A short reflection on some of our events this year, from the queer takeover of a museum to celebrating a project's 10-year anniversary.

What a year it’s been at QHS already (and we still have so many months and events to go…) From our History Club events to the queer take-over of Hove Museum, we’ve been busy working with our community to provide interesting and queer events for Brighton & Hove. We’ll take a quick pause from our upcoming programme of events to look back at some of our favourites from the past few months; if you missed any of the events featured here, make sure you check out our upcoming events here, follow us on social media (links below) and subscribe to our mailing list here!

Neil Bartlett in conversation with Nathan Evans

In one of our first events for 2024, authors Neil Bartlett and Nathan Evans discussed writing and publishing novels, and the inspiration that comes from queer pasts, presents and futures. Through their experiences as queer authors, Neil and Nathan were also able to share and chat about their work, particularly the republication of Neil’s novel The Disappearance Boy and Nathan’s debut novella, One Last Song. Both novels engage with ideas about queer history in an unexpected but loving way. Queer history is something that lives through our community and our creative work, as demonstrated by these amazing authors.

Brighton Transformed

Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Brighton Trans*formed records, in their own words, the lives and experiences of Brighton & Hove’s Transgender community. These stories and experiences were published in a book in 2014, and are also available to view on the project’s website. At an event in April, Brighton LQBTQ+ History Club invited all participants to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the book’s publication. Participants shared extracts from their oral histories, accompanied by photos from their personal collections.

The second-half of the event saw E-J Scott, alongside QueenSparks books and some of the project participants, take part in a panel discussion. Topics ranged from the collecting of oral histories, to the creation of queer and trans history through community projects, to the challenges present in these endeavours. When we collect and preserve queer and trans history, how do we deal with issues of evolving language, identity confidentiality, and personal safety?

A Queer Night at the Museum

Our Pride Month kicked off in style with A Queer Night at the Museum. Celebrating Hove Museum’s rich queer collection of film and media, the Museum was filled with artwork, performances, video installations, music and talks. Co-curated and produced by Queer Heritage South and videoclub, the event was part of Days of Wonder, in partnership with Corridor, Brighton & Hove Museums and Screen Archive South East, and supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England and Film Hub South East.

Following short discussions about the history of queer film in Brighton and poetry performances, attendees were able to move around the library and experience different installations and performances. Club Silencio brought the atmosphere of the nightclub to the museum, whilst Kate Shield’s organsong performance produced the soundtrack for the night. A series of art workshops, starting with Magic Lanterns by Alexia Lazou, allowed attendees to get a feel for queer art and engage directly with the work around them.

You can see the full collection of photographs from these events and others on our Facebook page!

If you loved attending one of these events, or are sad you missed out, don’t worry! We’ve got loads of events still planned for this year. You can sign up to our mailing list to stay up-to-date with our ever-growing programme, or follow us on social media: Facebook; Instagram; and LinkedIn!