Queer Arts Organisers Network in West Yorkshire

This is a pilot meeting of a Queer Arts Oranisers Network, (QuAOrN working title - TBD), to take place on the 20th of July at 5-7pm.

*This event has now moved online for accessibility reasons due to the dangerous temperatures*

See event link here: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89497120565

The idea came out of meeting in 2019 held by Jenny Wilson on behalf of Scottee, in response to a spate of homophobic attacks around that time. Whilst time has moved on a lot of the same issues around audiences are present so we'd love to pilot this project now and gauge if there is still interest.

It was suggested that this could be a space for people that organise Queer arts events to come together and open up a dialogue around the stuff we’re all involved in. If you are involved in the organisation of Queer arts events around West Yorkshire, not matter how DIY or professional; you could be an independent artists who host events or the Artistic Director of a Venue... we’d love to hear from you.

The proposed first meeting could involve talking about upcoming events and programming from the members, pertinent issues surrounding the varied Queer communities, and how we can enable members to advocate for each other more effectively and support patrons, comsumers, artist and audiences.

Below is a proposed agenda for the initial meeting; as you will see there is a note at the end for ‘any other business’ that might occur to you as something useful / interesting to discuss in the first meeting. Please email Freddie (comms@liveartleeds) to suggest other points of interest in advance.

Meeting Agenda #1:

• Hello and welcome!
• What would we like to get from this network/ what should it be?
• Any issues of note
• Development of a logo and description for online presence
• Chairperson
• How often should QuAOrN meet
• Upcoming events and programming
• Any other business

The proposed date is hoping to be accessible for those who will come from work, as it hopefully won't extend your day for too long, and those who have other jobs can come too. We can talk about accessible timings at the meeting but this is just to start us off.

Jess Sweet (CLAY Artistic Director), will chair, pending a discussion with you all about how we will run future meetings.

Image credit: Ben Bentley