We’re signed up to the March for the Arts (MFTA) Working Guidance for Arts Freelancers and Organisations

The creation of the document was facilitated by March for the Arts (MFTA), as part of an Arts Council England (ACE) funded project for the Liverpool City Region. It is a piece of guidance that will grow and change over the coming months and years.

MFTA will be asking creatives and organisations in the Liverpool City Region to read, share and sign up to the principles in this document.

Organisations, freelancers and anyone employing a worker on a freelance basis can use this document and should try their best to follow its clauses as far as they can. There are also links to useful information and helpful templates running through the guidance.

When it comes to diversity, inclusion and accessibility key factors include:

Don’t assume.

It is not an organisation’s place to assume the identity, ability or circumstances of a freelancer and allocate work based on these assumptions. Include freelancers in conversations that are about them.

Organisations should normalise asking people for their pronouns.

Asking for these to be displayed by everyone on Zoom call names, for example, makes everyone feel comfortable in expressing their pronouns. Alongside the use of inclusive language organisations should have gender neutral toilets.

Read more about the Working Guidance here.

 

 

 

Homotopia is appalled at the recent spike in violent hate crime targeting the LGBTQIA community in Liverpool.

Sadly, we are not surprised.

Reported incidents of homophobic hate crime rose nationally by 20% in 2020*.

We stand in solidarity with all those who have experienced hate crime. For many, this will be a time of fear. This breaks our hearts. We will do all we can support our community.

We will never allow our voices to go unheard. Or our visibility to not be seen.

We are proud to be an LGBTQIA led organisation, championing LGBTQIA artists. We are proud, today and always.

For hate crime reporting services in Merseyside:
stophateuk.org/merseyside.

For support with reporting please contact Gyro Liverpool and Liverpool Queer Collective.

In love and solidarity.
Homotopia

*https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54470077

A lot of this year’s festival is happening online. You can still expect an eclectic mix of entertaining and inspiring LGBTQIA art and culture, but the way you access it is going to be different.

Whether you’re not very tech confident or simply have questions about where to access content, we’ve put together the information below to ensure that your audience experience is as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

 

FREE EVENTS

Online events marked FREE will be live-streamed on both our YouTube channel and Facebook page. You don’t need to do anything in advance, just head to one of these websites at the start time of the event.

The exception is Mirror, Mirror which will be hosted by the Open Eye Gallery on Twitch. You will need to sign-up for a Twitch account in advance, if you don’t already have one.

 

TICKETED LIVESTREAMS

For some events you will need to pay or make a donation in order to access the livestream. Those who have booked, will be sent the event link by email (to the email address you used to make the booking) approximately 1 hour before the event start time. So keep an eye on those emails!

A friendly reminder: please do not to share livestream links with anyone who has not paid for a ticket. We trust you to do the right thing by our artists.

 

ONLINE WORKSHOPS

If you’ve booked onto an event described as a workshop, these will be held via the video conferencing platform Zoom. If you haven’t already used Zoom, you’ll need to sign-up for a free account in advance, on the website here. You will receive a link to the Zoom meeting (sometimes you’ll also get a password) approximately one hour before the start of the event. This will be emailed to the address you used to make the booking.

 

PODCASTS

Our Queer The City project features a series of podcasts and audio guides. These will be available to listen online via all of your favourite listening platforms. If you simply want to listen from home while your device is connected to WiFi, you’ll be able to play the podcasts directly from our website from 30 October.

If you’d like to listen to the guide while visiting the art crawl, you’ll need to download each one to your phone (unless you have lots of data and a great 4G connection). If you’re new to this, here’s how to download a podcast to your phone. For an iPhone, you can use the Podcasts app which is already installed on your phone. For an Android phone, you could download an app such as Podcast Addict. Either way, open the app, search ‘Homotopia’ and you should find what you’re looking for. Hit the download button (it might look like a cloud with a downward arrow) to save each podcast to your phone. Note: you might later wish to remove the downloads in order to free up space on your phone.

 

ACCESS

All of our digital events will feature live captioning (please check with us for workshops hosted by partner organisations). In addition, EAT ME and the livestream of Homotopia and Friends’ Fabulous Cabaret will feature BSL interpretation.

 

If you have any questions about how to access any of our digital content, do get in touch via hello@homotopia.net or on 0151 709 1113 and we’ll do our best to help.

