Please send us a short message or contact us on 0141 552 7575 / 0141 847 1122 during normal office hours
Sat 31 August, 2-4pm, The Lagoon, Paisley PA1
A live painting event with local artist, Peter Stewart to test ideas for a new series of community murals in Paisley’s east end.
Come along take part, share stories and ideas about the area and try your hand at designing or painting.
All ages welcome.
FREE – no tickets required.
Untitled 2009 is a brand new play written by Nelly Kelly and directed by David Wood, produced as part of the 10th Anniversary celebrations of The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, by legendary trans artist and activist Jo Clifford. Supported by Outspoken Arts Scotland. All events will take place at the Tron Theatre, exactly ten years after Queen Jesus’ premiere at the theatre in November 2009 to mark the anniversary and celebrate and reflect on its impact and legacy.
Nelly, David and the team behind Queen Jesus Productions would be delighted to meet any trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming performers of all ages and experience who are interested in taking part in this special project. All performers will be paid for the day of rehearsal and the day of performance. In addition to this all performers are welcome to take part in workshops hosted by Brazilian artist and activist Renata Carvalho (who plays Jesus in the Brazilian production) and voice expert Susan Worsfold (director of the original production). Performers will also be invited to be part of the audience for the UK and Brazilian productions (The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven and O Evangelho Segundo Jesus, Raihna do Ceu) and to take part in post-show discussions. We regret it’s not possible to reimburse travel costs so this opportunity may best suit people based in and near the Central Belt. Actors ITC/Equity minimum daily rates offered for 1+2 Nov.
Important dates (all central Glasgow)
How to apply
Please get in touch by mailto:queenjesusplays@gmail.com telling us why you want to be part of the project and a little about you and your performance experience, this can be done in either written form or as a short video application. If submitting a video please send us a YouTube or Vimeo link.
There is no word/time limit on applications, however please keep your application concise to allow for the team to give a fair amount of consideration to each applicant.
The casting for Untitled 2009 will take the form of a relaxed workshop on Monday 9 Sep, 10.15-13.15, and we aim to make it accessible for all. On invitation to the casting workshop, a member of the team will be in contact with you to ask of any specific access requirements you may have and will be happy to discuss with you ways in which we can best support you on the day.
Venue for casting workshop
Vic Bar (internal location), Tron Theatre, 63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB
Map link / www.tron.co.uk / Accessibility info
About Untitled 2009
In July 2009 a Bible was put on display in GoMA alongside the notice: “If you feel you’ve been excluded from the Bible, please write your way back into it.” The exhibit, Untitled 2009, was intended to be a reclamation of the Bible as a sacred text, created by Rev Jane Clarke, a minister of the Metropolitan Community Church, in collaboration with artists Anthony Schrag and David Malone for the Made in God’s Image exhibition (https://galleryofmodernart.wordpress.com/portfolio/made-in-gods-image/). But it was condemned as a sacrilegious act by churches across Scotland, and globally, as negative reports broke out online.
Now ten years on, Untitled 2009 will be on display again in Glasgow and the words collected in its margins performed, challenged and explored by a dynamic ensemble of trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming performers in this new piece of theatre, as part of Queen Jesus’ 10th anniversary celebrations. What has changed in the last ten years and what do these words tell us about queer lives in Scotland then and now?
The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven
The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven is a unique, one-woman, site-responsive theatrical piece in which Jesus has returned to earth as a trans woman. Written and performed by Jo Clifford (TAMING OF THE SHREW, EVE) – author of over 80 plays, Stonewall role model, Saltire Society Outstanding Woman, and one of Scotland’s most renowned playwrights – and directed by award-winning director and voice practitioner Susan Worsfold (EVE, HEROINE). Described as having “one of the most remarkable journeys in recent theatre history” (Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman) the play has indeed had an incredible journey over the last ten years since its premiere as part of Glasgay! at the Tron in 2009. From being the subject of hate and abuse from a mass protest outside; to hundreds of critically acclaimed and sold out performances in the UK and Brazil and the resulting creation of a Brazilian version that has become the most talked about work in the country and is at the epicentre of the struggle against censorship and bigotry.
Curated by Queen Jesus Productions, with support from Tron Theatre and Outspoken Arts Scotland, the 10th anniversary celebrations include a three-performance run of the original production and the Scottish premiere of the infamous Brazilian production alongside a programme of performance, learning and discussion inspired by the play’s journey, themes and guiding principles.
Supported by Creative Scotland National Lottery Funding.
