Darren Pritchard – Andro & Eve

10 Highlights of 2022

22nd December 202222nd December 2022 by androandeve

a group of performers onstage strike poses and one holds a cardboard sign that says Queer Joy is Powerful

2022 was a big year for Andro and Eve, with the return to live events supported by a significant grant from Arts Council England the The Civic, Barnsley. In fact, so much has happened this year, we’re quite glad of our winter slow down, with time to reflect and plan.

We want to say a huge thank you to all the artists and freelancers we’ve worked with this year along with our volunteers and board for helping bring people together through queer culture. And a massive thank you to those who’ve supported our work by attending our events or workshops, buying a zine or some merch or sending us a donation. Links above if you want to do the same!

So in no particular order here are 10 highlights of 2022 for Andro and Eve!

1.Our first live cabaret event in 2.5 years – A Reyt Queer Do!

A drag performer with a blonde wig stands in the middle of a crowd of people in a bar with everyone in the crowd having their phone camera lights shining — _{A Reyt Queer Do. Credit – Sophie Okonkwo}

Hosted by Sadie Sinner, with Rhys Pieces, Ditzy O Darlin and a cracking line up of emerging talent, everyone who came down to Sidney and Matilda had a great evening. Read more about the event here.

2. Drag Kings!

drag king Mark Anthony onstage smiling with sparkly eyebrows and brocade suit — _{Mark Anthony performing at The Kingdom Come 6. Credit – Dawn Kilner}

From both our online drag king workshops with Christian Adore, to ALL our live events this year, and especially The Kingdom Come, an event designed solely to share the UK’s most exciting drag king talent, we were thrilled to be making space to platform these amazing artists, that too often get overlooked in the drag scene. Long live the kings!

3. Fresh Air Zine

An A5 zine with a cream cover sits on a lilac surface. The cover is covered in a flowing line drawing with blue, lime and yellow fill that seems to depict two abstract figures,

We worked with Site Gallery’s Society of Explorers to create a brand new zine, inspired by our Gender Awareness Training. Packed full of illustrations by artist Luci Pina its a gorgeous resource for young and older people alike. You can still get a copy for free here.

4. A Reyt Queer Extravaganza

a group of three black performers strike poses on a catwalk. The person in the centre wears a gold dress and has gold paper flowing from their body. — _{A Reyt Queer Extravaganza. Credit – Misha Warren}

Our biggest ever event was a collaboration with Ghetto Fabulous, with our artistic director, Finn Warman, working closely with artistic director and choreographer Darren Pritchard to programme and produce this event featuring over 20 performers to an audience of 300 people at The Leadmill. Hosted by the legendary Rikki Beadle – Blair, to say it was an epic endeavour, but utterly worth it, is an understatement! Read more about the event here.

5. Forgeous

Through queer dance and movement workshops that we produced in collaboration with Ghetto Fabulous in June and July, new queer dance collective, Forgeous were forged in all their gloriousness. They then made their debut performance at A Reyt Queer Extravaganza. Hear more about their experience in this short film made by filmmaker Toni Lee.

6. Teamwork!

Finn and Martha stand onstage smiling and speaking. — _{Martha Adebambo and Finn Warman at A Reyt Queer Extravaganza}._{Credit – Misha Warren}

2022 marked a year of Finn and Martha working together as a producing duo, and for a brief time our team grew with other freelancers joining to help produce and promote our work. Not to forget our amazing volunteers who helped everything run smoothly at our events and Doncaster Pride. Martha has now stepped back from their role as Assistant Producer, but will work with us on a more ad hoc basis in future. A huge thank you for all their contributions to Andro and Eve.

7. Gender Awareness Training

Our second year of delivering this bespoke session saw us training over 250 people throughout the UK and giving them the tools and confidence to better serve trans and gender expansive clients and audiences. We also recruited a brilliant team of freelance trainers who will be very busy in 2023 with more training sessions. Please get in touch if your team could benefit from this professional development opportunity. You can book for our open session the 1 February here.

8. Festival of Debate – The Transgender Issue with Shon Faye

In May our artistic director Finn hosted a Q&A as part of the Festival of Debate in Sheffield with renowned writer and author Shon Faye about her first book, The Transgender Issue. To see a crowd of gender diverse people and allies centre and listen to the very real issues affecting trans people today, and make space for trans joy, was a really wonderful highlight.