As part of our QUEER ART ALWAYS series of commissioned art for audiences in lockdown, we worked with illustrator and curator LEYLA REYNOLDS. Leyla’s project ‘Blitz Sprit’ saw people from around the country request stickers to display in their areas.

Leyla reflects on the project so far…

I began my Homotopia project with the idea of representing a narrative I saw hastily emerging in public discourse. It was as if an invisible flare had been sent up and suddenly all the politicians and significant media actors knew that in order to evoke the collective spirit of the country, what they really needed to do was invoke the spirit of World War II.

‘Blitz Spirit’, as it’s been so casually termed in our collective vocabulary, is “stoicism and determination in a difficult or dangerous situation, especially as displayed by a group of people.” I could see why it was such a tempting sentiment to replicate during a national and international pandemic. There is something so alluring about recapturing that mood of resilience and according to the official definition it seemed our circumstances were nearly the same, right down to the use of the “It’ll be over by Christmas” refrain, so favoured by Boris Johnson. There was also the added context of the global pandemic having onset barely moments after the UK’s exit from the European Union had been ‘delivered’ and English nostalgia was at its peak. We were getting back to what made Britain great.

 

 

With that in mind I wanted to replicate some of that publicness within the medium and context of the works. We – Char at the festival and I – decided that biodegradable stickers were the best way to do this, and sent out to wherever the requests came in from, for free. Lockdown and it’s hypocrisies and muddled slogans were being experienced by all of us so it didn’t make sense that the artworks would only be visible to those residing in London (where I live) or Liverpool (where the festival is based). But three months on we’d had requests from multiple locations in those two cities, across Chester, Cambridge, Hemel Hempstead, Runcorn, Manchester and Newcastle. The stickers had gone out to individuals and youth groups, including an LGBTQ+ youth club, with many more to be dispersed over the coming weeks.

Accountability can take many forms, and I hope that during this time of political mismanagement, these small yet widespread provocations can assist in doing just that.

Leyla Reynolds, July 2020

 

Get involved! To request a pack of stickers, email your name and address to hello@homotopia.net.

 

Last month, in response to the challenges we are facing as a sector, we put out a brand new commission encouraging LGBTQIA artists to celebrate Queer Art Always. During this trying time, we wanted to demonstrate the power of art to connect and unite us all.

We were looking for positive and imaginative ways for our audience to engage via non-traditional platforms, suitable for social distancing.

And we were not disappointed; receiving over 150 applications from artists working across all kind of mediums, from theatre to visual art, performance art, dance, film and more. A huge thank you to everyone who applied. The standard was extremely high and with a commission pot of £10,000, it was extremely hard to select  just 13 (lucky!) commissions.

Introducing Homotopia’s Queer Art Always artists…

 

ACE Ambrose & Katie Walters

Ace Ambrose is an eccentric androgynous songwriter and poet with an old soul. Armed with her guitar, she draws on influences like David Bowie and Joan Jett, exploring genres outside her era to tell stories that spread a positive message. Ace has been performing in and around Coventry since she was 16, and has played Shoot Festival and the Godiva Festival.

Katie Walters is an autistic and chronically ill performance poet with a soul full of stories that can’t be contained. They write complicated metaphors about serious things like sickness, loss, and love. Their poetry is vivid and aching to be heard.

In 2014, Katie was a winner of the SLAMbassador’s national youth slam and has stuck to the stage ever since. She has gone on to work closely with the National Autistic Society on a variety of performances and awareness campaigns, compete in the prestigious Roundhouse slam, and perform at several festivals. Katie is currently working with Elle Chante on developing Seasick, an interdisciplinary arts show about chronic illness and the sea, while also heading up Radical Body, a disability arts company.

Photo of Katie: Naomi Woddis

Project: A piece of poetry and music responding to the artists’ experiences of pandemic, as sick and disabled queer people.

UPDATE 03/06/20: Listen to ‘Resuscitate Me’ by Katie Walters and Ace Ambrose here.

 

Filla Crack

Miss Filla Crack is a Scouse born and bred drag cabaret performer, resident host at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre’s Bistro drag nights and performs regularly around the city. Mixing comedy, power vocals, charm and inclusivity into her work, Filla prides herself on welcoming audience members with open arms and offering some much needed escapism.

Instagram: @FillaCrack

Project: Filla Crack: Surprise, Surprise is a socially distanced live cabaret performance, based around Liverpool.

