The Homotopia festival returns to Liverpool, with events across the city to celebrate the LGBT community.
The festival is taking place for the 11th year in cultural institutions across Liverpool and is being sponsored by Liverpool John Moores University. The theme of this year’s festival is Art=Life and it will officially run from October 30th to World Aids Day on December 1st
Bev Ayre, the festival’s fundraising and development director, told JMU Journalism: “I have been at Homotopia for the past eleven years.
“During this time we have developed from a two week arts festival of 20 events to the only Arts Council NPO with an LGBT remit delivering an annual festival, international exhibitions and year round social justice programs.”
Homotopia is supporting a photography exhibition at the Open Eye Gaallery which has already started and continues up until November 29th.
Another collaboration includes Transformation: One Man’s Cross-Dressing Wardrobe, which celebrates the historic dress collection of Peter Farrer. The exhibition is the first of its kind in a British museum and will be on display at the Walker Art Gallery from October 24th.
A multimedia project by British Artist John Walter is also involved in the festival. His work, Pug Virus, explores the relationship between visual culture and HIV as well asking the audience to consider sexual transmission risks in a broader framework.
Festival Director Gary Everett explained: “Art is a joyous expression of all that makes us human and for lesbians, gays and Trans people who continue to be marginalised, criminalised and persecuted around the world, art is often their only means of self-expression.”
As well as the Homotopia festival other projects are also ongoing such as April Ashley exhibition and a youth anti-hate crime education programme, Project Triangle.