Links https://www.facebook.com/JesusQueenofHeaven
Interview with Jo: https://www.scotsman.com
Press coverage of ‘Untitled 2009’ in 2009:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk
http://danimarti.com
Main Photo of Jo Clifford – by Aly Wight
Programme out 1st August 2019
http://youthartsfestival.co.uk/
mailto:contact@outspokenarts.org
Tel 0141 847 1122
Lisa Watt , Marketing Manager
Facebook & Twitter @pyaf19
PAISLEY YOUTH ARTS FESTIVAL NEEDS YOU!
DESIGN COMPETITION LAUNCHED TO CREATE IDENTITY FOR THE EVENT
A design competition has been launched to create the visual style for the inaugural Paisley Youth Arts Festival (PYAF) 2019 which will take place in Paisley town centre, from 1-15th September 2019.
Targeted at young people from the age of 5 – 25, the festival will feature exciting events including: fringe theatre shows; music gigs and open mic nights; a gaming and film zone; workshops on music; art; gaming; a food offering and much more! The full programme will be launched in August 2019.
Following on from last month’s Youth Consultation event at The Wynd, festival organisers are reaching out to young people in the local community to enter the competition. The young designer’s artwork will be used throughout the festival and will be included in posters; brochures and merchandise. The brief is to come up with a catchy name for the festival; design of a festival logo and an A3 or A4 poster, which should be colourful and eye-catching.
Local arts organisations involved in the festival include: Brick Lane Studios; Create Paisley; Erskine Music and Media; Loud n Proud; Outspoken Arts Scotland; PACE; Renfrewshire Leisure and University of West of Scotland (UWS).
Steven Thomson, Creative Director, Outspoken Arts Scotland, commented: “This is a great opportunity for a young designer, under the age of 25, to create the visual style for the festival they would want to see and visit. We want those who enter to take inspiration from what’s going to be in the programme and put their own creative spin on it.”
The winner will see their work on the front cover of festival brochures and posters and will receive £100 and a free festival pass, six runners up will receive a free festival pass.
Deadline is 5pm on Wednesday 1st May 2019. Submit your entries via email to: contact@outspokenarts.org or by post to: Design Competition, Paisley Youth Arts Festival, c/o Outspoken Arts Scotland, Suite 33, Sir James Clark Building, Abbeymill Business Centre, Seedhill, Paisley, PA1 1TJ
For further information, contact: Lisa Watt, Outspoken Arts on either 0141 847 1122 or 07903 206615 or via email: marketing@outspokenarts.org
Outspoken Arts Scotland Ltd is the legacy of a movement that began with the foundation of the Glasgay! Festival in 1993, founded as a direct response the Section 28 legislation banning the promotion of homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.
Glasgay! launched on Saturday 30th October 1993. This lesbian and gay arts festival was the innovation of Cordelia Ditton, well known in national arts scene as a performer, writer, and co-director of Gay Sweatshop. The introduction of Section 28 in 1988 galvanised a whole new era of political and public agitation and resulted also in the founding in 1989 of the influential national lobbying group Stonewall.
Ditton herself had been involved in the campaign against Section 28. Ditton recognised that important local organisations such as the Glasgow branch of Switchboard already existed. However, it was her idea that a lesbian and gay arts festival, would make the lesbian and gay communities of Glasgow more visible. In 1991 she joined forces with Glasgow-based freelance arts administrator Dominic D’Angelo. Both were determined to to produce an arts festival that would show gay lifestyles and performers and work in a very, very positive light. The mission was to change public opinion about lesbian and gay people and to show the wealth of amazing work that was out there.
The 1993 Festival opened to huge acclaim garnering audiences of just over 26,000 attenders. However, there were hateful campaigns in the press, from Tory Councillors and members of the public de-crying the use of public money on such gay art. This backlash and the difficulties it faced caused two years of festival blackout – 1994 and 1996.
In 1995 Cordelia and Dominic stepped down and a new board of directors was convened and the charity Gala Scotland Ltd established. This company then carried forward the legacy and produced the festival from 1995 to 2014.
In its history the festival worked with many of the top gay and lesbian artists in the world. Names such as Sir Ian McKellen, Simon Fanshawe, Donna McPhail, Edwin Morgan, Jackie Kay, Rhona Cameron, Annie Sprinkle, Penny Arcade, Bette Bourne, Diamanda Galas, Neil Bartlett, Scott Capurro, Pam Ann, Four Poofs and a Piano, Lypsinka, Louise Welsh, Marc Almond, Alan Carr, Zoe Strachan, Stewart Laing, and John Waters are amongst the many others that have graced the festival stages.
