This is the second in our series of free workshops for queer producers / event makers and people who want to be, with Outburst favourite,  Manchester Creative Producer Greg Thorpe!

These two workshops and one event viewing on the evenings of 28/29/30 April (see full schedule below) are a follow-up to our popular programme hosted by Greg last August. Like those, these workshops are for queer folks who are looking to develop both their own events and the platforms available to them and support other queer artists to develop their work. Greg draws from his own extensive experience making queer events, from underground/DIY shows to legit or supported spaces, with queer artists from many disciplines. Together we will work in a small group to explore queer ways of making and producing your work.

You don’t have to have attended the last sessions to get involved, as there will be a refresher of what went before.

Registration is FREE, though strictly limited in numbers to keep the sharings more intimate.

As part of the short course, the group will watch and reflect on a new piece of queer stage work, LOB, by Roma Havers (“a tennis and poetry bonanza about moving through sporting spaces as a queer body”), which is part of Manchester’s Queer Contact Festival online.

Free tickets for that will be provided by Outburst for those registered. Further details on the show HERE.

We’re delighted that Roma will join us in discussion for the final session on Friday.

Session 1: Wednesday 28 April, 6-8pm

What is ‘queer’ to us? What is queer about queer work?

Developing work and working with care.

Session 2 (screening): Thursday 29 April, 8–9.30pm

We’ll watch ‘LOB’ by Roma Havers at Queer Contact. You’ll be provided with your own ticket to watch online.

Followed by Q&A.

Session 3: Friday 30 April, 6–8pm

Critical thinking about ‘LOB’ and exploring watching queer work and being influenced by queer work.

There’ll be a guest appearance from Roma to discuss developing ‘LOB’, specifically around aspects of collaboration and queer methodologies.

Time for reflecting on participants’ own practice or current projects.

FACILITATOR INFO

Greg Thorpe is a creative producer, writer, artist, mentor and curator based in Manchester. He has worked in queer arts programming for over ten years, across nightlife, cabaret, dance, written word, visual art, film and performance. Greg is the Project Manager for Superbia, the year-round programme of LGBTQ arts and culture from Manchester Pride, and works for Islington Mill, the independent artist community in Salford. He curated and produced his own queer cabaret A Queer Revue! and has made work for and with Manchester International Festival, Southbank Centre, various arts centres and festivals, charities, individuals and organisations.

IMAGE CREDIT: LOB by Roma Havers. Illustration by Hannah Mclennan-Jones

…queering the idea of disabled labour…

We are delighted to be joined by artist and weaver Raisa Kabir for Special School on 20 April at 7:00pm. Raisa will discuss alternative  weaving practices that can inform an embodied understanding of labour, queerness, disability and collective trauma. 

Following this introductory talk, Raisa will lead a loom making workshop, producing a simple but functional loom, using clay (materials will be provided to participants, see details below). 

By making her own looms with others, Raisa’s explores how colonial forms of textile production exclude the labour of disabled and queer people, and how we may reclaim these stories. 

This event is split into two sections, with 30 tickets available for the talk and 12 for the talk and workshop. Workshop bookings must be completed a week in advance (bookings now closed for the workshop) and if you book a workshop ticket, Outburst will send you a package that will include the clay needed to make the looms.

The workshop is open to all disabled and non-disabled people. Please let us know about your access needs in advance.

Raisa Kabir:

Raisa Kabir is an interdisciplinary artist and weaver, who utilises woven text/textiles, sound, video and performance to materialise concepts concerning the cultural politics of cloth, labour and embodied geographies. Her (un)weaving performances comment on power, production, disability and the body as a living archive of collective trauma. She has participated in residencies and exhibited work at The Whitworth, The Tetley, Raven Row, Cove Park, Textile Arts Center NYC, and the Center for Craft Creativity and Design U.S. Her research into non mechanical looms, bodies and machines has taken her to Mexico and Bangladesh.

About Special School:

What can moving, making, writing and imagining teach us about disability and queerness?

Special School is a learning programme developed with curator Daniel Bermingham along with queer and crip (sick and disabled) artists and cultural producers. It is for the uninitiated and the curious as well as for those who bring their expertise to their own non-normative bodies.

Special School includes workshops in dance, writing, textiles and worldbuilding by queer crip artists. It is a space for those who are unsure in their bodies; for those who are looking to explore (their) disability and/or queerness through doing together; and a space to testngled in threads and question desire, pleasure and ability.

Image Description: Raisa sits on a pebble beach in a red and white garment. She is adorned in gold jewellery and her legs are tangled in red threads.

Outburst is delighted to offer a queer audio description short course with Quiplash, on the mornings of 15 and 16 March.

Audio description tells, in words, what is happening visually in a performance, TV, film, artworks etc. It was designed by and for blind and visually impaired people but other disabled and non-disabled audiences also use it. For queer audiences, artists, performers and film-makers, queering audio description can be crucially important to the work. Quiplash have been developing and teaching a Queer Audio Description method specifically for this reason. Quiplash are queer non binary blind theatre practitioner, producer and academic, Amelia Lander-Cavallo, and queer non binary neurodiverse artist and producer, Al Lander-Cavallo.

Over two morning sessions, we will focus on blind awareness, audio description methods as well as some general disability awareness. The class will include some practical exercises. The class will be intensive but run in a relaxed way. There will be a lot of information in the session, but how/if you interact with it is up to you.

Access: The event will be captioned by otter.ai. Please let us know about any access needs (ISL, BSL) you may have by emailing participate@outburstarts.com.

To book your place, please complete the Google form on the booking link.  You will be guided from there to book your ticket. Tickets are free but we encourage a donation, if you have the means!

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This short course takes place as part of Outburst’s Special School, a learning programme developed with curator Daniel Bermingham along with queer and crip (sick and disabled) artists and cultural producers. It is for the uninitiated and the curious as well as for those who bring their expertise of their own non-normative bodies.

Special School includes workshops in dance, writing, textiles and worldbuilding by queer crip artists. It is a space for those who are unsure in their bodies; for those who are looking to explore (their) disability and/or queerness through doing together; and a space to test and question desire, pleasure and ability.

We are thrilled to partner with University of Atypical for these audio description events.

ID: Image of two aerial performers in a black and white costumes that looks like space suits. They are tangled together and tumbling through mid air, held up by harnesses and surrounded by shoots of rainbow light. It looks as though we are seeing them through a prism. The background is a deep black.

What can moving, making and imagining teach us about disability and queerness?

For the first Special School artist’s session of 2021 we are delighted to be joined by dancer Kat Hawkins on 23 February at 7:00pm. Kat will share their experiences of disability and sexuality in dance, and how their disability informs their dance practice. This will be followed by a movement workshop, exploring the creative ways disabled people move through space. The workshop is open to all disabled and non-disabled people. People can also just attend the talk, if preferred.

Special School

Special School is a learning programme developed with curator Daniel Bermingham along with queer and crip (sick and disabled) artists and cultural producers. It is for the uninitiated and the curious as well as for those who bring their expertise of their own non-normative bodies.

Special School includes workshops in dance, writing, textiles and worldbuilding by queer crip artists. It is a space for those who are unsure in their bodies; for those who are looking to explore (their) disability and/or queerness through doing together; and a space to test and question desire, pleasure and ability.

Kat Hawkins

Kat is a queer crip director, dance artist and PhD researcher looking at the role of an understudy in inclusive dance, and non-normative bodies in contemporary dance settings.

They create work focused on access, bodies, transcending bodies, time, and the spaces in between.

They are interested in access, pressures, prejudices from without and within and creating meaningful relationships focused on care and movement.

Images: Camilla Greenwell