Room For Love a new exhibition of Pride posters from artists and illustrators who are part of the They Made This collective, launch at their new pop-up print shop on Brighton’s Dukes Lane to kick off Pride celebrations on Saturday, August 3.
THE exhibition will feature twenty Pride designs from 20 artists, featuring names such as Morag Myerscough, Camille Walala and Supermundane. Each design has been created specifically for this exhibition, and will be available to buy to raise money for the akt (Albert Kennedy Trust) – a national LGBT+ youth homelessness charity, providing safe homes and better futures for LGBT+ young people.
Throughout the launch on Saturday, August 3, They Made This will transform the Dukes Lane community into a chill-out family friendly space for Pride, with fundraising activities to raise money for akt.
Creator of They Made This, Aine Donovan, will be on hand running screen printing and craft activities. Makeup touch-ups will be available from the team at Bare Minerals, and Aveda will be on hand with the glitter.
There will be a chance to win a pair of Dr Martens, which will be hand-customised by artist Ben Chisnall with a portrait of any Pride hero of your choice. For the adults, Holly’s Kitchen have created a rainbow Pride themed cocktail to enjoy out in the courtyard, where a DJ will be providing a camp disco soundtrack for the day.
The day will be geared around celebrating Pride in Brighton, and to raise money for the akt.
The They Made This store will be open until September, but the artists have left their mark on Dukes Lane, with a permanent colourful Pride mural emblazoning the phrase We’re all Brighton lovers – designed and painted by artist couple, Rude.
Model, activist and social campaigner Munroe Bergdorf tells how a University of Brighton lecturer saved her life.
Munroe Bergdorf: Photo by Simon Dack
MUNROE, who regularly appears on TV to comment on race, diversity, gender and LGBT+ issues, was battling severe depression, an eating disorder and had “so much sadness, anger and confusion inside of me” until she received an email from Dr Jessica Moriarty, Principal Lecturer in the University’s School of Humanities.
Munroe, who was studying English Language and Media at the time, was speaking after being made an Honorary Doctor of Letters at the University’s graduation ceremonies at the Brighton Centre today (July 30).
The email asked why she hadn’t been attending lectures and, she said:“it most probably saved my life – I hadn’t been attending lectures because I was extremely ill. I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping.
“I stepped into Jess’s office and I could see her face drop. I was painfully thin. I can’t even begin to describe how lost I was at that point. How desperate I was to put into words what was going on inside me to help it make sense.
“From that point on, Jess helped me to start helping myself. She encouraged me to own the hurt I was feeling and put it into my work.
“She helped me to develop the skills that I now use every day within my activism, my writing and beyond. She helped me to communicate how I have felt, how I feel and allowed me to connect with how others may be feeling.
“If it wasn’t for those meetings in Jess’s office. If it wasn’t for the kindness, understanding and patience that she showed me when I needed it. I probably wouldn’t be here today.
“So I would like to dedicate this doctorate to Jess, for being the most incredible role model I could ever wished for (she’s probably crying now and I’m definitely going to cry soon) and giving me your time and understanding in some seriously dark times.”
Munroe, who received her award for her major contributions to transgender issues, was assigned as male when born but, was never comfortable with her gender and described her adolescence as challenging. She came to the University and after graduating in 2008 pursued a career in fashion and modelling, using this as a platform to speak out on a range of issues.
Munroe has spoken at Oxford, Cambridge and Princeton universities and writes for publications including the Evening Standard and The Guardian. She was named Cosmopolitan’s Changemaker of the Year in 2018.
Photo by Simon Dack
She told graduates:“As you go out into the world be ambitious, yes, but also be kind, be understanding, be patient. Because every single one of us are going through or will go through something where we need someone to believe in us when we don’t believe in ourselves.
“Be that person to help someone else fly when their wings feel heavy.”
Councillor Alexandra Phillips, will be the guest speaker at The Village MCC Pride Service, on Sunday, August 4.
COUNCILLOR Phillips, the present Mayor of Brighton and Hove, is a member of the Green Party, and was elected as the MEP for the South East England constituency at the European Parliament elections of May 2019, as the lead candidate on the Green party list.
The Village MCC Brighton and Hove is a church that was created by LGBT+ Christians, their families, friends, and allies. It’s an MCC (Metropolitan Community Church) called to support the LGBT+ communities in whatever ways it can.
