Barnsley Civic is proud to announce the launch of a new singing and social group for Barnsley’s LGBTQIA+ community this Autumn, with dates to be confirmed.
The group will meet twice monthly and will be led by award-winning musician and composer, Simon Grainger. The group will be a safe and accessible space for anybody aged 18+ and identifying as LGBTQIA+ to make new friends in, where the group will learn to sing songs of pride, celebration and protest.
If you are interesting to coming to the group, please complete this short form and we’ll be back in touch with you with session dates soon. https://forms.gle/XSH9ZevrBW5txxDn9
The establishing of the Civic Pride Singers group follows hot on the heels of the success with various projects with, about and for Barnsley’s LGBTQIA+ community.
In 2021, Barnsley Civic formed an LGBTQIA+ focus group for people aged 18+. The group supported the development of our marketing, programming, development of safe spaces and fed into organisational training. The group also took part in artistic opportunities, supporting the development of new work created by nationally recognised LGBTQIA+ artists at Barnsley Civic and generally became advocates for the venue and artistic programme. This led to the annual Pride Barnsley festival moving to Barnsley Civic’s Mandela Gardens in 2022. Civic Pride Singers is part of that legacy.
This new social group is kindly supported by the Better Barnsley Bond initiative and will promote good mental and physical health. It will help combat social isolation by encouraging new friendships. Attendees will be sign-posted to appropriate support services if they need them, with literature and resources being made available in sessions. The group will be disability and neurodivergent friendly, and recognises the common intersection of trans and non-binary people with those that are neurodivergent.
We are also proud to showcase the work of illustrator Olivia Tate, who has not only designed out posters and branding, but has also recently won an LGBTQ+ mural competition ran by Sheffield Hallam and has produced design work for Andro & Eve.
