Earliler this month we launched Joyful Noise zine with a cosy evening of food, hot chocolate, zine making and drag performance from drag king, Christian Adore at Sheffield cafe, Birdhouse Tea Bar and Kitchen.
Guests loved having Christian Adore serenade them!
It was wonderful, if a little surreal to be back together in person again. Once we’d got our heads around the extra safety precautions to manage COVID, we all got in the swing of creating an atmosphere of celebration and joy that Andro and Eve is so known for.
There were plenty news faces at the event, and Seleena Laverne Daye, the artist who curated Joyful Noise zine also joined us. Our fab volunteers helped show folk how to make their own mini zines, and seeing the results was a delight!
The Andro and Eve volunteer crew sharing how to make mini zines!
Christian Adore serenaded our guests at their tables, making everyone chuckle with his witty improvised raps, a perfect treat to top of this special event.
Since the launch we’ve so far managed to raise £235 for Radical Therapist Network’s QTIBIPOC Therapy Fund, which is just brilliant, with stocks of Joyful Noise zine now seriously low.
Joyful Noise zine launch was our first and last IRL event of 2021, but we very much hope (and are planning for) a return to bigger live events in 2022. To help make that a reality, you can donate using the link above. Your support, as always, is so appreciated.
Zines made on the night of Joyful Noise zine launch
We’re so happy now that Joyful Noise zine is out in the world. And its been flying out our online shop since its launch on 5th November!
Designed and curated by artist Seleena Laverne Daye, this unique collection of creative works brings voice to a range of LGBTQ+ people in the North of England, sharing the things that bring them joy. It also features specially commissioned pieces by Ruby Ann Patterson and Holly Casio.
Want to get a better idea of whats inside? In the video below, Seleena Laverne Daye gives you a sneak peek inside Joyful Noise zine, with a taste of the poems, drawings, photos, interviews and much more you’ll find within its pages.
Want to get your own copy? Head to our online shop to get this bundle of queer joy now! Joyful Noise zine is offered for free but donations are encouraged. 75% of donations will be given to the Radical Therapist Network’sQTIBPOC Therapy fund. The remainder helps support Andro and Eve’s mission to support LGBTQ+ artists and celebrate queer culture.
Our huge thanks in producing this zine go to Seleena Laverne Daye for her creative work, and to the artists and members of the Andro and Eve community who have contributed their work. We also want to say thank you to all those who continue to support our work. This is very much appreciated and it is an honour to help create space and visibility for our community.
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.
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.
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!
Each pack includes:
– Coloured felt including skin tones – Threads – Needle – PDF worksheet with instructions – Face templates for cutting around.
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.
Our new zine, JOYFUL NOISE, is being designed and curated by experienced zine artist, Seleena Laverne Daye. This July some of you may have met her through our zine making workshops. But many of you won’t have. So we thought we’d do a proper introduction, so you can find out more about her practice and what brings her joy!
Seleena Laverne Daye is a self-taught textile artist, workshop facilitator, retail worker and zine maker who creates bright and playful works using traditional sewing techniques. Her work is centred around race, class, gender and sexuality.
How to make a 1 page zine – Seleena Laverne Daye
She makes zines about the things she loves and her identity, such as Without You I’m Nothing, Happy Alone and the Brown Girl zine series. She also co-hosts Poor Lass, a podcast sharing working class stories and aims to make art, crafts and creativity as accessible as possible.
How long have you been making zines? What is it that you like about them? I’ve been making zines around 21 years now. I really love the DIY aspect of them and they’re fun to make. There’s something about cutting things out and sticking them down that sparks joy! also really like that a zine can be about anything and everything, and each one is completely different. And that you get to hear from marginalised groups in zines, sharing their story in their own words.
Can you tell us about previous zines you’ve worked on or created? Most of my zines are about race, class and identity, oh and fandom; I love making zines about the things I love. I’ve made a couple of long running zines with friends, One was called Sugar Paper which was a crafty how to zine and another called Poor Lass which was all about working class stories. I’ve also made zines for and with organisations and groups with subject matters ranging from safety for sex workers to community activists.