The Village MCC Brighton and Hove offers a safe space where anyone can feel at home, fully affirmed in their sexuality and gender identity.
Church members are active in the larger community, offering emergency aid and support to the homeless and vulnerably housed. Their minister, Rev. Michael, offers spiritual direction and pastoral care.
They worship together every Sunday evening at Somerset House Day Centre, 62 St James’s St, Kemptown, Brighton from 6pm – 7.30pm.
Event: Mayor of Brighton and Hove speaks at The Village MCC, Pride Service
Where: Somerset Day Centre, 62 St James’s Street, Kemptown, Brighton
Queens Park Councillor says restoration of Terraces will ‘showcase what is possible’ and boost local area.
GREENS secure council backing for a plan to restore three of the Madeira Terrace arches using sustainable building materials.
Clare Rainey the Green Councillor for Queens Park ward, had raised concerns that the keenly-awaited restoration of the Terraces could be further delayed if councillors did not use money available now to repair some arches.
A crowdfunding campaign for the restoration of Madeira Terraces in 2017 raised nearly £500,000 in donations from the public. However, despite funding being available to spend, Cllr Rainey raised concerns that residents had yet to see any restoration work begin.
Councillors had been asked to use the public donations to pay for design plans to be drawn up for 30 arches, despite no funding being available to complete a full-scale repair. Pointing to the insufficient budget to restore 30 arches, Cllr Rainey had called on councillors to instead consider repairing three arches as a way of “showcasing what is possible.”
Cllr Rainey said that long delays to the restoration of the arches had left many residents concerned the area was being “neglected” by the council.
Calling on the council to “showcase the potential of the arches” in order to attract further investment, Greens secured a commitment that the council would seek to restore three arches, and to consider the arches nearest the venue Concorde 2, using sustainable, eco-friendly building materials.
Cllr Clare Rainey
Cllr Rainey said:“Madeira Terraces are hugely historically significant and like Brighton Pavilion, the Palace Pier, the North Laine and the Lanes help to give Brighton and Hove its iconic status as a tourist destination.
“While out canvassing, and from attending numerous community meetings in Queens Park ward, I have consistently heard from residents that there is a feeling that the area has been allowed to fall into decline. Restoring at least some of the arches sooner rather than later will demonstrate that the area is being prioritised for improvement and investment. The three arches can be restored with a view to restoring all 30 when funds are available.
“The three restored arches will showcase what is possible, potentially increasing interest and investment from business in the overall restoration project. Madeira Terraces can showcase not only restoration work fit for current purpose, but also best practice of how innovative renewable technology, which will protect all of our futures, can be used in design, engineering and construction.”
Greater Fort Lauderdale welcomes the Southern Comfort Transgender Conference to Florida’s most inclusive and diverse travel destination.
FOR the fourth year running, from August 15-17, 2019, Greater Fort Lauderdale will be hosting Southern Comfort, America’s longest running transgender conference.
The conference will welcome hundreds of attendees for a series of workshops, seminars, and networking events hosted at the Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
Stacy Ritter
“We look forward to welcoming Southern Comfort Transgender Conference organisers and attendees to our progressive destination, where diversity is in our DNA,”said Stacy Ritter, President and CEO of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.“We proactively look for ways to reach the transgender community and are glad to partner with this important annual event which has built a reputation as a safe place for LGBT+ people with a familial atmosphere and an aim at inclusiveness.”
Conference activities will include legal and medical presentations, as well as sessions on family, relationships and sexuality.
During the conference, delegates will have the chance to experience Greater Fort Lauderdale’s stunning natural scenery, exciting LGBT+ nightlife and exquisite dining.
Richard Gray
Richard Gray, Senior Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau said: “Greater Fort Lauderdale celebrates and embraces diversity and inclusion every day, and we are very proud to support such an empowering and educational conference.”
“The Southern Comfort Transgender Conference is a safe space to explore and celebrate the gender spectrum.”
The annual event attracts people from all over the United States to Greater Fort Lauderdale, offering the opportunity for education and social networking.
Charlotte Kibert
Charlotte Kibert, President of the Southern Comfort Transgender Conference, added:“We are thrilled to partner again with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau. Our conference attendees get to experience invaluable sessions and networking in a fantastic, cosmopolitan destination.
