After such a busy August September was important to spend time building on and developing from what we learnt in the summer.
YAP!
Apart from Courtnee spending time taking selfies in the bathroom and pushing me to take more photos of myself – see photo at NTR next the the new amazing artwork as part of the Look Up! Festival – we did manage to get some development core stuff complete,
Most notably we recorded our intros for the YAP! Podcast, for both season 2 & 3 we shared our stories from the Motiv8:True Colours project and the Opal Nights show that we both delivered back in April. Which was such an enjoyable project and process that reflecting back and realising some of the outcomes from both of those projects,
Particular highlights were bits of feedback post show a few months on:
”“Being part of Opal Nights was an amazing opportunity that I felt ‘hell no Bev you can’t do that its totally out of your comfort zone’ but after a bit of thought I felt ‘come on Bev you CAN do it’ I was quiet and shy at first which is like me but I soon found my voice and doing it gave me a new found confidence. Working with Josh was amazing they were kind gentle and helped me put my together my story and always had faith in me. I loved being on stage doing my story, thanks so much for the opportunity”
Queer Joy!
As well as this we ‘launched’ our Queer Joy campaign as part of our larger Queer Mapping of the city project. Alongside meetings with some organisations and other professionals around Queer relationships and how they accommodate the community we wanted to spread ‘Queer Joy’ with a great campaign. In this instance we worked with two local amazing designers on logos, posters and managed to screen print tote bags and t-shirts. We thought it apt to be part of an event for ‘National Suicide Prevention’ Day which meant we had over 40 people come to the stall talk to us, some light some heavy. Through the giving of totes and tees it offered a way to start talking about Queer Joy, what it means against a heavier backdrop like suicide and the ways in which we can support communities through the work we do.
The campaign itself is still in its infancy but we look forward to expanding this further in October.
Board shuffling
We’re also doing our best to tighten up our board and board development, new voices and volunteers in the space mean it’s a prime time to ‘figure stuff out’ at the end of September we reviewed our values, mission and strategy and will be working on an ongoing manifesto to support and publicise to our community and beyond about who we are and what we do. Watch this space babes!
To listen to YAP! here are some links:
