The OUTing the Past Festival of LGBT History
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Kelly Boddington introduces the OUTing the Past Festival, and Royal Pavilion & Museums’ role in supporting LGBT history.
Hello All,
I am very excited to share the news that Brighton Museum will be participating as a national hub of The OUTing The Past Festival of LGBT History next February. Whether you are a local historian, a student, lecturer or an activist, this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase new research to the public or to share your personal experience of a little known area of LGBT history!
Presentations only need to be 20 minutes long and might cover past local, national, or international events of relevance to the Human/LGBT+ Rights agenda and experience. It could be about a group, network, or a specific campaign you have researched or were involved with, or an account of a personal journey from a historical perspective.
OUTing The Past runs as a series of national and international events throughout February & March and this year it has secured 18 festival hubs all over the UK as well as in, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Norway, and New York. For the 2019 theme History II: Peace, Reconciliation, and Activism we are interested in presentations about key LGBT+ anniversaries, or offering an LGBT reading of key historical events that will be celebrated in 2019 e.g. the 100th anniversary of end of the WWI or the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. We are particularly keen to showcase presentations highlighting the LGBT experience of black and ethnic minority, disabled, and bisexual people as these perspectives are underrepresented.
Please find a link to the application form. All applications to present must be submitted to the Festival Gazette Coordinator, Caroline at Festival.Gazette@outingthepast.org.uk before 1st October. Applicants also need to submit a 200 word blog about the subject of their presentation that can be used to promote it on the LGBT History Month website before this deadline. If you have any questions about the Festival or the applications process please contact Caroline.
Post-presentation a £20 fee and any qualifying travel expenses will be paid to speakers by the relevant participating hub via OUTing The Past Festival.
OUTing the Past,
Now in its 5th year, The OUTing The Past Festival of LGBT History, is an initiative by the charity Schools OUT UK who established LGBT History Month in 2005.
The festival brings together academic scholarship and personal testimonies of this important but neglected part of our common past. It seeks to encourage and promote academic research, challenging embedded heteronormative teachings of history. It also aims to popularise the study of LGBT history, developing its audience and encouraging the collection, archiving, and preservation of its material evidence.
Sharing Content
Any presentations not ultimately selected by a 2019 hub may still be picked up elsewhere and the application includes an option to authorise sharing of content with third-party organisations expressing an interest in showcasing LGBT+ history, or to indicate if you would like your presentation submission to be placed on the LGBT History Month Website so others can contact you and book you for the month.
Schools OUT UK are exploring the possibility of making appropriate presentations into lesson plans, accessible on their online teacher’s resource The Classroom.
Kelly Boddington