The Audacity: Workshops

We're so excited to announce this new project from Outburst Queer Arts Festival, and we'll be hosting a range of events to support it...

Did you know that the collective noun for gargoyles is “an audacity”?

What better title, then, for a brilliant Outburst project that invites you to imagine queer gargoyles for the new Belfast Stories building in the heart of the city!

Gargoyles are monstrous structural and decorative waterspouts, playful demons and fierce guardians of spaces. Centering the role that queer communities often have in protecting “otherness”, imagination and new ways of thinking – qualities that make all cities vital and full of possibility – we imagine our gargoyles not only as guardians of the city but as a defiantly creative response to the demonisation of difference.

Over the next few months, sculptor John Rainey and Creative Producer Jane Morrow invite you to join us for hands-on workshops, talks and happenings, exploring monster power, queer possibility and visible diversity in the city.

Check out other The Audacity-related events in the programme:

• Sacha Coward: Queer As Folklore book talk, Paperxclips
• Parful PowerPoint Party: Queer Magic, Myth and Monsters, PS²
• IAF Podcast Live – Public Domain: What does it mean to be queer in public? The Black Box

CLAY ‘N’ CHAT WORKSHOPS

We kick off the project with hands-on clay workshops, where we’ll talk about all things monstrous and play with gargoyle forms. The ideas generated through these workshops will inform audacious and playful works in stone, to be further developed, collectively, over the coming year.

Workshops are free to attend, but registration is mandatory (limited to one per person). These are 18+ only but we will have additional workshops for younger participants in the new year.

Email hello@outburstarts.com with your name, which session you would like to attend, and a couple of lines about why you would like to come along.

All materials will be provided.

The Audacity is supported by Belfast City Council through Belfast Stories Community Grants.