The work of the festival was always dominated by the prevailing social climate in terms of acceptance, tolerance and understanding of LGBT rights, equality and the march of progress. That social progress has resulted in the repealing of Section 28 of the Government Act 1998; the Civil Partnership Act (2004) and The Equality Act (2010).
Glasgay! artists across the generations have presented work in various artforms that continually reflect social attitudes, behaviours and experiences of the LGBT community. The Glasgay! Festival was a place where LGBT life was acknowledged, celebrated and understood.
Over the 21 years of its history the festival was funded mainly on a year to year basis by the Scottish Arts Council and, subsequently its successor, Creative Scotland and Glasgow City Council. From 2007 to 2014 it enjoyed regular 3 year funding agreements from the Scottish Arts Council/Creative Scotland. In 2015 the Company was unsuccessful in its bid to become a new RFO client and the Board was asked to consider the future of the festival without the support of Creative Scotland.
The Company was also asked to consider its national role as a promoter of equality and the broader protected characteristics. It was clear that whilst the festival clearly enjoyed strong support in Glasgow the need to spread the message of equality, particularly to outer-lying communities was the principal challenge. The Company agreed to enter a period of funding transition and the board took the bold step of retiring the festival and renaming the charity, rebranding and re-purposing the mission.
The name Outspoken Arts Scotland was chosen to reflect the campaigning roots of the festival as legacy of a movement. A new mission was adopted to work in outerlying communities and to work across all, or most, of the protected characteristics. This transition period lasted for nearly two years 2015-2017 and the Company delivered a number of projects across that period.
The Company continues to be funded by Creative Scotland & Glasgow City Council and since 2018 by Renfrewshire Council.
Archives
The entire administrative, artistic, press & PR archive of the Glasgay! Festival 1993-2014 was transferred to Glasgow University’s Scottish Theatre Archive in Spring 2018. This archive is still being catalogued and documented but reference to it should eventually appear at this link. http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/STA/search/
See this link for Commissions, productions, presentations and a list of artists/companies who appeared.
queer timɘs school is an opportunity for LGBTPQI citizens – and their allies – to participate in history-making by chronicling some of the complex controversies, breakthroughs and experiences that have shaped queer Scottish life over the past 50 years. It is for those who feel that their daily experience, or a specific experience, however small it may seem, has been uncharted or unrecognised.
A programme in collaboration with Outspoken Arts Scotland and the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow.
Featuring LGBTPQIA+ artists who will present thought provoking works addressing the main themes, issues and context of the centrepiece exhibition at GOMA.
We will be taking part in a brand new and fabulous Pride 2019 in Glasgow.
Pride Glasgow is an annual lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride festival held in Glasgow, Scotland.
Pride 2019 will be a new fully inclusive event for the whole community, free to access and run by and for the community.
PACE Youth Theatre was established in 1988. It is based at Spires Drama Studios and also presents work at other venues in Paisley, for young people aged 3-21.
Workshops take place at various times every week during school term time (approximately 33-34 workshops per year) and are run by our full team of drama, technical and musical staff. Workshops follow our unique new youth theatre syllabus programme, devised to increase confidence, communication, self-expression and performance skills, as well as being a great way to meet new friends and have lots of fun!
It’s a red letter day for Paisley as Outspoken Arts Scotland, a cultural leader in equalities, announce £72k investment in Paisley and Renfrewshire arts and cultural sector. The organisation has won grants from two national funders: Creative Scotland and National Lottery Awards for All Scotland and has received local funding from Invest in Renfrewshire and the Longstone Trust.
Outspoken Arts Scotland is the first professional arts organisation locating into Renfrewshire to be funded by Creative Scotland, to deliver a year-long programme that builds on the work already carried out on the Paisley 2021 bid.
Recently relocated from Glasgow, Outspoken Arts Scotland is now based at the Sir James Clark Building, at Abbeymill Business Centre. Led by Paisley buddie, Steven Thomson, an award winning creative director and former producer of the Glasgay! Festival from 2004-2014, the organisation has made the bold move to secure a key role in the legacy of Paisley’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021. Steven Thomson worked closely with Renfrewshire Council, seconded as a Creative Producer, alongside his long-standing colleague Jean Cameron, Bid Director. Despite Paisley not winning the title, their tenure has secured a £4m investment in arts programming for Renfrewshire, resulting in a positive step change for the reputation of Paisley as a cultural destination.
