We’re pleased to announce a new date for our Gender Awareness Training. Booking is now open for 15 March 10am – 1pm. This online session is aimed at freelancers, individuals and organisations where less than 6 people would like to undertake this training.
This 3 hour Gender Awareness Training session is designed to pass on knowledge and best practice enabling you to better serve and meet the needs of clients and customers of all genders, particularly those who fall under the Transgender umbrella.
We cover topics including, language, intersectionality, non binary identities, allyship gender in a global context, feminism, LGBTQ+ herstory and transgender health and equality and the law.
Learning Outcomes – You will;
Feel more confident in your knowledge of the experiences of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ+).
Understand what gender inclusive language is and when to use it.
Learn about LGBTQ+ histories, rights and current legislation and understand what this might mean for trans and non-binary people living in the UK today.
Explore practical steps to help build gender inclusive practices and spaces, including by being an ‘ally’ to trans, non-binary and gender minoritised people.
As one past participant said;
‘This training was empowering and motivating, and I felt that the trainer created a really safe space for respectful and open discussion’.
Each participant will take away a resource pack with content covered in the session along with further advice and reading. Places are limited, and priced on a sliding scale. Book via Eventbrite now!
Access Information – We will take two breaks during this session and each participant receives information on session structure in advance. Closed Captions will be provided via zoom and the training is supported with slides with text and images.
This week in the UK it’s Transgender Awareness Week from 13 – 19 November.
CW: Transphobia.
Transgender Awareness Week is a week to celebrate the achievements of our trans and gender expansive siblings and talk about the ways we have to go in fighting for transgender liberation.
We want to use this moment to recognise how tough the last year has been for many trans and non-binary people living in the UK. If you are trans or non binary, you’ll probably be all too aware of the rise in transphobia. But for those outside the community, we’ve made this short summary to be able to evidence what that looks like in the UK right now.
In the last year alone;
> The UK Government blocked the Scottish Gender Reform Bill.
> A significant change to the 2010 Equality Act is being pursued by the government, which would redefine “sex” to refer specifically to a person’s sex at birth. (This has not been enacted yet, but follows the trend of increased transphobia from the Conservative government).
These actions are part of an ongoing culture war and moral panic. They have a direct impact on the ways we as trans people navigate the world and undermine trans people’s ability to live authentically and in peace. Hate crimes against trans people are up by 186% in the last 5 years and up by 11% in the last 5 years. (ONS Data).
When this transphobia intersects with race, disability, immigration status or other issues that can further marginalise people, health and equality outcomes can be even worse. It is no coincidence that the UK continues to fail to recognise its complicity in colonialism and the way this upholds power structures designed to give social advantages to very few people.
There is of course so much to celebrate in the contributions and achievements and strength of trans people, but this week we ask our allies to educate themselves on some of the issues outlined above and then check carefully how those in power, who we can hold accountable, are voting and making decisions.
Change is possible, but only through education, policy and action. Thats why we believe passionately in our Gender Awareness Training and its contribution towards this work. Our Gender Awareness Training empowers participants to advocate for and enact practices that better meet the needs of trans and gender diverse people.
Next week we are hosting a Live Q&A about our Gender Awareness Training. Find out more and book a free place here.
Solidarity always with those fighting for transgender liberation.
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 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!
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
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 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!
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
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
Feeling Fabulous Workshop with Ghetto Fabulous. 2022. Credit – Emma Bentley – Fox
Take a breath of… FRESH AIR! We are delighted to launch our new zine, in collaboration with the Society of Explorers!
The Society of Explorers are an art collective of 14-18 year olds based at Site Gallery in Sheffield. We delivered our Gender Awareness Training to the Explorers, to share knowledge on how to celebrate and support people of all genders.
Young People from Site Gallery’s Society of Explorer’s created beautiful content for Fresh Air Zine
The full colour zine is full of the young people’s creative responses and includes poems, cartoons, drawings and recipes that aim to raise awareness of issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate queer identity and culture.
