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This year LGBT+ history month (February) celebrates the 50th anniversary since the first Pride March in the UK (in 1972). The LGBT+ history month calendar is therefore full of events. We highlight a few events to get involved in and spaces to enjoy throughout and beyond February.
Pride of Royal Opera House Tour
To celebrate LGBT+ History Month, the Royal Opera House in London has organised a series of Pride of ROH tours running through to April 2022. Tour goers will hear about pioneering composers and choreographers to gender-fluid performances throughout ROH’s history. The tour explores queer themes, productions, and the rich contributions to music and theatre made by the LGBTQ+ icons who have helped shape the Royal Opera House. As the Royal Opera House is a fully working theatre, each tour is a unique experience and varies according to what is available on the day
Location: Royal Opera House, Bow Street, London, WC2E 9DD
Tickets cost £16, and can be booked at roh.org.uk
Kimpton Clocktower x George House Trust – charity auction of Worlds Aids Day Quilts
Following the exclusive Quilts Exhibition which was launched on World Aids Day 2021 at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, George House Trust is auctioning off these displays to support people living with HIV, and challenge HIV stigma.
Launched on World AIDS Day 2021, Kimpton Clocktower Hotel and charity partner George House Trust are currently displaying digital prints from the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt in memory of lives lost to the AIDS pandemic. The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt is a precious artefact and a unique document of social history – last year also marked 40 years since the first report of HIV and AIDS. Each of the panel displayed at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel commemorates the lives lost to the AIDS pandemic during the 1980s and 90s. It is a public naming of loved ones lost, and a memorial for the many who died and went unnamed too. These quilts are part of an international movement that sought to raise awareness of the impact of the AIDS pandemic, to ensure that these lives would never be forgotten and are preserved by UK AIDS Memorial Quilt Partnership, a coalition of charities dedicated to raising awareness of the quilt, its importance in our history and to restore and conserve the quilt for generations to come.
Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in partnership with George House Trust has begun auctioning off all 37 of these framed digital prints, as the exhibition finishes 27 February. All proceeds will go directly to George House Trust, to support their work inspiring people living with HIV to live healthy, confident lives.
Online bidding is open and ends on Sunday 27 February.
Link to bid here: https://app.galabid.com/quilt-photo-auction/items
Everyman Art Exhibition and Charity Gala
To celebrate LGBT+ History Month, Everyman cinema, has launched an LGBTQ+ art exhibition at its King’s Cross venue. The eleven pieces of art now on display at the Kings Cross venue have all been donated by members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community. This includes a special contribution from TV personality, Gok Wan, titled ‘Pride’, in addition to works by Jodie Macpherson, Natalie Foss, queer artist Betsy Falco, Esther Lalanne, Ellie Foster, Veronica Johnson, María Jesús Contreras, Eunjoo Lee, and Rafaela Mascaro.
The exhibition concludes on 24 February, and that evening will see Everyman host a charity gala night auctioning the artwork to attendees in aid of Stonewall. As part of the gala evening, guests will be able to watch a special screening of Matthew Warchus’s 2014 movie Pride in which LGBTQ+ activists work to help Welsh miners during their strike action in the 1980s.
Tickets cost £19.10, with all proceeds going to Stonewall.
Location: 14-18 Handyside Street, King’s Cross, London, N1C 4DN
Tickets are available to purchase from everymancinema.com
The London LGBTQ+ Community Centre
Comprising a café, lounge area and meeting space, London LGBTQ+ Community Centre is open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday, and for private bookings by groups on Monday and Tuesday. Since opening, the centre has worked with a number of charities, community groups and organisations to deliver LGBTQ+-specific services including sexual health testing, mental health support and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. It also hosts an events programme of workshops, panel talks, book and film clubs, meet-ups, yoga, meditation and more. People come to relax, seek advice, access resources, make new connections and new friends, in what is – thanks to the generosity and solidarity of London’s design community – a beautifully furnished environment.
Communications agency, Zetteler, recently supported the London LGBTQ+ Community Centre by working with well-respected design brands and studios to help furnish the space. Thanks to Zetteler, the Community Centre now contains café furniture by Benchmark, rugs from Floor Story and Nordic Knots, a range of sofas and chairs from Made.com, Pearson Lloyd and Petite Friture amongst many more.
Location: 60-62 Hopton Street, London, SE1 9JH
For more information, visit londonlgbtqcentre.org