Steven Thomson, Director, Outspoken Arts, commented: “I’m truly delighted to be working across Scotland and giving my hometown the much love and attention it deserves. Paisley is a special place for culture and its people and their stories nourish us in going forward. I could not have done this without the support of some amazing colleagues, particularly fellow buddie Jean Cameron, former Paisley 2021 bid Director, to whom I’m enormously grateful. Keep your eye on Paisley! We will.”
Outspoken Arts Scotland works with artists and communities who share the protected characteristics, those being: age, sex and sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, faith, marriage and civil partnership, maternity and pregnancy. The team is made up of Paisley residents, led by Steven Thomson, Creative Director, who has had a long career in the arts notably working at The Tron, King’s and Mitchell Theatres, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama (now RCS), New Moves and also with Bill Bryden on The Big Picnic. Supporting him are Alphonso Harrison, engagement manager, who hails from Virginia, USA and has lived and worked in the UK for over 20 years; Lisa Watt, marketing manager, who has worked for The Mackintosh Festival and Merchant City Festival.
The Company has an exciting programme of engagement rolling out over the next year, beginning with creative development workshops with over a dozen organisations. Those partners are as follows:
• Renfrewshire Leisure – 21 Thread Street – a major exhibition on industrial weaving.
• Bogha-Fhrois – LGBT voices in folk music
• Create Paisley – a faith/youth multi-disciplinary arts project in Paisley.
• DEAR Group – a Renfrewshire networking group focussing on equality diversity.
• Erskine Music & Media Studios – an award winning youth music/media group in Bargarran, Erskine
• Feral Arts – Professional arts producers formerly of The Arches.
• H-Arts – Paisley based writer/director and community participants/vulnerable people.
• In-Motion Theatre Co. – working on Voices of Ferguslie a community drama/documentary.
• PACE Youth Theatre – collaborating on a new youth arts festival for Paisley.
• Queer Times 2019 – a major exhibition and fringe programme highlighting LGBT history since 1969 and decriminalisation.
• Renfrewshire Council THCAR2 Regeneration – arts project focussing on social & built heritage.
• Paisley Arts Centre – developing new drama, workshops and artists’ residencies.
• ROAR Connections for Life – working with older people and vulnerable adults.
• Star Project – working with poorer families and children in an area of high deprivation.
• Take Me Somewhere – Scotland newest festival of contemporary performance and live art.
• Paisley Thread Mill Museum – a visitor attraction showcasing Paisley’s historic thread-making industry.
Milica Milosevic, Head of Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion at Creative Scotland, commented:
“The energy and enthusiasm generated through the Paisley 2021 UK City of Culture bid has left a lasting legacy in the area with new opportunities being created as a direct result of the bid. We are pleased to support the artistic programme of Outspoken Arts, their varied programme has the potential to make a positive impact on the lives of many people in the area.”
A National Lottery Awards for All Scotland spokesperson, said: “One of the aims of this small grants programme is to bring people together building strong relationships across communities. We are delighted to have been able to support Outspoken Arts with an award of £9,800 to develop a diverse cultural programme working alongside a wide range of Renfrewshire-based community and art sector organisations.”
Councillor Iain Nicolson, Leader of Renfrewshire Council, said: “We are pleased to have helped fund an internship for Outspoken Arts through the Council’s Invest in Renfrewshire programme, which has in recent years seen Renfrewshire go from having one of Scotland’s worst youth employment rates to its third best. Our ambition is to transform Renfrewshire’s future using the power of our internationally-significant cultural and heritage story – that approach is already delivering results, and we will build on those further in the years ahead. Key to that is in working with the independent cultural sector to help make the area a key destination within Scotland, and a place where people can experience world-class culture and all the opportunity that creates right here on their doorstep. The programme Outspoken Arts are planning will open up those benefits to many of our less-heard communities, and the partnerships they are building will help showcase many of the local creative organisations already delivering excellent work here.”
Opportunities
The company will be offering a number of creative opportunities to participate in its work and wants to hear from participants from any background and any community who are looking for a chance to get involved in the arts. mailto:steventhomson@outspokenarts.org
Diversity and Equality Alliance in Renfrewshire (DEAR) contributes to the wider agenda of community empowerment through the Forum for Empowering communities board within Renfrewshire Community Planning Structure.
DEAR Membership consists of statutory and third sector organisations with an interest and focus in contributing to the successful promotion and development of the current, emerging and evolving equalities agenda within Renfrewshire.
mailto:sofija.tkacenko@renfrewshire.gov.uk or phone 0141 618 4168.
Outspoken Arts Scotland Limited
Tel: 0141 552 7575 / 0141 847 1122
outspokenarts.org
facebook.com/outspokenartsSC
twitter @outspokenartsSC