Inside you’ll also find gorgeous artwork by artist Luci Pina, who has designed this unique zine. This collection of creative work by the young people will leave you full of queer joy and feeling inspired to make a change.
Artwork by Luci Pina, who was chosen by us and the young people to design Fresh Air zine
Fresh Air zine is offered for FREE because we believe that we should all have access to culture and community.
However, if you are able, we would encourage you to add a donation at checkout. 50% of those donations will be donated to SAYiT Sheffield, who provide support and opportunities for LGBTQ+ young people. The remainder helps support our mission to support LGBTQ+ artists and celebrate queer culture.
Our thanks in producing this zine go to Peter and Alfie from Site Gallery. A huge thank you to Luci Pina for her creative vision and hard work, and to all the young people from Society of Explorers who contributed their work.
If you have a group of young people you’d like us to work creatively with, or would like some Gender Awareness Training for your organisation, please feel free to get in touch!
We are looking to recruit one or two freelance Gender Awareness Trainers based in the North of England with a strong set of skills and experiences.
Contract – Freelance
Fee – £300 per day
Benefits – Training given including shadowing
Contract period – ongoing.
The Gender Awareness Trainer/s will facilitate our Gender Awareness Training. This is a bespoke, interactive training session we have developed and designed, which we deliver for a range of clients across the North of England and the UK. Its aim is to help organisations better meet the needs of audiences, service users and clients who are transgender or gender expansive. Find out more here.
A really informative and useful session with practical examples of things you can change both personally and within your organisation to be more inclusive.
– Previous Training Participant
This freelance role is designed to both increase the capacity of Andro and Eve to deliver Gender Awareness Training and to give an experienced facilitator the opportunity to develop specialist skills and knowledge. Training will be provided.
If you have experience of delivering workshops or training sessions, want to develop your skills and work with an arts organisation committed to tackling structural inequality, then this opportunity could be for you.
As well as supporting a wide range of artists, our team have lived experiences that enable them to support inclusive practices. We particularly encourage applications from those currently under-represented within the UK arts sector, including those of Black, Asian or other Global Majority ethnicities, those who have faced socio – economic barriers, those who identify as LGBTQI+ and those who are disabled or neurodiverse.
While our training offer is available for companies across the UK, and we frequently deliver online sessions, we tend to mostly work with clients based in Yorkshire and the North of England. Therefore the ability to travel easily to locations in South and West Yorkshire and the North of England is important.
You’ll find everything you need to know about the role and how to apply in the job pack. Should you have any questions or would like to have an informal conversation about the role before applying, there are further details in this pack about this.
Today marks the start of LGBT History Month. We are so thankful to members of LGBTQ+ community who have gone before, paving the way for our rights and increasing the visibility of, and acceptance of our community. We know there is so much still to be done, in the UK and around the world.
Here in the UK, over the last few years, a hostile environment has been created for trans, non binary and gender non conforming people. In 2020 we spent time developing a Gender Awareness Training session, aimed at staff teams in organisations, public services and businesses.
Our Gender Awareness Training is designed to pass on knowledge and best practice, enabling organisations to better serve and meet the needs of clients, customers and service users of all genders, particularly those who fall under the Transgender* umbrella.
Drawing upon our extensive experience in meeting the needs of the LGBTQIA community in creating safe and inclusive events, this 2 hour, online session can be tailored to your organisation’s needs. Interested? We currently have a special introductory offer for organisations able to book a session before 30 April 2021. Please get in touch or share this post if you think your organisation could benefit from our Gender Awareness Training. You can also find out more here.
.*Transgender is an umbrella term for people who do not identify or feel comfortable with what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Keep in touch
Sign up to our newsletter to keep up-to-date with our latest news, events and offers.
Donate
Your donation will be used to help us continue to support queer artists and culture.
