2019 – A Year with the New Queers

We’ve had an incredible year with our touring project New Queers On The Block:

– Returned to the towns and cities we visited in 2018, from Folkestone to Blackpool, via Hastings and Bradford, to present small to mid-scale performances, film works, talks and events by Ira Brand, Last Yearz Interesting Negro, Harry Josephine Giles, Demi Nanhdra, Marikiscrycrycry, Harry Clayton-Wright, Rachael Young, Mandla Rae, Lucy Hutson, Samir Kennedy, Istanbul Queer Arts Collective, Benjamin Sebastian, Nando Messias and Subira Joy, amongst many others.

– Commissioned local LGBTQ+ artists such as Sea Sharp, Subira Joy, Wandia Wahogo, Kirsty Taylor and Adam Frost to create their first theatre shows, with development and producing support from us, as well as producing teams around them.  Commissioned Oozing Gloop, Marikiscrycrycry and Rachael Young to create new work and upscale their practices to larger, tourable models or to experiment with new forms.

– Released ‘New Queers On The Road’, a documentary following our first ever tour and explores the impact the work has already had in local communities. Directed by the incredible Rosie Powell, this has been seen by over 100,000 people across the country and online, as well as local TV stations.

– Worked more closely with our Local Ambassadors Bean, Benjamin Sebastian, Elis Johnson and Sonia Sandu across those locations, and developed new local audiences; Welcomed new members to the New Queers team, such as our General Manager Carmen D’Cruz, Marketing Manager Rasheed Rahman and Associate Producer Lee Smith, who, together with our PR Anna Smith have taken the projects to new hights of efficiency and awareness.

On top of that, we visited new places such as Birmingham and London, partnered with new friends, such as SHOUT Festival and FIERCE Festival (Birmingham), Art BnB and Abingdon Studios (Blackpool), Brick Box Rooms (Bradford) and Camden People’s Theatre (London) to present new performances, a full day symposium on care practices in the queer arts scene and co-produce the development of local queer artists. 

Thank you to all the involved partners, artists, friends, activists, crews, audiences and everyone that has worked with us so far. It has been an incredible year and we have managed to reach hundreds of new audiences across the UK, who we are continuing to hold a close relationship with! 

We’ll be announcing our Spring 2020 programme in a couple of weeks. So keep your eyes peeled here!

Xavier & David

New Queers on The Block is a Touring and Artist Development Scheme led by The Marlborough Theatre in partnership with Theatre in the Mill (Bradford), Left Coast (Blackpool), Home Live Art (Hastings), Creative (Folkestone), FIERCE Festival & SHOUT Festival (Birmingham). Funded by Arts Council England, Jerwood Arts, Esmée Fairban, Unlimited & The Space.

Photo by Manuel Vason of Jamila Johnson-Small / Last Yearz Interesting Negro.