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Birmingham Queer Archive

@birminghamqueerarchive

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Exploring Birmingham's LGBTQIA+ histories and heritage
Digital Archive (coming soon)
A project by @shout_festival
Funded by @heritagefunduk

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Over the past few years, Temporary Cruising Zone has grown to become a home for trans and queer sexual and bodily freedom in the UK. Starting life as a research and performance project concerning trans experiences of cruising, public sex and sex spaces, its methodology draws on a rich history of underground queer sex and BDSM spaces and is now a regular party.

If you’re a current or past attendee, join TCZ creator and Birmingham Queer Archive artist and historian brutalisturinal for a roundtable discussion to share memories, anecdotes and objects (anyone still have their membership card? Or an outfit that takes you back to a certain party?) from your time at TCZ for potential inclusion in the Archive.

Date and time: Saturday November 14th, 2pm - 4pm
Location: Birmingham LGBT Centre, Hurst Street
Free to attend, no sign up required. Travel expenses within Birmingham can be reimbursed.

(If you have something you’d like to share but aren’t in Birmingham, please email tcz @ brutalisturinal.com)

(This is not AI content even though it has been flagged as such!) by @birminghamqueerarchive

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LGBTQ+ BRUM WE NEED YOU 💛 Help us archive our history for future generations.
We are seeking LGBTQ+ people interested in being interviewed to talk about about their lives and memories within Birmingham (and surrounding areas).

📝Fill in our expression of interest form, link in bio by @birminghamqueerarchive

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Lacey has joined BQA as our Project & marketing Lead/Curator 💜 "I’m proud to lead this archive as it’s aims reflect values and goals I’m passionate about and have channelled into my work throughout the years. Being a part of Birmingham’s LGBTQ+ history through this archive project has given the team and myself an opportunity to document many previously unheard voices and hopefully, add a bit of Queer joy and light in a time that feels as though it’s getting darker."

Lacey has worked in Birmingham’s LGBTQ+ community in various capacities for over 10 years and is currently an Artist, Marketing Manager and Project Manager. Connecting, showcasing and working with local LGBTQ+ Brummie businesses & creatives is her passion. She loves all things LGBTQ+, kitty cats, pink things & fluffy things.

A special thank you to Phoebe Gilmore who set this project up with deep care and thought @pho.rose 💗

🔗If you would like to contribute to Birmingham Queer Archive by giving an oral history, donating ephemera or volunteering with us, fill out our expression of interest (link in bio) by @birminghamqueerarchive

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'Gay Rights At Work' newspaper advert for conference, 1982.

🗃️Part of Gay Birmingham Remembered 2007-2009, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Team: Lesley Pattenson, Dave Coffin, Inge Thornton and volunteers. by @birminghamqueerarchive

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Candice has joined BQA as our Digital Archive Officer 💜 "For the last six years, I've been working closely with local archivists and collections documenting various aspects of Birmingham life; Vanley Burke (Soho House), Baff Akoto (BOM) and the Birmingham Now oral history project (Birmingham Museum & Gallery). I'm keen to continue developing publicly accessible platforms for stories derived from my native Birmingham — especially for communities who are often underserved and overlooked in our city's wider narrative. I'm a firm believer that archiving is a civic duty and my hopes is that in joining the project, we can begin to shift the narrative on who gets to be an archivist and what gets to be recorded and collected."

Candice Nembhard (okcandice) is an artist-curator, writer, archivist and musician. They are the director of sonic practice studio Bedtime Stories, co-founder of queer dance party SHUBZ and a radio resident for Berlin's Refuge Worldwide. Their practice is concerned with grief methodologies, Black audio-visual archives and uses of the sonic in civic space. Previous positions include Curator (Sheffield Doc Fest), Digital Curator (Birmingham Museum & Gallery), Curator (Eastside Projects), Guest Lecturer (Royal College of Art), Acquisitions Advisor (Government Art Collection) and fellowships with the Woven Foundation, Jerwood Foundation, and Obsidian Foundation. Candice is currently researching the sonic-somatics of grief through their live performance series 'Offering' and is training to be a Death Doula.

🔗If you would like to contribute to Birmingham Queer Archive by giving an oral history, donating ephemera or volunteering with us, fill out our expression of interest (link in bio) by @birminghamqueerarchive

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Hassan has joined BQA as our Lead Interviewer 💜 "What really draws me to this project is that it sits at the intersection of things that have shaped my work for years: queer storytelling, archival practice(s), and working directly with communities to document lived experience(s).

So, a project like the Birmingham Queer Archive feels incredibly important, particularly because of its focus on voices that have historically been overlooked: women, Global Majority communities, trans and non-binary people. It is also very important to me that the interviews we conduct are not extractive and are instead led with care and as a means to platform underrepresented voices from our community. And on a local level, being based in Birmingham, I think there’s something really powerful about creating a resource that captures the city’s queer histories in a way that people can access, recognise themselves in, and build from."