9. Queer Delight

Following an open call in the summer, we commissioned filmmaker Alexis Maxwell to make a short digital film. The resulting animated poem, Queer Delight is a pure joy to watch, and the audio described version was beautifully enriched by Adedamola Bajomo.

10. Our Community

A group of 4 people smile huddled together wearing some fantastic coats and lit by warm lighting.

We were so happy to welcome so many new faces to Andro and Eve events, with folk working with our Safer Spaces policy, and generally being so warm and friendly to everyone. It was also super heartwarming to have plenty familiar faces return to our audiences and to witness the joy of being together once more.

So thats our year in a snapshot – there’s plenty more we could mention, truly, its been a wild year, but we hope you’ve enjoyed taking a moment to reflect on whats been achieved and the fact that 6 years after our first event, we’re still here, still queer and making space to celebrate queer culture.

If you want to make sure you’re first to hear whats in store for 2023, then make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter. The whims of social media platforms have been very much highlighted this year, so it’s more important than ever that we have other ways to stay connected!

Wishing you a peaceful and warm end to 2022 x

a group of people with their backs turned pose in a dance studio — _{Feeling Fabulous Workshop with Ghetto Fabulous. 2022. Credit – Emma Bentley – Fox}

2020 In Review

14th May 202118th December 2020 by androandeve

a zoom video call shows over 20 people onscreen and they are all doing their makeup

2020. Wow. We did not see that coming. The start of the year seems like a hazy fog, where the idea of putting on a huge drag king cabaret for 350+ people is like some mad dream. But that’s what we were preparing for back then.

Despite all the nonsense, heartache and grieving this year has brought, here at Andro and Eve we have things to celebrate. And as relentless purveyors of queer joy, (because joy is resistance, to so many communities), we’re here to review the highs, and some challenges that 2020 has brought.

Silvana Imam, a slim, blonde haired rapper, kneels at the front of a stage rapping. She wears desert boots, shorts and white hoodie. — Swedish Rapper Silvana Imam

We started the year with a screening of music documentary, Silvana, at legendary music venue, Yellow Arch Studios in Sheffield. Collaborating with Sheffield Doc/Fest, was a first for us, with Melanie Ireldale the deputy director, introducing this celebration of the story of Swedish rapper Silvana Imam, her rise to fame and blossoming romance with Swedish pop star Beatrice Eli. Many in the audience fell hard for this lesbian power couple that evening.

5 drag kings are placed in a montage. There is Prinx Silver, a spanish, white king with a crown and moustache. Christian Adore, who has olive skin, long balck hair, and dinner jacket on, with a bare chest. To his right is Georgeous Michael, a George Michael lookalive wearing a silver jacket, and in the centre is Wesley Dykes. He is a Black king with purple hat and sharp suit on. Mo terboat is in the corner, playing a guitar with open mouth. Mo is a white bloke with hoodie on. — Clockwise from top left, Prinx Silver, Christian Adore, Georgeous Michael, Wesley Dykes, Mo Terboat.

In March, we had the 6th edition of The Kingdom Come planned at Abbeydale Picture House with a stellar line up of talent. Just a few days after we trained our amazing team of volunteers at the venue, the board of Andro and Eve discussed the situation, and made the unanimous decision to cancel our drag king cabaret, scheduled for the 21st.

Facing a significant financial loss, the next week was a blur, but our community came through, with 85% of those who had already booked tickets, donating their ticket, which bought us valuable time to plan for a very different year and apply for funding. Thank you to you if you were one of those kind people.

In May we found out we had been successful in securing Arts Council England Emergency Funding. And with that a bit of breathing space. Launching our drag king workshop course in June, we were bowled over for demand for places on the course, with 50+ people taking part in 3 sessions led by drag king Christian Adore in July. Have a peep at what that involved, and what our participants thought in the video below.