You make things with felt too, how did you get into craft? I’ve been crafting since I was very small. Part of it is growing up with not much money, so having a DIY approach to most things in life has been passed on from my mum, and I just really enjoying making things. My mum taught me to sew when I was little and her dad, my grandad also made a lot of things. I did GCSE textiles at school but beyond that have had no formal training, more just a hobby that developed over time.
What’s it like being based in Manchester? Do you feel connected to other artists or creatives?
I really love living in a city, I think it’s influenced me a lot in what I make. My mum grew up in a village in South Yorkshire, so a lot of my family visits were there, but I think I was made for city life. I realise how lucky I am to have access to free art spaces and meet other creatives, which happens everywhere, but more so in a big city. And I’ve met a few artists in Manchester whose work inspires me and who I’ve collaborated with.
What other zines do you love? One of my all time favourite zines is Shotgun Seamstress by Osa Atoe, which is a zine about Black Punks, with reviews, interviews and more. I also love zines by Holly Casio. I am biased as she is one of my best friends and the person who was instrumental in me getting into zines as much as I did, She makes zines and comics about fandom and sexuality and life.
What do you hope to achieve with Joyful Noise? To spread some Joy!!! The past 18 months have not exactly been filled with joy and I think we all need to allow ourselves space and time to experience joy. And as with most things I create, I hope to encourage people who aren’t always able to take up space, to TAKE UP SPACE!
What do you do to cultivate joy? Dance! I love dancing, it always makes me feel good. Create something, chat rubbish with friends and eat crisps. They’re the main ways I cultivate joy.
Finally, have you got any advice for someone wanting to make a zine? Just do it! I know that’s easy to say, but don’t overthink it. Don’t feel like you aren’t ‘artistic’ enough or whatever. If you have something to say or share just note it down, put it in a zine. You don’t have to show anyone when it’s done. There’s no right or wrong way to make a zine.
Thanks to Seleena for being interviewed. We hope you feel inspired to have a go, either to make your own zine, or submit something for JOYFUL NOISE.
Find out more about submitting creative work on the theme to our new zine by clicking here. Deadline for submissions is 24 September!
We’re mega excited to announce that submissions are now open for Joyful Noise, our new zine in collaboration with artist Seleena Laverne Daye!
This zine has been made possible through funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. Our community has helped choose the theme for this zine, which is joy! Joyful Noise will be published in the Autumn.
As part of this project we’ve loved hosting zine making workshops this July with lots of different people and sharing in some queer joy. We’ve also got some creative writing workshops coming up this September, to help you get inspired. Read on to find out what we’re looking for for JOYFUL NOISE!
JOYFUL NOISE is a zine that celebrates Queer Joy in all its glory. From folk in the North of England.
The past 18 months has been hard on many of us, especially in the LGBTQ+ community, and it’s important to remind ourselves that it’s vital to rest and seek pleasure, to add joy to our narrative, to take up space and be joyful whilst we’re doing it.
We’re making a zine full of JOY. We want your joy. What makes you feel good? What do you do to feel joy? How do you rest and reset? How do you use joy as a form of resistance?
We want submissions for the JOYFUL NOISE zine. 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.
If you are submitting images, JPEGSs and PNGs are both fine.
There is a word limit of 1000 words for text-based work, please submit as a word document .
Please feel free to submit a scanned page of work / collages.
As part of your submission we will ask for the first part of your postcode.
We’re reyt chuffed to share that we have a theme for our new zine! Drumroll please…. Its JOY!
This was chosen by votes collected throughout June from the Andro and Eve community. Using the theme as inspiration artist Seleena Laverne Daye has designed a special session to bring a bit of queer joy to our community this July.
We’re delighted to share that on the 22 July, we’ll be hosting another online workshop, this time focused on textiles. Seleena will be sharing some simple techniques to make your own textile artwork creating a portrait of yourself or someone else that brings you joy in felt form. It’ll be sewing fun for beginners and those more advanced. Time to get crafty with your selfies and hang out online with fellow LGBTQ+ folk!
We had hoped to bring this session to a physical venue, but after liaison with our partner venue, Theatre Deli Sheffield, and consideration of current COVID infection rates we’ve decided to offer this session online.