“Greater Fort Lauderdale’s authentic and welcoming vibe makes all the difference, and we value the opportunity to work together to support and provide resources for the transgender community.”
The keynote speaker will be Van Barnes, best known as the first person to out the CIS male lead actor who was eventually fired from Amazon’s award-winning and critically acclaimed TV show Transparent when she disclosed her experience working several seasons as personal assistant to the lead actor.
Sarah McBride
Sarah McBride, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, will make a repeat appearance at this year’s event. McBride, one of the first openly transgender people to work in the White House, helped influence the administration’s policy on transgender rights and has shared her stories with some of its most influential figures. In July 2016, she was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first openly transgender person to address a major party convention in American history.
The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau has been proactively targeting and welcoming LGBT+ travellers since 1996, when it became the first Convention & Visitors Bureau with a gay-centric vacation planner and dedicated website on a CVB homepage.
Since then, Greater Fort Lauderdale has continued to break down barriers and facilitate visibility for the LGBT+ communities at large, acting as a pioneer in the hospitality industry and ensuring that the destination is inclusive and welcoming with a diverse, safe and open community for all travellers.
In January, 2017, the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau launched a global marketing and advertising campaign featuring transgender models, making the city the world’s first destination to use transgender models in mainstream destination advertising. The campaign, which also featured straight, gay and lesbian models, followed the destination’s long and storied history in LGBT+ marketing.
The destination now welcomes 1.5 million LGBT+ travellers annually, who spend $1.5 billion in the city. It also features one of the largest Pride Centers in the country, the first and only World AIDS Museum and Education Center, and is home to the Stonewall National Museum & Archives, one of the only permanent spaces in the U.S. devoted to exhibitions relating to LGBT+ history and culture. Most recently, Greater Fort Lauderdale opened the area’s first LGBT+ Visitors Center in Wilton Manors.
For more info on LGBT+ travel in Greater Fort Lauderdale, click here:
For more info on the Southern Comfort Transgender Conference, which is produced and run entirely by volunteers, click here:
Bone Idol in St James’s Street love being at the heart of the Brighton and Hove, LGBT+ communities.
AS a gay owned business located the heart of Brighton’s Gay Village, Bone Idol, the pet store and grooming parlour located 98 St James’s Street wanted to do something ‘especially for you’ with their Pride window as an act of visibility, support and celebration.
This year, they have decided to celebrate Kylie’s performance at Pride on August 3, with their All the Woofers window, an homage to the iconic All The Lovers video.
The window will be a fundraiser for The Brighton Rainbow Fund which supports local LGBT+/HIV community groups and voluntary organisations who provide effect front line services to LGBT+ people in the city.
You can help them support The Brighton Rainbow Fund by going into the shop and for a minimum donation of just £6 you can claim your very own exclusive Pride dog from the selection in the window. These can be collected from Monday, August 5.
Follow Bone Idol on social media @boneidolBTN for all their Kylie puns and for more information on the shop and their own brand of dog food.
BBC Sussex will record an edition of Politics and Chill an LGBT+ style ‘Question Time’ programme at the Camelford Arms on Tuesday, July 30 from 7pm.
50 years on from the Stonewall Riots, there’s still plenty to talk about in the world of LGBT+ politics.
Put your LGBT+ questions to a panel of experts from across the spectrum at a special edition of BBC Sussex’s politics programme, Politics & Chill.
The panellists will be:
♦ Linda Riley – publisher of DIVA magazine
♦ Josephine O’Carroll – Conservative candidate for Brighton Queen’s Park in the 2019 election.
♦ Grace Cummings – Project worker at The Clare Project, Brighton’s long established support and social group for transgender people wishing to explore issues around gender identity.
♦ Ben Hunte – the BBC’s first LGBT+ correspondent appointed in December, 2018.
Ben Hunte
Your hosts for the evening will be BBC Political reporter Ben Weisz and broadcaster Kathy Caton.
Everyone is invited to attend, questions will be taken from the floor and entry is free.
The programme will be broadcast on Thursday, August 1 on the eve of the opening of Brighton & Hove Pride, 2019.
