GET QWEIRD: A Playground For Queer Live Art, launched as a twelve-week residency from January 2022 - March 2022.

The work was made possible after The House of Savalon launched in November 2021 with The Opulence Edition. With no budget, and a show costing £3,500, I was determined to make an immersive feast for the imagination with clowns, live installations, circus performers. drag artists, burlesque performers, puppetry and DJs. I went full grassroots community organiser mode, stopping people on the street who I thought would enjoy the night, inviting people from different parts of the community who I knew were playful souls to a guest list spot so they’d bring much needed cohesion and atmosphere to the dance floor, called upon my large network of friends in the arts to make the launch night a real family affair. Low and behold we sold out to 360 people making my money back and some profit which I put towards making our next sell out show, The Love Temple Edition, an even bigger production with a harpist playing upon arrival, a live choir, more circus performers and some of the most cutting edge live performers from outside of Bristol.

My work was acknowledged by a producer who reached out and felt I was doing something in Bristol that he hadn’t seen in recent times, offering me a £17,500 budget to play with from ACE COVID Recovery Fund, to make performance at The Queenshilling. Thus Get Qweird was born.

During this 12 week residency of experimental art and performances, 12 Queer performance artists experimented with live art, exploring how they could push the boundaries of performance in a Q’weird and wonderful way. I researched and reached out to all the artists involved, offering them a bursary upfront so they could dedicate themselves fully to making work in a professional way. The work on display was diverse with attempts to haver a community of artists who represented the diversity within Bristol.

Artists were encouraged to be as playful with the space as possible, experimenting with more immersive ways of engaging with our audiences. Each week there was a resident DJ performing (four in total), working alongside emerging queer talent to support them in developing their practice.

I directed the residency providing coaching, reflection and feedback sessions, devising new performances each week for the duration of the residency, and hosting each show.

All of the work displayed was experimental, work-in-progress material that was developed in relationship to the space, the audience and the other artists on the residency. As an Arts Council funded the residency we decided to have free entry with optional donations, raising £4000 for Freedom Youth and Outspace LGBTQ Centre.

After successfully attracting an audience of between 200-400 persons each week the residency was extended and funded directly by The House of Savalon themselves.

The residency has been reformatted and presented again in various formats in various cities throughout the UK since its conception in 2022.

Photos by Charley Williams