Places are limited, but all materials will be provided, you just need to book your FREE ticket in advance if you want to take part.
Find out more about this textiles workshop and book here.
If you can’t make this workshop, after the session we’ll also be sharing a special PDF worksheet for you to create your own artwork at home. Just sign up to our newsletter via the link below to get your hands on this resource!
We’re mega excited to launch a new community zine project, in collaboration with zine and textile artist Seleena Laverne Day, and poet Ella Otomewo.
After the success of our first zine, Centre, (launched in 2020), we wanted to continue to find creative ways to connect our community in these challenging times. This project has been made possible through funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.
The project will take submissions from LGBTQ+ people throughout the North of England and Midlands, with Seleena curating and designing a brand new zine, to be published in Autumn this year.
Our first zine, Centre, published in October 2020
And even more excitingly, we’re pleased that we will be offering creative workshops in zine making and creative writing, both online and IN PERSON as part of this project!
Workshops are planned for members of the public to take part in this July. Special workshops for groups including Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield, students in Further and Higher Education, and Older LGBTQ+ people are also planned. More details to be announced, but if you know of anyone that fits those categories, please do spread the word.
Its important to us that this zine reflects an even wider spectrum of LGBTQ+ voices, and that our community helps shape it at different stages.
The aim of this project is to connect all ages of LGBTQ+ people during this challenging time. We are very aware of the isolation younger and older people may have faced owing to the pandemic, and hope this project will provide social connection and positive experiences for our LGBTQ+ community.
Sign up to our newsletter through the link below to be the first to hear more about our upcoming workshops!
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.
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.
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.
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..!
DJ Xzan at a Reyt Queer Night In
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.
We’re thrilled to officially launch our very first zine! CENTRE is a collaboration with artist Okocha Obasi, founder of Racezine Collective.
We believe in artists. They have the power to make change. We also believe that everyone has the ability to be creative, and therefore creative opportunities should be available for everyone. Creativity helps us explore. Helps us dream. Helps us find a way back to ourselves. Or discover who we are. Something people LGBTQ+ identified need. In a world that often taught us we didn’t fit, discovering ourselves can take that much more.
Our mission at Andro and Eve is to bring the community together to celebrate queer culture. The COVID-19 crisis has given us an opportunity to adapt our offer and find new ways to reach our community.
CENTRE is one such way to connect our community with one another, in a year in which everyone has been in some way affected by the global pandemic. Okocha has curated and designed this unique collection of stories, poems and creative works, bringing voice to a range of LGBTQ+ people living in the North of England.
Centre, a new zine, designed and curated by Okocha Obasi and produced by Andro & Eve.
We also believe Black Lives Matter, and stand in solidarity with those who fight against the structural racism here in the UK and across the world. CENTRE contains a piece by Stop the Scandal, a grassroots campaign to stop the use of mobile fingerprint scanning linked to immigration databases by police. We’ve also connected with our friends at LASS (Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield) to bring you an interview with one of their members. 50% of all profits made from sales of CENTRE will be donated to Yorkshire’s Racial Justice Network, who bring together over thirty organisations in the West Yorkshire region to proactively promote racial justice.
A sneak peek at one of the pieces to be found in CENTRE.
The stories, poems and creative works in CENTRE are about things chosen by LGBTQ+ people living in the North of England that matter most to them. Andro and Eve, as a queer arts organisation based in South Yorkshire, is proud to serve and represent ‘Northern’ voices and we hope you will enjoy reading CENTRE.
Our thanks in producing this zine go to organisers from LASS, Stop the Scandal and Racial Justice Network. A huge thank you to Okocha Obasi for his creative vision and hard work, and to the artists and members of the Andro and Eve community who have contributed their work to CENTRE.
Ready to get a copy? Order from our shop here. And celebrate its launch with our special online party, A REYT QUEER NIGHT IN, on 10th October. We’re bringing the party direct to your front room! We hope that we’ll connect with you online soon.
Katherine Warman. Creative Producer / CEO Andro and Eve. September 2020.
#CentreZine
This zine has been made possible through Arts Council England’s emergency funding in response to the COVID-19 crisis.
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