UPDATE 10/06/20: Watch highlights from Filla Crack’s ‘Surprise, Surprise’ at seven locations throughout Liverpool.

 

Fredrik Andersson

Originally from Sweden, for the last five year Fredrik has been based in London as an independent artist and educator. Working in a bold, colorful style across illustration, comic books and ceramics. His work is humorous and strongly narrative and addresses topics ranging from queer culture, family dynamics and sex. 

He has taught arts education courses at the Camden Art Centre and the Camberwell College of Arts. At CAC, Fred facilitates the Youth Collective. Working as the artistic director for The Outside Project (UK’s first LGBTQIA+ Shelter and community centre) where he raises money, runs workshops and facilitates the Project’s physical and digital spaces alongside the diverse group of stakeholders who use them. Queer community is important to Fred. He believes that it is critical to recognise our own privilege and give back to the communities that inspire and educates his practice. 

Website: freddelanka.com  

Project: Queer Youth Art Collective is an online art social for LGBTQIA young people (aged 18 – 26).

 

Harry Clayton-Wright

Harry Clayton-Wright is a performance artist, theatre-maker, and internet-provocateur from Blackpool, highly regarded as one of the most exciting and prolific new voices in the UK arts scene. His debut solo theatre show Sex Education premiered in 2017 winning the LGBTQ award at Brighton Fringe Festival and was nominated for a Total Theatre Award (Emerging Artist/Company) at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019.

Cosmopolitan called him a “Genius”. BuzzFeed called him “Absolutely incredible”. The Guardian and The Scotsman both called him “Extraordinary”. Harry Clayton-Wright is an artist who is never standing still, constantly questioning and creating innovative, exciting, provocative work.

Photo by Sam Taylor-Edwards, styling by Nathan Henry.

Website: hcw.horse

Project: You Otter Know is an digital zine chronicling sobriety, entertaining personal history and
showbiz insights.

UPDATE 16/06/2020: Read the first issue of You Otter Know here.

 

Joseph Cotgrave

Joseph is a visual artist and activist based in Liverpool. His practice explores personal narratives as a young gay man living with HIV. He engages with audiences to create meaningful conversation surrounding issues relating to the virus. His practice aims to highlight and subsequently reduce the stigma that exists for people living with HIV, particularly amongst at-risk groups.

The aesthetic establishes universal motifs drawn from queer culture and history, producing a lexicon that subverts audience’s expectations, challenging societal norms in the process.

Website: josephcotgrave.co.uk

Project: Learning from the AIDS epidemic in times of isolation is an artist-led, online Q&A.

UPDATE 31/05/20: Watch Joe’s conversation with John Hanning on our YouTube channel now.

 

Kenneth Morris

He/him 

Occupation:- stylist 

Aims and ambitions :- to be a support in the progressive development and self care of the LGBTQI+ QTIPOC community.  

Credits/featured work:-  

Manchester central library exhibition “journey”, August 2019 

Manchester black pride vogue ball , August 2019 

Birmingham shout Festival vogue ball, November 2019 

Photo: Tom Quaye

Instagram;- @kenmozcreations 

Project: Development of his collection of afrocentric fetish fashion wear, presented as an online exhibition.

UPDATE 20/06/20: Watch Kenneth’s online fashion show with House of Noir on our YouTube channel.

 

LeYla Reynolds

Leyla Reynolds (b. 1995, Sheffield) is an illustrator who lives and works in London. She has recently exhibited at St Margaret’s House, London (2019); Showcase Gallery, Southampton (2018); 198 Gallery, London (2018); Migration Museum, London (2017); REVEAL, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2017); Alev Lenz Studio, London (2017); The Yard, London (2016); The Job Centre, London (2016).

She has worked with clients including Black Girl Fest, BBC, Adidas, Greater London Assembly and Tate. She was a judge in the editorial category of the World Illustration Awards 2019. A founding member of gal-dem magazine, she was Art Director there until April 2019. She now works as a freelance illustrator and curator as well as a producer at Create London, producing and project managing a portfolio of art projects, art commissions and live events.

Leyla Reynolds’ practice is concerned with the absurdity of pop and political culture as well as inducing commentary on elites and entrenched establishment hierarchies.

Website: leylareynolds.co.uk

Project: Blitz Spirit is a cynical exploration of wartime language used around COVID-19, through a series of illustrations, encountered as street posters.

