London’s multi-award-winning LGBT literary salon Polari turns ten on November 24 with a special event at London’s Southbank Centre.
Paul Burston
Founded in 2007 in a bar in Soho, Polari moved to the Southbank in 2009 and also tours regularly, funded by Arts Council England.
Described by the Huffington Post as:“the most exciting literary movement in London, crackling with energy, ideas, excitement” and by the New York Times as “London’s most theatrical salon”, Polari is curated and hosted by author Paul Burston.
The salon is marking ten years of championing LGBT+ voices with its largest ever tour, funded by Arts Council England and taking in 16 towns and cities around the UK including Bradford, Dublin, Edinburgh, Hull and Newcastle.
Among the many writers appearing are Val McDermid, Neil Bartlett, Stella Duffy, Jake Arnott, David McAlmont and Rosie Garland.
The Tenth Birthday Party at Southbank Centre on November 24 forms the centrepiece of the tour and featuries Jonathan Harvey, Alexis Gregory, J Fergus Evans and many more.
Event: Polari Literary Salon Tenth Birthday
Where: Weston Pavilion, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London
Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool to showcase Perry’s dresses in the first display of its kind in the UK.
Grayson Perry outside Liverpool Walker Art Gallery: Photo by Gareth Jones
Dresses belonging to the artist Grayson Perry will be exhibited at Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery in the first display of its kind to be held in the UK.
Making Himself Claire: Grayson Perry’s Dresses runs from November 4 2017 to February 4, 2018 and will showcase 12 dresses, including the Bo Peep dress worn by Perry when he won the Turner Prize in 2003.
The free display explores Perry’s interest in cross-dressing, which has been part of his life since childhood. For the artist, the experience and its underlying eroticism are bound up with the formation of his psycho-sexual identity and his creative drive.
Perry has said:“I think of my dressing up as the heraldry of my subconscious.”
Since 2004, Perry has primarily worn dresses designed by the fashion students at London’s Central St Martins. They take part in an annual competition to create new designs. He then judges their work, awards prizes and purchases up to 20 of their creations every year.
Perry says: “I encourage them to make the dresses as bizarre and exciting as they can.”
Grayson Perry outside Liverpool Walker Art Gallery: Photo by Gareth Jones
Essex-born Perry calls his transvestite alter ego Claire and considers November 5, 1975 to be Claire’s birthday. While he didn’t adopt the name until later, when he began to visit transvestite clubs, it was on this date that, aged fifteen, he first walked around his local village wearing a chiffon headscarf over an auburn wig, a brown polyester blouse and a dog-tooth checked skirt, black court shoes and a beige mac.
Perry has described Claire’s earliest manifestations as a conventional ‘Essex housewife’ or ‘newsreader’ type. Later, finding being able to ‘pass’ as a woman no longer rewarding, he developed more flamboyant outward expressions for Claire, tapping into aspects of femininity that he had reached out for since childhood.
Pauline Rushton, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts at National Museums Liverpool, said:“Visitors who enjoyed Grayson Parry’s touring exhibition The Vanity of Small Differences at the Walker in 2014 will be familiar with the artist’s ability to explore complex social issues in a relatable, witty and engaging way.
“It is fascinating to see how themes of identity, social status, sexuality and religion are represented in a variety of symbols across Claire’s dresses, along with Perry’s own personal iconography. We’re sure that visitors will love seeing the dresses up-close and examining the detail represented.”
In his own work, Perry works with traditional media such as ceramics, cast iron, bronze, printmaking and tapestry. He uses their seductive qualities to make stealthy comments about society, including its pleasure, injustices and flaws, and to explore a variety of historical and contemporary themes.
Where: Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EL
When: From November 4 2017 to February 4, 2018
Time: Open daily 10am-5pm
Cost: Free entry
For more information about Walker Art Gallery, click here:
Sussex Beacon charity shops on St James Street and London Road get in the Halloween spirit with a secret auction for a range of weird and wonderful items displayed in their windows.
As well as traditional Halloween decorations, the St James street shop window has an old apothecary style cabinet with jars and lights. The London Road store has a mad scientist lab display complete with a bubbling crocodile head in ‘formaldehyde.’
Items up for grabs include electric static energy balls, old Victorian magnifying glasses, books, bell jars and stuffed crows!
All the items in the window are included in the auction. Bids are placed in a sealed box until Halloween, when the box is opened and the highest bidders are revealed.
Simon Dowe
Simon Dowe, CEO at Sussex Beacon said:“Our Halloween Auction is amazing! If you’re looking for something unique, bizarre or a talking point, there are plenty of things to choose from. Even better, the winning bids will go towards our vital work, supporting people living with HIV across Sussex. It’s a great cause, so we hope to see plenty of people ‘coffin’ up.”
