lesbian life – Andro & Eve

Vegan Banana Bread

13th May 202013th May 2020 by androandeve

We know life is incredibly tough for so many people right now. Not least LGBT+ people isolated from supportive friends and networks that can be a lifeline. We know we’ve been missing our queer community and queer life in Sheffield during lockdown. We’ve been working hard to bring you some content that might prove useful, or bring joy. Our Instagram Stories and Twitter feed are full of news, resources and online events that can help members of the LGBT+ community during this pandemic.

Today we’re sharing something tasty. If you’ve been to one of our events you’ll know how important a feature our cakes are, and we’re missing them. Over the coming week we’re celebrating 4 years since our first event in Sheffield (a cosy screening of Jamie Babbit’s But I’m a Cheerleader, at which a giant cheerleader skirt cake made a splash!)

So what better way to mark 4 years of Andro & Eve than by sharing a recipe from our very own baker, Kat, otherwise know as Kelham Island Kitchen. Her blog is full of delicious vegan cooking, and her cakes are a staple of Andro & Eve events. Fun fact – Kat was the very first volunteer for Andro & Eve, back in 2016!

This cake was featured at our January screening of SILVANA at Yellow Arch Studios. Its proper comfort food, ideal for coping with lockdown life, and not too expensive to make either. We know how hard it is to make ends meet for a lot of folx right now. It may be a quarantine cliche, but an easy banana bread, may be just the tonic. (I certainly enjoyed baking and eating this last week as a test – Katherine). Enjoy!

(And if you do bake this, please tag us @androandeve in any pics. We’d love to see!

Why not chuck in some dark chocolate chips, peanut butter or toast a slice with some coconut yoghurt for breakfast?

Kelham Island Kitchen’s Vegan Banana Bread

Ingredients

3 large, overripe bananas
2 tsp cinnamon
1tsp mix spice
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
150g brown sugar
75ml vegetable or sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
100ml oat milk – if it needs it

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180 (160 fan) mark 4
Grease and line a loaf tin
In a large bowl mix the flour, spices, sugar and baking powder
In a separate bowl mash the bananas then add the oil and vanilla
Mix the dry and wet mixtures together, if needed add the oat milk
After a thorough mix pour into the prepared loaf tin and sprinkle some brown sugar on the top
Bake in the oven for 45min – 1hr until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing to cool
Enjoy!

So What Have We Been up To?

8th April 20209th February 2020 by androandeve

Happy LGBT+ History Month! Its been very busy the last 6 months at Andro & Eve, so we thought it was high time we gave you all an update on what’s been going on!

In November we hosted our first Drag King Workshop Weekend in collaboration with award winning drag king Louis Cyfer, and founder of the Women’s Comedy Network, Natalie Diddams at our partner venue, Theatre Deli Sheffield. (Sidenote: Go support their fundraiser to support this brilliant indie arts space!)

13 participants from across the North of England and the Midlands joined us to learn skills in makeup, character development, gender as performance and creating comedic material, with an informal sharing at the end of the weekend. Feedback from participants was very positive, and we gained a lot of insight into what worked, and where we could push this talent development further. Comments from participants included;

‘I liked the thought, love and organisation that went into the weekend, it was wonderful. I felt very safe and cared for’.

‘I learnt it’s okay to take time and to take up space’.

Jason Andrew treated us to some vogue dance at Cast.

A few days after our Drag King Weekender we headed over to Cast in Doncaster for our first Donny event, A Reyt Northern edition of queer cabaret, A Reyt Queer Do. Louis Cyfer was back for hosting duties with performances by House of Ghetto’s Jason Andrew, and up and coming talents, Ding Frisby, Spent Reznor and Donny Lad. An audience of 60 people turned out and we were thrilled with the support, and to meet so many new faces. There was a lot of laughter in the room that night, and the 6 weeks of outreach work in the run up to the event clearly paid off. Thanks to Cast for their support in developing our audience! Doncaster folk commented

‘Thanks for an amazing night, it made hump day bright and beautiful’.

We rounded off November with a big queer party and cabaret back at Theatre Deli with A Reyt Queer Do 5. This ‘Shine Like a Diamond’ edition was hosted by non – binary rapper Bad Lay Dee with performances by poet Maz Hedgehog, theatre maker Victoria Firth and drag kings Sveto Slava and Dickhead Dave Debonair. DJ Chardine Taylor – Stone from punk band Big Joanie ensured everyone got a chance to raise the roof once the performances were done.

In January we collaborated with DocFest to produce a cosy film screening at Yellow Arch. We chose to screen the brilliant documentary SILVANA, about Swedish rapper Silvana Imam, after seeing this film at Doc/Fest in 2018. The film follows Imam’s rise to fame, her experience as an immigrant in Sweden and new romance with Swedish lesbian pop star, Beatrice Eli. Cake and cosy vibes were enjoyed by all, and we think it’s is fair to say most of the audience fell hard for this lesbian power duo!

Silvana Imam and Beatrice Eli giving face

In between running all these events we successfully recruited a new Assistant Producer, Emma, who brings with her a wealth of marketing and event experience. We’ve also had some fab new volunteers join the team and been recruiting a new board of directors (more news on that coming soon) and planning our events for 2020.

Currently, Andro & Eve is featured in a new exhibition to celebrate LGBT+ History Month at Sheffield’s Central Library. It’s great to see this sort of visibility and recognition, especially at a time when mainstream media seems intent on sowing division between different communities.

We’re also gearing up for our biggest drag king cabaret to date, The Kingdom Come on 21st March at Abbeydale Picture House. It’s going to be a special Under the Sea Edition! Hosted by star on the rise Christian Adore and featuring a line up of ridiculously hot and talented drag kings, its going to be a night to remember.

Christian Adore is headed to Sheffield. Hold onto your hats!

We’re forever grateful for those in our community who have gone before, making space for the LGBT+ community to come together, and are proud to be continuing this work. But we know only too well how precarious the creation of queer friendly spaces are. Want to support your LGBT+ community now and help us continue this work? Then nab a ticket and come feel the mer love at The Kingdom Come! See you then!

A special thanks to all those who continue to support our work, giving their time, money or expertise to help us grow, and Arts Council England for funding much of the work of the last 6 months.

KW x

Our Sliding Scale Tickets

19th September 201919th September 2019 by androandeve

For the last 18 months we’ve offered sliding scale tickets for for all our events. This has been made possible through generous donations by our community when buying tickets, our limited edition pin badges, or through our fantastic raffles! (Huge thanks to the local Sheffield businesses, who have donated their goods towards this)*. We believe that everyone should have access to fantastic live performance, and feel welcome in warm, accessible spaces where they can be part of their community.

We’re really pleased to say that our Arts Council funding is enabling us to add more options, so a wider range of people can enjoy our live events. Our next event at Theatre Deli will use these ticket bands, so we ask you to be honest with yourself and your financial situation when buying tickets – that way those who really need the discounted tickets will benefit from the reduction in costs. A fuller description of each ticket band is below.

Huge thanks to Leeds Queer Film Festival who originally inspired us to introduce sliding scale ticket prices, who in turn adapted their ticket bands from The Green Bottle Sliding Scale by Califia Collective (califiacollective.org). A massive thanks also to the Andro and Eve Community who continue to contribute to our Pay it Forward Ticket Fund as well as the excellent Tickets For Good who have supported us throughout and whose booking fees support good causes. Everyone mentioned has helped make it the success it is, just keep at it! Queer solidarity forever! x

* Thanks to Birdhouse Tea Company, Pip and Peel, Truffle Pig Vegan, Cocoa Mester, Beer Central, Hard Times Vegan, Zeds, Our Fave Places, Showroom Cinema, Sheffield Theatres.

The Kingdom Come #4

31st January 201931st December 2018 by androandeve

On December 1st 2018, we brought our drag king cabaret, The Kingdom Come back to Walkley Community Centre, Sheffield. The night was a sell out, with audience members rocking some amazing costumes and outfits. Its never too early for tinsel right?

Host Don One was charm personified, his Brummie accent and smooth songs winning everyone round. Stellar performances came from Dick Slick, Loui Von Dini, Mo Torboat and Chiyo, who were warmly enveloped in the love from our audience.

As usual the cake sold faster than you can say hotcakes, and the Andro & Eve volunteers did a brilliant job of helping the night run smoothly. We want to say a huge thanks to them for giving their time to help at this night and the others we’ve produced in 2018.

A massive thank you to Walkley Community Centre for lending us their venue again, to all the local businesses who donated towards our raffle, and our audience for contributing to our Pay it Forward Ticket fund. This fund allows us to provide cheaper and free tickets to those who need them. We raised £245 from this event through raffle and online contributions alone! Thank you! Here’s to more super events in 2019. Have you got your ticket to A Reyt Queer Do: Electric Dreams edition on February 16th yet?!

All photos credited to Ndrika Anyika. See more of the night via our Facebook album!

_V3A0213 copy.jpg — *Pirates came ashore for the evening…!*

Mo 1 — Mo Torboat. Spoken Word Artist. Musician. All round good egg..

Dick + Audience.jpg — *Dick Slick serenaded the audience…*

We won an Award!

31st January 20193rd October 2018 by androandeve

We won an Award!! Last month at Cinema For All’s 2018 Film Society of the Year Awards we won in the BEST SINGLE EVENT category for our screening themed around Sekiya Dorsett’s film THE REVIVAL: WOMEN AND THE WORD. You can read more about what happened at that event in January 2018 on our blog here.

42806092620_07b328d612_h — *Andro & Eve co-founders Rhiannon and Katherine with the award!*

We’re really grateful to Cinema for All for this award – Thank you! Big thanks also to Jade Foster and Sekiya Dorsett for making this brilliant film. We want to say a huge thank you to Ella Otomewo Poet and DYLEMA for performing their poetry at our event, and massive love to Rainbow Noir and Our Mel who we collaborated with in creating the night. Finally, our sincerest thanks to our amazing volunteers who help us run special events like this, and you, our audience, for supporting what we do. Here’s to more awesome film screenings in future!

_V3A4762 — *Ella Otomewo performs at the event ‘ The Revival: Women and the Word’ January 2018*

Meet The Locals!

26th May 20212nd May 2018 by natalie@rainbowwebservices.co.uk

We’re reyt chuffed to have been featured on the revamped Our Favourite Places, in their ‘Meet The Locals’ section. In case you’ve not comes across it, Our Fave Places, is an online Sheffield Culture guide that features all you need to know when planning a visit to the Steel City. With the lowdown on everything from exhibitions to pubs, theatre, music, coffee shops, film screenings to unique events, all written by in – the – know Sheffielders. The new Meet The Local’s section is a great way to find out about the people creating things and making good stuff happen in Sheffield.

They say, ‘An immediate success, Andro and Eve’s events were clearly just the kind of thing the city’s LGBTQ+ community and their friends were hungry for – friendly, positive, and above all lots of fun’.

Read the full interview here.

Vegan Banana Bread

So What Have We Been up To?

Our Sliding Scale Tickets

The Kingdom Come #4

We won an Award!

Meet The Locals!

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