UPDATE 30/06/2020: View the stickers on our Instagram and email hello@homotopia.net to get involved.

 

Leo Skilbeck

Leo is a writer and director and one third of Milk Presents. Their work includes cabaret Chekhov (THE BEAR/ THE PROPOSAL, Young Vic), a transmasc odyssey (BULLISH – show and photography exhibition) and drag king play (JOAN, Derby Theatre, winner of Off West End Award). Leo’s work as an associate director includes FUN HOME (Young Vic) and THE COMPLETE DEATHS (Tim Crouch and Spymonkey Comedy). They are a writing fellow for Theatre Centre and currently developing a new show for under 5’s with Milk Presents.  

Photo: Holly Revell

Website: milkpresents.com

Project: A series of short films which are a poem, a love song to rural queerz hoping to spot someone else on the horizon…

UPDATE 12/06/2020: Watch Love Song For The Wild on our YouTube channel now.

 

Matthew Rawcliffe

Matthew Rawcliffe is a Manchester based dance artist trained at Rambert School. After winning the contemporary category of BBC Young Dancer, Matthew began to pursue choreography, touring his work to venues such as Royal Opera House, Southbank Centre, Birmingham Hippodrome, The Lowry, The Place, LEAP Dance Festival, The Posh Club, Latitude Festival and SICK Festival. Matthew co-created award winning short film ‘all the clothes we left in the closet’ which has been screened internationally including: Queer Cinema Club (UK), Super International Film Festival (Romania) and Little Islands Festival (Greece).

Instagram: @MatthewRawcliffe

Title:  My cigarette is on fire! (& other stories) is an interactive dance project, made in collaboration with LGBTQIA audience members.

UPDATE 14/05/20: Watch My cigarette is on fire! (& other stories) online now.

 

Naomi Westerman

Naomi Westerman is a British writer of Middle Eastern heritage. A former anthropologist, she started writing in 2015. She is a graduate of the Criterion Playwriting Programme and Graeae’s Write to Play training scheme for disabled writers. 

Naomi is currently a writer in residence at Wapping Berlin and Rosemary Branch Shrill Voices. She has previously been an Associate Company Member at The Bush Theatre and a Birmingham Rep Writer in Residence in 2017. 

Website: curtisbrown.co.uk/client/naomi-westerman

Project: Puppy Sequel is a short digital play following a group of doggers as they stumble their way through their first virtual dogging session. 

UPDATE 08/06/2020: Watch Woof, Woof on our YouTube channel now.

 

Our Space: SAYANG & Dahab

SAYANG is a Malaysian British DJ, sound artist, producer and activist who uses their platform to
explore race, queerness and accessibility in club and queer culture. A creator whose drive comes from self-exploration and community understanding, SAYANG develops ambitious, responsive and inherently political sound pieces and experiences as a way to express themselves and unpick their own story.

Dahab is a visual artist, exhibition and screening curator and QTIPoC social organiser. He creates and co-facilitates creative spaces for QTIPoC to explore and celebrate the vulnerability and power of living at the intersections of marginalised identities.

Together as Our Space, they focus on the interaction between digital and physical worlds and challenge the culture, perception and boundaries of being a QTIPoC artist by interpreting traditional art through the digital culture of how we live now. Their responsive, political and personal work aims to break down barriers and change the landscape of the art community’s communication, interaction and engagement with marginalised artists. Identifying as disabled artists, wellbeing and access are core principles to
Our Space’s work.

Based in Leeds, Our Space brings together creators that belong to a range of artistic disciplines and interdisciplines and they produce, curate and facilitate QTIPoC live art, performance art and
community artist exchange.

Instagram: @OurSpaceLeeds

Project: Silsilad Gabay is a Somali phrase meaning chain poems. The project is an interactive, collaborative digital art project connecting QTIPoC artists.

UPDATE 14/07/20: Listen to the audio journey our SoundCloud and/or YouTube now.

Yas Nescati

Yas Necati is a writer and performance poet based in London. They explore themes of queer and trans identity, migrant identity, mental health, recovery, community and resistance in their writing. They are part of London Queer Writers, and recently set up writing groups  for people of colour. When they are not immersed in poetry, they campaign on gender-based and queer based-rights, run workshops on self care, and occasionally perform as their drag act alter-ego, Turkish pop star Tarkan. 

