Get Involved and Get Creative with Joyful Noise Zine!

Three felt portraits in bright colours show a mix of people with different skin tones. The portraits are placed on a white table.

Our new zine (yet to be created, submission wanted!) is all about JOY! The Zine will be in collaboration with artist Seleena Laverne Daye, featuring creative works from LGBTQ+ folk from across the North of England. Joyful Noise will be published in Autumn 2021.

We want to celebrate and share Northern Queer joy in all its glory. So, to help you get creative and to spark some joy, we’ve thought of three fun ways you can get involved

1. Creative Writing Workshop!

We are incredibly excited to announce that we will be hosting two creative writing workshops in September! The workshops will be led by poet and writer Ella Otomewo.

In the informal and relaxed sessions Ella will be sharing different writing exercises to help you find your voice and tell your story. Exploring both poetry and prose, the workshop is about cultivating joy and getting creative through words, alongside fellow LGBTQ+ folk.

A turquoise poster with wonly pink borders, has a A Black woman with mid length curly hair sitting with her hand on her chin. She is posterised in blue and white. The title of the poster is Creative Writing Workshop. The Andro and Eve logo in purple and white sits at the top and centre of the poster.

The first workshop will be for older LGBTQ+ folk and will be held on Wednesday 8th September at 1.30pm at Theatre Deli. The second workshop will be open to all and will be held online, via Zoom on Wednesday 15th September at 7.00pm.

Tickets are free thanks to funding from the National Lottery Communities Fund. Find out more information and book here.

2. Create a Felt Portrait.

As part of our Joyful Noise Zine project, artist Seleena Laverne Daye, delivered an online Felt Faces textiles workshop in July. Seleena created cute and fun craft packs, with all the materials to help you create your own felt portrait.

In case you missed out, we’re providing these FREE craft packs along with written instructions. So you can make your own felt portrait of yourself or someone you know and share in the queer joy!

A bundle of craft materials including felt and threads is placed on a turquoise background.

Each pack includes:

– Coloured felt including skin tones
– Threads
– Needle
– PDF worksheet with instructions
– Face templates for cutting around.

Head to our shop to grab your pack!

Once you have made your felt face, please take a picture and share it with us online or as a Zine submission!

3. Submit to our Zine project!

Already have a creative idea that is centred around joy? Then submit it! Words, artwork, feelings, lists, illustrations, recipes, collages, comics, letters and more.

If you want to share a picture of something you’ve created in one of Seleena’s workshops this July, you are very welcome to submit that.

Submissions: Black and white, 1-2 sides of A5, word count no more than 1000 words. As part of your submission we will ask for the first part of your postcode.

Submission deadline: Midday 24 September

To submit: complete this Google Form here.

Have fun and get creative! We can’t wait to see your submissions!

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