So if you want to have the willies put up you this Halloween get yourself along to one of the Sussex Beacon Charity Shops at 130 St James Street Kemptown or 72-73 London Road.
For more information about the Sussex Beacon, click here:
After 17 years as a main stay of the Brighton LGBT+ commercial scene, Charles Street bar will be holding a closing down party from 7.30pm on Sunday, November 12 called “Sally says – Drink Us Dry!” with special guest cabaret from Cinebra.
The venue will then close to the public for the following four weeks to undergo a major refurbishment.
Chris Marshall
Chris Marshall the General Manager, said:“When Charles Street first opened back in 2000, it caused quite a stir and quickly became known for its decor and premium products and service – so in many ways we’re going to take it back to its roots.”
The venue reopens as the Charles Street Tap on the evening of Monday, December 11, with a VIP launch weekend from Friday December 15 to Sunday December 17.
Chris continued:“We’re going to keep on doing what we’re so proud of, such as award-winning cabaret and DJ nights – but we’re going to add so much more – hence the name change, or rather addition. It’s going to be the same venue but in many ways also a new LGBT+ venue!”
As the name suggests Charles Street Tap will specialise in craft beers and ales, but also premium gin and cocktails. There will be an extensive new food menu served from 10am to 10pm daily.
But what of the refurb itself? Well, Chris is keeping his cards close to his chest at the moment. “It’s going to be a quite a surprise I think for a lot of people – it’s far from just a lick of paint as you would expect from a four-week close and there’s going to be lots of changes and additions to the bar. We’re covering everything from the basement toilets right up through the building and outside too! We’ll be almost doubling the amount of seating, which has meant quite a bit of creativity from the designers to achieve – but its pretty impressive what they’ve done I have to say. It’s going to be very Brighton!”
The Brighton Hove LGBT Community Safety Forum (B&H LGBT CSF) has its Annual General Meeting tonight at the Queens Hotel, 1-3 Kings Road, Brighton at 7pm.
Guest speak for the evening will beMelinda King, Communities Coordinator from the Partnership Community Safety Team who will take questions at the end of her presentation.
The current B&H LGBT CSF work plan will be discussed as well as plans for the future along with presentation of the treasurers report and a discussion about policy and procedures.
Billie Lewis
Billie Lewis, Chair of the Forum said:“Elections for posts on the B&H LGBT CSF committee will also take place tonight. If you wish to stand for committee arrive at the meeting early and register your interest with the secretary.
“We’re here to bring together the many LGBT+ groups across the city under the one umbrella of ‘Community Safety and Inclusion’. Only by combining our efforts and working together can we become a more powerful voice for the LGBT+ communities which will enable us to achieve so much more.”
B&H LGBT CSF is an established independent LGBT+ forum of eight elected unpaid volunteers working with the + Communities to address and improve safety and access issues throughout Brighton & Hove.
The forum undertakes cultural, educational and social safety community activities and any type of LGBT community/inclusion and accessibility initiatives.
The LGBT Community Safety Forum was formed to give the community a much-needed voice on a wide range of safety issues in Brighton and Hove and to serve as a bridge between the LGBT+ communities and statutory service providers such as the city council and Sussex Police, to enable there to be more accountability and transparency of the services they provide.
It’s very much a forum where members of the public can have their say and can ask direct questions to those in charge of community safety in the city.
For more information and to download the agenda and company accounts, click here:
If you have not moved home in the Brighton area over the last few years, then you probably won’t have noticed that he’s been away.
Shaun Johnson
The combination of the panic that comes from turning 40, along with an opportunity presenting itself to explore a different way of life, meant bye-bye England and hello Norway for Shaun Johnson who for many years ran his company Man with a Van in Brighton offering a bespoke removal service to the LGBT community.
Shaun says several years of living in a different culture and certainly a different climate has been a fantastic life experience for him but, is the grass greener on the other side?
He says: “No, in fact there is a distinct shortage of grass. Trees, rock and fjords are in abundance, snow can be plentiful, but beautiful green rolling countryside is in short supply.”
He found dealing with a proper winter was easier than expected. The properties have decent insulation and underfloor heating. The car had an engine pre-heater, which was handy when the temperatures were down to –20c. The air was dry and the snow was fluffy. Weather is no surprise; therefore, the nation is geared up to cope with it. Winter tyres are law and snow ploughs are everywhere, there is no excuse for not getting to work. On a bad day, public transport can be up to a couple of minutes late!
Norwegians are well paid, enjoy a solid welfare system, and overall, have a relatively high material standard of life. However, he found the quality and choice of food in the supermarket was dreadful, and the cost of alcohol, criminal.
After several years of adventure, making new friends and even quitting smoking, the great food and stunning countryside of Sussex beckoned and Shaun has returned to his roots.
Feeling refreshed and energised, www.man-with-a-van.com is now open again for business and getting down to some decent hard work with removals in Brighton once again.