Event: Politics and Chill an LGBT question and answer
BRIGHTON & Hove Pride launches campaign #WeStandTogether to highlight their commitment to raising awareness of intersectionality, the overlapping of social identities and how discrimination against one ultimately represents discrimination against all.
The campaign has been announced ahead of this year’s August event as a call to action for everyone in the LGBT+ communities and allies to unite against all acts of discrimination and defend the advances in equality and inclusion that have been made over the last five decades, since Stonewall.
#WeStandTogether will see lamp posts on the the city’s streets lined with striking banners calling out transphobia, biphobia and racism alongside homophobia.
Members from across the LGBT+ communities and allies will also ‘stand together’ at the front of the Pride Community Parade to lead the show-stopping spectacle through the city centre and kick start the weekend events.
As the increasing global political climate and divisive domestic voices threaten to roll back the great progress the LGBT+ communities has made, #WeStandTogether confirms Brighton & Hove Pride’s commitment to raising awareness of intersectionality, overlapping social identities and a zero-toleration stance on discrimination.
Paul Kemp, managing director of Brighton and Hove Pride said he saw the campaign as a continuation of the work done on LGBT rights since Stonewall.
He said: “Campaigning and protest should always be a part of Pride – alongside the celebration. We Stand Together is a response to the alarming increase in homophobia, transphobia, racism and hate crimes not only globally but here in the UK.
“Now is the time for the LGBTQ+ community and our allies to unite and stand together in this politically charged climate, to defend the progress that has been fought for over the last five decades, since Stonewall.”
The number of reported hate crimes continues to increase steadily, with statistics pointing to a particular rise in violence towards minorities since the Brexit referendum in June 2016.
The number of crimes committed against sexual and gender minorities has more than doubled in the last five years, according to a recent analysis by The Guardian, while reports of racial discrimination have increased by more than 10 percentage points since January 2016.
One in five LGBT+ people has reported experiencing a hate crime in the last 12 months, while reports of transgender hate crimes have risen 81 per cent since 2018. Homophobic hate crimes have doubled since 2014.
#WeStandTogether aims to highlight and tackle these concerning statistics through unity.
This year’s Brighton & Hove Pride celebrations, in Preston Park, will mark 50 years since the Stonewall riots which many people see as a pivotal moment in the fight for LGBT+ equality.
A pornographic elegy, returns to London for the first time in 29 years from October 30 to November 23, 2019.
ROBERT Chesley’s play Jerker, or The Helping Hand returns to London for the first time in 29 years in a new production at the King’s Head Theatre, directed by Ben Anderson.
Co-produced by Making Productions, this show will run between October 30 and November 23, 2019. Casting has yet to be announced.
Jerker is a pornographic elegy with redeeming social value and a hymn to the queer men of San Francisco in twenty telephone calls, many of them dirty.
It has been described as “one of the most important pieces of gay theatre ever created” (Los Angeles Times). It also has the dubious reputation of triggering stricter broadcast indecency guidelines in the US, after excerpts of the play were aired on KPFK Pacific Radio in Los Angeles in 1986.
The one and only previous staging of Jerker in London, was directed by Stephen Daldry at the Gate Theatre in 1990.
As the AIDS epidemic intensifies in the early 80’s, Bert and J.R. begin having phone sex. They’ve never met, never seen each other and never touched, but together, they explore their wildest fantasies and the contours of their lonely souls. By turns erotic and tender, this intimate two-hander will leave you breathless before breaking your heart.
In addition to its erotic nature, Jerker embodies a deeper social importance. It reflects one of the worst periods in gay history, where the stigma of AIDS hung over the gay community, heightening public prejudice. The fear and silence around this subject was broken by a new wave of plays that began to emerge on the topic, acknowledging the crisis, humanising lives and encouraging the need for a personal response.
In Robert Chesley’s script notes, he writes:“I can only hope that Jerker has done and will continue to do some good, with its message of pride in gay identity and honesty about sex.”
Director Ben Anderson said:“Robert Chesley’s play places itself at the height of the AIDS crisis and in conversation with other, well-known plays about the period – Angels in America, The Normal Heart, As Is. Yet these poignant moments that root it in history, also make it strikingly resonant today. The focus on two men in their most private spaces allows for an honest and open embrace of gay sexuality that remains as surprising as it is joyful. Exploring their emotional intimacy, as they form a connection and learn to be themselves, Chesley’s combination of comedy and heart-breaking tragedy makes this a timely and fascinating piece to revive.”
