OTP 2021 Programme - Bolton Museum

Outing the Past Festival – Friday 12 February

Join in this year's OUTing the Past Festival online!

As we celebrate LGBTQ History Month Bolton Central Library and Museum is delighted to be a Festival Hub for the OUTing the Past Festival 2021.

The event, which takes place on Friday 12 February, celebrates LGBT+ history, creativity and culture in the UK.

This year our festival speakers will pre-record their talks and you can view them on YouTube. To get links to the videos which will be released on Friday February 12 please pre-book your free place on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/outing-the-past-festival-tickets-138926542027

For 2021 the festival speakers are:

7pm   

Bev Ayre - Before The Act: The Night The Stars Came Out Against Section 28

Before The Act was a seminal moment in LGBT history bringing together stars from the worlds of theatre and music with a group of Lesbian and Gay activists. The core group went on to produce a second benefit, a performance of the play Bent, at the Adelphi Theatre in 1989.

8pm 

Megan Rossman - Lesbian Herstory Archives  

In the 1970s in a New York City apartment, The Lesbian Herstory Archives is now the world’s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians. Today, with its founders in their seventies, the archives are facing new challenges, including a change in leadership and the rise of digital technology. Exploring the fascinating origins of the organization, THE ARCHIVETTES is a tribute to second-wave feminism and intergenerational connection, as well as an urgent rallying call.

9pm  

Darren Clarke - Very Private: Duncan Grant’s Erotic Drawings

The presentation is based on 422 erotic drawings by the Bloomsbury artist Duncan Grant, recently deposited with The Charleston Trust, the charity that looks after his former home in East Sussex. The works are an extraordinary collection that demonstrate both Grant's sexual imagination but also his skill as an artist. Many of the works depict interracial couples or groups, demonstrating Grant's social as well as sexual circle. Explicit yet tender, these works offer a different and enlightening new narrative around Grant and the word he lived in.