spanish "FIFA" football video game player who won several titles in 2008 & 2009, such as the WCG Spain Champion in 2008. |
= = = Celcius (album) = = = |
Celcius a compilation album by rapper Tech N9ne, it was released by Midwestside Records after Tech N9ne parted ways with the label. It contains a collection of songs he had previously recorded while still with the label, most unreleased until this point, though it also contains 3 songs where Tech does not appear. |
"He Wanna Be Paid" had previously been released on the 0 to 60 Records compilation "Midwest Mobbin" under the title "Get Yo Paper". "Boss Doggs" is a remix of the song "Boss Doggin" from the 57th Street Rogue Dog ' album "My Dogs For Life" while "Sprung" makes an appearance after appearing on the "Live From The Ghetto" compilation where it appeared under the title of "Blank Zone", a misspelling of the actual name, "Biank Zone." "Be Warned" was a title track to his 2000 album that got shelved. |
= = = Amigos School = = = |
The Amigos School or La Escuela Amigos School, is a dual-language immersion bilingual Kindergarten to eighth (k-8) school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The Spanish-immersion program began in 1986 at the Maynard School and became an autonomous school within the Cambridge Public School District in 2001. |
The Amigos School began as a Spanish immersion program in 1986 at the Maynard School. During the 1990s it outgrew its allotted space at the Maynard building, housing its K-3 students at Maynard and grades 4-8 at the Robert F. Kennedy School building until the grades were consolidated at Kennedy. |
The program became an autonomous school within the Kennedy School building in 2001 by a vote of the Cambridge School Committee. Marla Pérez-Selles, assistant director of the Cambridge Public School District's bilingual program, was appointed the first principal of the school. |
Bilingual students housed at the Longfellow School were incorporated with Amigos in 2002 and in the 2003-04 academic year, as a result of the School Consolidation Plan passed by the Cambridge School Committee, the Amigos School moved to the King School building. As a result of the 2012 Cambridge School reorganization The Amigos School moved to 15 Upton Street, Cambridge, MA. Subsequent to this reorganization it remains the sole K-8 school in the district. |
The Amigos School uses a dual-language immersion model, which gives students half of their instruction in English and the other half in Spanish. The three major goals of the Amigos School are that all students become bilingual and bi-literate, develop cross cultural understanding, and provide an environment for families to share their cultural heritage. |
The school enjoys a high level of community involvement in day-to-day activities at the school, such as Harvard's CityStep, "reading buddies" who visit the school weekly to read aloud to students. |
After school programs are offered through the Community School to the community and students at the Amigos School. Other activities include Science Club for Girls, The School of Honk, and a CitySprouts garden. |
= = = Mad Pride = = = |
Mad Pride is a mass movement of the users of mental health services, former users, and the aligned, and that individuals with mental illness should be proud of their 'mad' identity. It was formed in 1993 in response to local community prejudices towards people with a psychiatric history living in boarding homes in the Parkdale area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and an event has been held every year since then in the city except for 1996. A similar movement began around the same time in the United Kingdom. By the late 1990s similar events were being organized under the Mad Pride name around the globe, including Australia, Ireland, Portugal, Brazil, Madagascar, South Africa and the United States. Events draw thousands of participants, according to MindFreedom International, a United States mental health advocacy organization that promotes and tracks events spawned by the movement. |
Mad Pride activists seek to reclaim terms such as "mad", "nutter", and "psycho" from misuse, such as in tabloid newspapers and in order to switch it from a negative view into a positive view. Through a series of mass media campaigns, Mad Pride activists seek to re-educate the general public on such subjects as the causes of mental disabilities, the experiences of those using the mental health system, and the global suicide pandemic. One of Mad Pride's founding activists in the UK was Pete Shaughnessy, who later died by suicide. Mark Roberts, Robert Dellar (who died in 2016) and Simon Barnet were among the other founders of the movement. "Mad Pride: A celebration of mad culture" records the early Mad Pride movement. "On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System", published in 1978 by Judi Chamberlin, is a foundational text in the Mad Pride movement, although it was published before the movement was launched. |