Photo Credit: Angela Christofilou

Twitter: @yasnecati

Project: A film of two poems reflecting on the artist’s experience of feeling closeted during lockdown; one poem reflects on the masculinity, the other on the femininity.

UPDATE 19/05/20: Watch ‘Behind This Closed Door: Feminine & Masculine’ on our YouTube channel now.

 

Youcef Hadjazi

Algerian-born, Kuwait-raised, award-winning Creative Practitioner based between London & Manchester, and working across lens-based media and performance. Since Youcef’s graduation from the Manchester School of Art, he has been actively developing his creative practice, which studies identity politics and notions of diasporic queerness, while deconstructing social notions and adaptions.

Youcef achieved a number of exhibitions and residencies across the UK, collaborations included with Waterside Arts Centre and HOME in Manchester, as well as Live Art Development Agency in London.

Website: youcef.co

Project: A series of photography and storytelling workshops with LGBTQIA asylum seeking individuals.

 

The artists’ work will be released online in May – July 2020.

Announcement

Statement from the Homotopia Board of Trustees on 31/08/2019

“We can confirm the departure of Gary Everett from Homotopia. Gary was our founder and, for over a decade, has contributed to the growth and expansion of our organisation within the local community.

Gary’s constant commitment to LGBT+ rights and the creation of Homotopia, which is the UK’s longest running LGBT+ arts and culture festival, has been appreciated by so many individuals.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Gary for his efforts and passion for Homotopia, as well as the positive impact his work has had on the LGBT+ community in Liverpool. We wish him well for the future.”

Trustees Call Out: A New Chapter for Homotopia

NOW RECRUITING: TRUSTEES for the UK’s longest running LGBTQ+ arts and cultural festival

Homotopia is looking for new Board Members with the right skills and passion to support the organisation at a key stage in its development.

Homotopia is the UK’s longest running and best-known LGBTQ+ arts and cultural organisation. In the last 3 years changes to our staffing structure have granted the organisation an opportunity to revise and modernise this small but ambitious organisation. Do you have the vision and drive to help Homotopia move into a new chapter?

ABOUT THE ROLE

Our committed Board of Trustees forms an invaluable part of the team, ensuring that Homotopia is well run, that our staff team is supported and that the organisation is financially robust. To add to the talent and dedication of our existing Board, we are looking to recruit up to three new Trustees.
We are particularly looking for skills and experience in one or more of the following areas:

• Fundraising: You are able to demonstrate excellent networking skills with high-net-worth individuals and organisations and/or have experience in bid writing and identifying trusts and grants opportunities.
• HR: You have strong people-management experience including knowledge of policy and best practice in HR.
• Law: You have legal knowledge, skills and experience relating to the running of small-medium businesses.
  We are an equal opportunities organisation and welcome applicants for people of all backgrounds. In order to represent the full diversity of LGBTQ+ communities in the UK, applications from people who belong to groups underrepresented in the arts, including BAME, disabled and trans people, are especially welcomed. It is not necessary for Board members to identify as LGBTQ+, however it is vital that they have a good understanding of and are allies to the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ people in Britain today as well as a passion for queer culture.

ABOUT HOMOTOPIA

Homotopia was founded in Liverpool in 2004 as an unincorporated association, with a small grant from Liverpool City Council. Our mission is to draw on the LGBTQ+ experience to unite and regenerate communities through the production, promotion and commissioning of great art for everyone. In 2012 Homotopia became a company limited by guarantee, with charitable aims. Since 2012 we have been included in the Arts Council England National Portfolio of organisations (NPO) annually funded. Alongside Arts Council England our other core funder is Liverpool City Council.

COMMITMENT

• Attendance at board meetings: Homotopia’s Board meets every 3 months in central Liverpool. Board members must maintain a minimum of 50% attendance at meetings.
• Willingness to attend key events, launches and performances as a representative of Homotopia.
• Be an advocate and ambassador for Homotopia.
• Trustees serve for a maximum term of 4 years (2 x terms of 2 years).
• Trustees are not paid, however opportunities for personal development will be available.

HOW TO APPLY

Send a cover letter (max. 1 side of A4) explaining your interest in Homotopia and what skills and experience you have that make you a good fit for the role of trustee. If you wish, please also include a recent CV (max. 2 sides of A4) and/or a link to your website.

Send to char@homotopia.net as PDF attachments by 10:00 on Monday 11 November 2019.