The Ledward Centre (TLC), Brighton’s LGBTQ+ community and cultural centre, has announced the next phase in the project to create a huge Pride Progress Flag, five metres x three metres from 6,000 individual tiles, each created by members of Brighton & Hove’s LGBTQ+ communities and allies. The project
The Ledward Centre (TLC), Brighton’s LGBTQ+ community and cultural centre, has announced the next phase in the project to create a huge Pride Progress Flag, five metres x three metres from 6,000 individual tiles, each created by members of Brighton & Hove’s LGBTQ+ communities and allies.
The project was started last year with a Crowdfunded campaign which raised over £11,000 to complete the fit out of the cafe on the ground floor.
Donors paid £20 for a tile, which they created in clay, and ‘made their mark’ by making an impression of their thumb into the clay, which then had to go off to be fired. Using clay that needed to go to a kiln to be fired proved to be not ideal, some tiles didnt survive the firing, some altered shape and dimensions.
Phase Two of Make Your Mark involves creating the tiles from polymer clay, which is fired in a conventional oven and which retains dimensions. This has several advantages for this project because there is consistency in dimensions, and the whole process of creating each tile, from rolling out, cutting, firing, decorating, and then actually fixing the tile in position is done on site in one go. Each workshop lasts 90 minutes and each participant leaves having created and fixed their very own piece of LGBTQ+ history.
This year’s Crowdfunder campaign is to raise funds to complete the fit out of the lower ground floor, to provide the exhibition gallery, radio studios, cinema room, various size meeting rooms/classrooms, a quiet lounge, a community kitchen, and most importantly new toilet facilities to replace the single toilet that TLC inherited. This will allow for larger events and meetings to take place by increasing the capacity of TLC.
The Crowdfunder campaign runs until December 17, with every donation (up to £150) TRIPLE matchfunded by the Cost of Living Resilience Fund. This means that for every £20 pounds donated for a tile, a further £60 is released to the campaign in matchfunding. Every tile brings a total of £80 into the campaign.
To donate, release matchfunding, and to claim your ‘reward’ of an invitation to join Silvio Grasso‘s tile creation workshops and turn the wall that Silvio has painted into a community artwork, and reflection of the Brighton LGBTQ+ community, CLICK HERE
Oh, and please tell your friends and get them to join you at a workshop, and on the wall!