The first known event, specifically organized as a Pride event by people who identified as survivors, consumers or ex-patients of psychiatric practices, was held on 18 September 1993, when it was called "Psychiatric Survivor Pride Day". |
Mad Studies grew out of Mad Pride and survivor thinking, and focuses on developing scholarly thinking around "mental health" by academics who self-identify as mad. As noted in "Mad matters: a critical reader in Canadian mad studies" (LeFrançois, Menzies and Reaume, 2013), "Mad Studies can be defined in general terms as a project of inquiry, knowledge production, and political action devoted to the critique and transcendence of psy-centred ways of thinking, behaving, relating, and being". As a book, Mad Matters' offers a critical discussion of mental health and madness in ways that demonstrate the struggles, oppression, resistance, agency and perspectives of Mad people to challenge dominant understandings of ‘mental illness’". ""Mad Studies" is a growing, evolving, multi-voiced and interdisciplinary field of activism, theory, praxis and scholarship." |
Mad Pride was launched alongside a book of the same name, "Mad Pride: A celebration of mad culture", published in 2000. On May 11, 2008, Gabrielle Glaser documented Mad Pride in "The New York Times". Glaser stated, "Just as gay-rights activists reclaimed the word queer as a badge of honor rather than a slur, these advocates proudly call themselves mad; they say their conditions do not preclude them from productive lives." |
Elizabeth Packard (1816-1897) was deemed insane by her husband as she did not agree with his conservative political views. In Illinois at the time, involuntary admission to an asylum did not require a public hearing so long as it was a husband admitting his wife. Due to this, Packard was institutionalized though she saw herself to be sane. In Packard’s lifetime to be labeled as ‘mad’ was a form of social disapproval. However, she felt solidarity among Mad people due to her experience in the institution. Though she did not personally identify as Mad and had to identify as ‘sane’ in order to be an activist, it is here that we see early forms of organizing from ex-patients. |
The Mad Pride movement has spawned recurring cultural events in Toronto, London, Dublin and other cities around the world. These events often include music, poetry readings, film screenings, and street theatre, such as "bed push" protests, which aim to raise awareness about the poor levels of choice of treatments and the widespread use of force in psychiatric hospitals. Past events have included British journalist Jonathan Freedland, and popular novelist Clare Allan. Mad Pride cultural events take a variety of forms, such as the South London collective Creative Routes, the Chipmunka Publishing enterprise, and the many works of Dolly Sen. |
A Bed Push is a method of activism employed by multiple mental health agencies and advocates as a method of raising awareness about psychiatric care. Activists wheel a gurney through public spaces to provoke discussion about mental health care. Mind Freedom has a recipe for a successful Bed Push on their website, urging participants to remain peaceful but also be seen by blowing horns, slightly disrupting traffic and playing music. Often patients in psychiatric care feel silenced and powerless, showing resilience in the face of that and securing visibility is a method of regaining dignity. |
Mad Pride Week in Toronto is proclaimed as such by the city itself. The festivities surrounding this week are highlighted by the Mad Pride Bed Push, typically on the 14th of July. The event takes place Toronto’s Queen Street West “to raise public awareness about the use of force and lack of choice for people ensnared in the Ontario mental health system” This week is officially run by Toronto Mad Pride which partners a number of mental health agencies in the city. In recent years, some advocates have pushed for Parkdale, Toronto to be renamed MAD! Village, to reclaim pride in its surrounding communities' long history of struggle with mental health and addictions. |
A series of bed push events take place around London each year. |
The Psychiatric Patient Built Wall Tours take place in Toronto, ON at the CAMH facility on Queen St West. The tours show the patient built walls from the 19th century that are located at present day CAMH. The purpose of the tours is to give a history on the lives of the patients who built the walls, and bring attention to the harsh realities of psychiatry. |
Geoffrey Reaume and Heinz Klein first came up with the idea of walking tours as part of a Mad Pride event in 2000. The first wall tour occurred on what is now known as Mad Pride Day, on July 14, 2000, with an attendance of about fifty people. Reaume solely leads the tours, and they have grown from annual events for Mad Pride, to occurring several times throughout the year in all non-winter months. |
= = = Smithfield, Queensland = = = |