Dr Hassan Hussain is a researcher, theatre-maker, and cultural facilitator. His research predominantly investigates the de/construction of queer identities both on, and off, the British stage. His practice explores the transformative effects of (queer) histories and lived experience(s) on present and future iterations of (queer) identities, communities, and (sub)cultures. Hassan loves rewatching Buffy, playing Pokémon & losing himself on the dancefloor.

🔗If you would like to contribute to Birmingham Queer Archive by giving an oral history, donating ephemera or volunteering with us, fill out our expression of interest (link in bio) by @birminghamqueerarchive

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World Aids Day sexual health advert featuring 'Pedro' at Glamourous Bar, 2004.

🗃️Part of Gay Birmingham Remembered 2007-2009, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Team: Lesley Pattenson, Dave Coffin, Inge Thornton and volunteers. by @birminghamqueerarchive

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We recently held our first BQA steering group with members of Birmingham's LGBTQ+ community and we invited along artist Ellis Miles to visual notetake the important occasion. We've been gagged at how insanely beautiful the outcome is! Thank you Ellis 💗 Zoom in for the Brummie Queer chit chats we had 🔎

Interested in volunteering with the archive? Fill in our form, link in bio by @birminghamqueerarchive

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'Midlands Zone' Magazine, 1998 featuring photographs from Birmingham Pride.

🗃️Part of Gay Birmingham Remembered 2007-2009, funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Team: Lesley Pattenson, Dave Coffin, Inge Thornton and volunteers. by @birminghamqueerarchive

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Fran has joined BQA as our second Assistant Interviewer 💜 "I'm excited to be part of the team recording conversations for the Birmingham Queer archive for now, for the past and for the future. The importance of an archive to recognise voices that are not always clearly present or heard, to document Birmingham's queerness and diaspora. The focus on Global majority, trans, non-binary and women's voices is a reason and passion to be involved with this project. More than ever, giving increasing danger, minimising and taking away of the personhood and rights of LGBTQA+ people, listening, documenting, asking questions of people and their experiences is about care and recognition. Birmingham is a place I live and I'm delighted to be part of this team and project to document people in their own words to show queer life as it has been lived, is being lived, could and will be."

Fran is an artist working in writing, performance and audio. She also sit pets. Fran makes work in response to histories of place, people, nature, objects and the way stories are collected and told. Her work has been co- produced and commissioned by Birmingham Rep, Duckie & Fierce Festival and She's been an artist in residence at The National Waterways Museum and Warwickshire Archives. She also made a podcast Stories to Tell in the Middle of the Night (strange stories for sleepless nights) and audio works for Coventry City of Culture and The National Trust. You can find her usually trying to get wet in a pool, pond or puddle.

🔗If you would like to contribute to Birmingham Queer Archive by giving an oral history, donating ephemera or volunteering with us, fill out our expression of interest through the link in our bio. by @birminghamqueerarchive

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Sym has joined BQA as one of our Assistant Interviewers 💜 As a Brummie / Black Country bab who experienced their queer becoming in various communities in Birmingham - as well as working with queer and QTIBPOC folk in the city for over 8 years - Sym is interested in queer archives and histories as a part of their own lineage in Birmingham, and how these stories can bring a new sense of affinity to the city - for themself and other queer brummies trying to find their place.

Sym is a live artist, arts & community facilitator and ritualist based in Birmingham. Their practise primarily focuses on connection and communication, and how liberatory practices can be attempted on both micro and macro levels.

🔗If you would like to contribute to Birmingham Queer Archive by giving an oral history, donating ephemera or volunteering with us, fill out our expression of interest through the link in our bio. by @birminghamqueerarchive

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Help me uncover the queer histories of cruising, kink and leather in Birmingham and the Black Country for @birminghamqueerarchive

Come and chat to me about the first time you cruised, a kink space that felt like home or a piece of leather gear that was transformational. Whatever story you want to share, I want to hear from you. Your stories will be included in Birmingham Queer Archive, preserving these important but often overlooked histories of dissident sexualities for future queer generations. Donations of objects are also welcome; everything from event flyers to gear to membership cards to items of clothing.

While I’d love to chat to all LGBTQIA+ people with something to share, I’m especially interested in hearing from trans people and people of colour as these voices are the most overlooked in this field. You are welcome to remain anonymous and you will be able to redact anything from your interview at any time. You are free to speak as openly as you wish and your stories will not be censored. Interviews can take place at the LGBT Centre on Hurst Street or at your home.

Register your interest via the form at the link in bio. by @birminghamqueerarchive

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