Developing talent is key to our work. Our 2020 programme included an online Cabaret College, which we produced in collaboration with LoUis CYfer. Over 8 weeks, 13 emerging drag and cabaret acts were given the opportunity to develop their own material with regular mentoring from LoUis, and 4 creative sessions. As one of the participants said

The whole experience was so safe and welcoming. I was VERY nervous and always felt supported and like I could ask for help

As well as developing talent we were also aware that digital delivery would limit the audience for our work, and wanted to use print to connect. So we commissioned graduate artist, and founder of Racezine Collective, Okocha Obasi to produce a brand new zine. Okocha was mentored by artist Seleena Laverne Daye, and worked closely with Assistant Producer, Emma Bentley – Fox.

The resulting zine, Centre, featured the voices of a whole range of Northern LGBTQ+ people, specially commissioned pieces by director and writer Rikki Beadle – Blair, activist and founder of the Black Trans Foundation, Azekel, as well as an interview with one of our friends from Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield. The zine sold 50+ copies in its first month on sale, raising £105 for Yorkshire’s Racial Justice Network. 50% of all sales go towards RJN, and we still have copies on sale, so grab one before they’re all gone.

A bright yellow zine with the words Centre Zine, in bold, black lettering sits on top of a hot pink surface.

We launched Centre zine with a special online party, A Reyt Queer Night In. With a vogue workshop by Mother of House of Ghetto, Darren Pritchard, and a party makeup workshop by Christian Adore, the night was topped off with a brilliant set from Gal Pal’s DJ Xzan. The night certainly went down well with attendees..

The music was amazing, really good range covered. I liked being greeted on arrival, the friendly, multigenerational space and chance to put in requests

It sure beat our first attempt at an online party – a Netflix screening party of Clueless on March 28th! It was cute, but, not quite up to our usual standard..!

In November we launched a new range of merchandise including postcard sets, badges and tote bags in the Trans Pride Flag colours. Because trans rights matter and we’re here to celebrate trans lives. They look lovely on our newly redeveloped website.

Behind the scenes, we filed our first year accounts to Companies House (what a highlight!), and Artistic Director, Katherine developed a Gender Awareness Training session, aimed at staff in organisations and businesses of all sizes. Both Assistant Producer Emma, and Katherine, undertook anti racism training through Racial Justice Network, with Emma also taking part in Access and Audio Description training with Quiplash. This will inform the way we work in the months to come and is an important part of our mission to make our work accessible and inclusive to all.

New Andro and Eve logo tote bags in the Trans Pride flag colours!

On that note, we’ve just launched a new Community Survey. We don‘t know what the future holds, but we want to make plans with our community as the focus. If you’ve been to one of our events or workshops before, or follow us online and have 5 -10 minutes to spare, please complete the survey here. You can win a bundle of Andro and Eve goodies too!

Another highlight for Andro and Eve in 2020 was being invited to join Queer Arts North – a network of queer arts and Northern performance venues, platforming and providing talent development opportunities for LGBTQ+ artists in the North of England. It was great to be part of an artist networking event as part of Homotopia Festival in November.

Artistic Director of Trans Creative, Kate ODonnell, and Artistic Director of Andro and Eve, Katherine Warman at Queer Arts North Artist Showcase in March 2020.

The events of 2020 made us even more determined to work towards equality for all, and support the Black lives matter movement. The fight for racial equality would be nowhere without Black feminists like Audre Lorde, Angela Davis and Olive Morris, and Black LGBT+ community pioneers including Marsha P Johnson, Storme DeLarverie and Miss Major. We continue to familiarise ourselves with our history, and participate in anti racism work. On that note, this year, we’ve platformed Stop the Scandal, a campaign to prevent the use of mobile fingerprint scanners, linked to the Home Office database, by the police. If you haven’t read it yet, check out the piece by the Stop the Scandal campaign here.

At this point, please excuse some soppiness in expressing a wholehearted thanks to the two new members of the Andro and Eve board, Lola White and Ellie Wyer. Having only joined the board in February, they came through hard for Andro and Eve, and have supported the development of the organisation in this most difficult of years. A special mention must also go to Assistant Producer, Emma, who has gone the extra mile to help us produce and market all our creative projects and events in the last year.

We want to say a massive thank you to all the artists we worked with in 2020, for your dedication, creativity and hard work. Thank you also to the team of freelancers who help make our work look so bold and beautiful. And thanks so much to the volunteers who’ve helped out this year too.

Andro and Eve volunteers enjoying some pizza, post training, March 2020.