He says: “Give us a call, after all, we have been established since 1999.”
To contact the Man with a Van telephone 07754 669457
Bear-Patrol and the Bedford Tavern raised £305.56 for MindOut the LGBTQ Mental Health Service at the Abigail’s Party fundraiser on October 6.
Adam, the owner of the Bedford Tavern, playing the role of Beverley to perfection, served cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks, quiche, nuts and olives and following a disaster in the kitchen with the vol au vents, prawn mayonnaise on french bread, as everyone watched the iconic drama on big screens. Special thanks to the volunteer buckets shakers on the night, Graeme Atack and David Crow who made sure everyone put their hands in their pockets and contributed to a good cause.
Rainbow Chorus volunteers recently responded to a call-out from Lunch Positive, the HIV Charity, to help prepare a fundraising buffet feeding 250 people.
The buffet for Sussex Partnership NHS Trust Member’s meeting on November 19, raised £2,000 for Lunch Positive, the weekly HIV Lunch Club that provides a healthy community meal, peer support, advice and information, and a safe and supportive social space for people with HIV.
Ten volunteers from Rainbow Chorus enthusiastically responded, and joined together with Lunch Positive volunteers, members and supporters to provide sixteen freshly prepared cold dishes, all of which had a real wow factor at the event, with diners all commenting on how fantastic the food was!
We are so grateful to Rainbow Chorus who responded so brilliantly to our call-out for help preparing this buffet. This is the largest event we have catered for. It has been an important fundraiser for us, and the Rainbow Chorus support meant not only that we could successfully fulfil the order for food, but importantly that our own volunteer team had the available time and capacity to fundraise for such a large event whilst still preparing and delivering the weekly HIV lunch club at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church.
It was fantastic working with Rainbow Chorus volunteers. They are such a cooperative, enthusiastic and happy group of people, and a real pleasure to spend time with. They worked so very hard, and we are hugely grateful. This response to our call-out is a genuine example of how community responds when there’s a need.
There are still alarming and unacceptable rates of undiagnosed HIV and late diagnoses, which perpetuate the spread of HIV in the UK.
However, there remains a powerful tool that could help stop the epidemic in its tracks: the HIV test.
During National HIV Testing Week, co-ordinated by Terrence Higgins Trust (THT), the charity wants to create a culture shift so that regular testing becomes the norm in every community.
People who know their HIV status, with early detection and effective treatment, can live long and healthy lives with the virus. Taking treatment for HIV lowers the amount of virus in your blood to ‘undetectable’ levels, which stops it from damaging the immune system and means the virus cannot be passed on to other people.
But, too many people are missing out on HIV tests – perhaps due to fear of the result, or the assumption that they’re not at risk. HIV remains an issue for everyone.
Aaron, who by day lives on a canal barge out in the countryside, and by night is Vicki Vivacious, the queen of drag, a star in Soho, is one of the new faces of National HIV Testing Week, and sharing his story of regularly testing.
“I regularly get tested for HIV, and I remember my first one like it was yesterday,”says Aaron. “I was 17 and it was scary because it was the unknown. I didn’t know what to expect and I was worried what other people might say if it was positive. But now I know it’s so much better to test and know.
“I want to be a part of this campaign to help spread awareness and educate people. I work on the scene, and so I hope by having people in the campaign that people know and relate to, we can send them a message and get them testing.”
HIV testing is free, fast, confidential and has never been easier. You can test in a hospital, sexual health clinic, at a community event, by post, or even at home.
Give HIV the finger: a finger prick test is all it takes.
National HIV Testing Week commences November 18, 2017.
To find out where to get a free HIV test, or order a HIV self-test kit, click here:
It’s that time of year which beckons in a host of special sights, smells and, of course, sounds which the Rainbow Chorus fresh from their appearance on the BBC One Show, invite you to experience—from the seasonal to the not-so-seasonal!
The Sound of Christmas can mean different things to different people. Perhaps for you it’s the sound of good old Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire as flurrying snowflakes create a White Christmas and Jingle Bells ring in the air?
Or maybe you prefer the Sound of Silence while you enjoy the Twelve Days of Christmas with your special Somebody to Love. Either way, a night with the Rainbow Chorus will feel like a Bridge Over Troubled Water that promises to Fix You—or at least calm the Windmills of Your Mind.
Go along and hear their take on the Sound of Christmas and we hope you’ll leave Feeling Good and even Feeling Groovy!
Event: Rainbow Chorus presents The Sound of Christmas
Where: St George’s Church, St George’s Road, Brighton, BN2 1ED
When: Saturday, December 9
Time: 7.30pm
Cost: Tickets £14/10 concessions – £7 under 12s
To book tickets online, click here: http://bpt.me/3115934
However, there remains a powerful tool that could help stop the epidemic in its tracks: the HIV test.
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