Adam Spreadbury-Maher
Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Artistic Director of King’s Head Theatre added:“We’re delighted to be staging Robert Chesley’s beautiful and important play. Jerker exposes the inhumane response to the AIDS crisis from the government of the day, and the shackles of confinement that are thrust upon these men. We must not forget this happened. Lest this play be lost to the annals of history, we have a responsibility to stage it. The themes of isolation are particularly relevant today in our world of digital addiction.”
“I’m proud to introduce Ben Anderson to London audiences. He’s a very exciting young director who’s just as comfortable working with some of the finest opera directors as he is in a damp tunnel at the Vaults.”
This is Ben Anderson’s graduate show from the King’s Head Theatre’s award-winning Trainee Director’s Scheme, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. This part time programme is designed for young directors to increase their experience and develop their craft, through producing and technical skills as well as directing experience.
Graduates of the scheme include Katie Mitchell and Michael Longhurst. The Directing Programme was created in 1994. In 2002 the Programme won the Queen’s Jubilee Award in recognition of its unique value, for contribution to the arts and pursuit of Excellence, presented by HM Queen Elizabeth II, Lord Attenborough and Richard Eyre.
Event: King’s Head Theatre and Making Productions present: Jerker by Robert Chesley
Where: King’s Head Theatre,
When: Wednesday October 30 – Saturday, November 23, 2019
In the darkest days of World War II, theatre audiences experienced two magical musicals that still endure over 70 years later.
IN 1942 came the joyful escapism of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. And a year later, they got the first collaboration by Rogers and Hammerstein- the frontier Wild West show Oklahoma.
Set in 1906 when Oklahoma was in ‘Indian territory’ before it became a State of the Union, Jeremy Sams’ production has heavy topical relevance – the sense of “belonging” amongst disadvantaged poor Americans, the mistrust, hatred and racism towards “outsiders” and a kind of gun-toting frontier law enforcement which comes out right in the story – but only just.
Sams has given it added edge by casting actors of colour in three of the leads – Amara Okereke as the love-lorn Lauren, Emmanuel Kojo as the tormented, lonely Jud Fry, and Scott Karim as the Persian pedlars Ali Hakim. The blatant prejudice of the other characters towards Jud is only partially justified by his behaviour and he is no doubt a nasty piece of work, but the sarcastic racist mocking of him by the otherwise nice-guy Curly is shocking.
Central to the storyline is the strong-willed, jovial matriarch Aunt Eller, toting guns and rifles and generally interfering in the course of true love. Josie Lawrence plays it with great gusto and is full-throated in her few singing sections.
Chichester this season seems to have settled on shows with feisty, independent women and there are at least three of them in this show – Aunt Eller, Lauren and the nymphomaniac Ado Annie, played delightfully squeakily by Bronte Barbe.
Singing is superb throughout, and Hyoie O’ Grady plays Curly with a light pleasantness that is very endearing. His voice is pure and clear, and Amara as Lauren soars high above the rest with an easy but powerful voice.
Choreographer Matt Cole gets the best out of his ensemble, with energetic, balletic movements, which owe a great deal to the original 1940’s choreography of Agnes de Mille.
The mood for the show is set with the opening few notes of Oh What a Beautiful Morning, as Curly slides open the huge barn doors at the back of the spacious open set and lets golden dawn sunlight in.
Musical director Nigel Lilley produces a lush and rich sound from his musicians and the balance between voice and accompaniment is always peerless.
If some of the themes seem dated and awkward to us, Sams’ young cast pack a heavyweight punch throughout that makes us forget .
I predict it will follow other Chichester musicals into a well-deserved West End slot. It’s a 5 – star summertime hit.
Oklahoma runs at the Chichester Festival Theatre until September 7.
THE exhibition will feature twenty Pride designs from 20 artists, featuring names such as Morag Myerscough, Camille Walala and Supermundane. Each design has been created specifically for this exhibition, and will be available to buy to raise money for the akt (Albert Kennedy Trust) – a national LGBT+ youth homelessness charity, providing safe homes and better futures for LGBT+ young people.
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