In a year filled with challenges, and so much division sowed between communities, COVID has shown how unequal UK society is. We know in a way, that Andro and Eve and our tiny team are some of the lucky ones, we’ve carried on, while other enterprises have simply not been given the same support, or opportunity. We believe everyone should have the opportunity to make art, and access to culture. So we’ve dug in and got through 2020, and in many ways grown. But we know there is so much work to be done, and it is only in collective effort that we stand to make an impact.

Thank you to everyone who has told a friend about us, bought a ticket, donated, shopped or shared what we do. Your support is the reason we’re still here.

With love and solidarity

Finn

Introducing Mama Ghetto and DJ Xzan

22nd September 202023rd September 2020 by androandeve

Next month we launch our new zine CENTRE, with a special online event, REYT QUEER NIGHT IN, to bring our community together. And of course queer culture will be served up front and centre!

A Black dancer strikes a classic old school Vogue pose on a runway. His hands are around his face and he wears a light suit jacket, jeans and T Shirt. He is lit dramatically by pink and purple lighting. — Darren Pritchard

Part of our offer is a Vogue dance workshop with Mama Ghetto aka Darren Pritchard. Darren is a performer, choreographer, producer and director. He is also a celebrated Vogue performer and Mother of the House of Ghetto Manchester. We’re thrilled he can join us to teach some Vogue moves and flair via Zoom!

Darren says ‘Vogue is important to me, because it embraces my love of dance, my love of QTIPOC culture and allows me to be me and who ever else I want to be. Through the ballroom culture as a Mother I have seen people grow and develop and do things they thought they could never do’.

Manchester’s House of Ghetto have made their name in the Manchester Vogue ball scene with tight choreography performed solely by Black female dancers. House of Ghetto also feature in documentary ‘Deep in Vogue‘, which examines the North West’s Vogue ball scene, and which premiered at BFI Flare in 2019. Darren has produced Vogue Balls throughout the UK including Manchester’s first Black Pride Vogue Ball as part of 2019’s Manchester Pride. Read more about the House of Ghetto and Darren here.

Christian Adore looks sultry, directly at the camera. Christian is 5”5’, dashing young man with a glint in his eye stands before you - Imagine, if you will, that Johnny Depp and Oscar Wilde had a glittery love child, and raised him in the wings of London’s West End. That’s this guy. Thick eyebrows, olive skin, and a finely groomed pencil moustache, with a dark stubbly beard along a sharp jawline. Oh, and a thick mane of wavy black hair which reaches his buttocks — Christian Adore will be leading a PARTY EYES makeup workshop! Photo. Ndrika Anyika.

Our REYT QUEER NIGHT IN is about having fun with your community, so before getting your vogue on with Mama Ghetto, we’re encouraging you to join drag star Christian Adore with his ‘Party Eye’s’ makeup workshop, for all genders. Because remember, makeup has *no* gender! Its bound to be an irreverent and joyful way to get ready for your queer party at home!

A Black non binary person DJ's on some decks. They are lit by purplelighting and wearing a green, geometric patterned shirt and glasses. — DJ Xzan will be performing a live DJ set!

Finally, we’re super excited that DJ Xzan, will be performing a live DJ set 9 – 11pm bringing the party direct to your front room. They’ll be playing a high energy set with plenty queer pop party anthems to help you share in the queer joy. DJ Xzan aka Xandice Armah is an open format DJ from London and co founder of Gal Pals, the LGBTQ+ dance party centring womxn and excellent pop music. Xzan has supported the likes of Big Freedia, JD Samson, Anna Clavi, MNEK and Mabel, as well as playing at Glastonbury on the Sisterhood Stage.

All those who pre order a copy of CENTRE will get sent a link to the DJ set for free, but if you want to join us from 7pm, you’ll need to get your ticket via Tickets For Good. Sliding scale prices to suit all budgets are available! We hope you can join us on the 10th October, serving your best party looks, and bask in the queer joy!

CENTRE will be available on our online shop for pre sale on the 1st October and posted out around REYT QUEER NIGHT IN on 10th October. The zine is a collaboration with artist Okocha Obasi and created using Arts Council England’s COVID-19 Emergency Funding.

10 Highlights of 2022

2020 In Review

Introducing Mama Ghetto and DJ Xzan

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