Queer Contact Festival 2016

Thursday 4 to Sunday 14 February 2016 Contact / Various venues. Tickets £0-£25. Full listings at www.contactmcr.com/queercontact Multi-buy/group offers www.contactmcr.com/ticketoffers Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender arts and culture in Greater Manchester as part of LGBT History Month, the eighth annual Queer Contact Festival is bigger than ever, with a packed eleven-day programme of events. This year’s festival explores sexuality, gender, religion, and history, with local, national and international artists including Erasure’s Andy Bell, US transgender performers and activists Kate Bornstein and Our Lady J, award-winning poet Jackie Kay, visual artists AL and AL (in collaboration with BBC Philharmonic), plus new festival commissions from Debs Gatenby, Laurie Brown, and Jamie Fletcher and Company. Music opens and closes the festival with a new song-cycle from Erasure’s Andy Bell is Saint Torsten at Contact; Icarus at the End of Time (co-presented with HOME at RNCM) features a new score by Philip Glass, performed live by the BBC Philharmonic with visuals from artists AL and AL; and US transgender singer-songwriter Our Lady J (one of the writers of Amazon’s Transparent) paints the church pink for Valentine’s weekend with For The Love of Gospel at Contact. Elsewhere, there’s new theatre exploring Black gay experiences from Jamal Gerald in FADoubleGOT, Eilidh MacAskill’s STUD is a comedic look at gender and masculinity from the queer female perspective, legendary trans playwright and performer Jo Clifford leads the congregation in The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven, and we explore the history of Manchester drag performance in Life’s A Drag. Experience alternative cabaret from Mother’s Ruin, A Queer Revue! and The Library; laugh your socks off with some of the UK’s top comics including Tom Allen, Bethany Black, David Morgan, Suzi Ruffell, and Rosie Wilby at Comedy Playground; have your voice heard at LGBT Question Time and the Queer Youth Debate; and join in with workshops led by Jackie Kay and Kate Bornstein. This year’s visual art programme will feature new work from local and national visual artists - Lee Baxter commemorates the 30th anniversary of North West HIV charity George House Trust in George Turns 30, Glenn Jones depicts Manchester’s thriving drag community in #ManchesterQueens, and there’s photography and film exploring the lives of Black gay sex workers by Ajamu and Khalil West (all at Contact), plus a major new solo exhibition from AL and AL (at HOME) investigating a new era of scientific exploration in Incidents of Travel in the Multiverse. ................................................................ TICKET OFFERS Ticket offers are available on selected events. See http://contactmcr.com/whats-on/category/?category=mates-rates for a list of eligible shows. Book more than one show in a single transaction and save some cash! -Book 2 shows, get 10% off your tickets. -Book 3 shows, get 15% off your tickets. Mates Rates -Book 6 tickets in a single transaction and get £1 off each ticket. Groups -Buy 10 tickets and get your 11th ticket free! T&CS Tickets must be booked in a single transaction, offer cannot be applied retrospectively. ................................................................... NOTES • Queer Contact Festival 2016 has been made possible with the support of The Heritage Lottery Fund, Manchester Pride/Superbia, Poptastic, Word of Warning, The Sexuality Summer School at University of Manchester, Humanities in Public, Manchester Metropolitan University, Band on the Wall, LGBT Foundation, HOME, RNCM, Bar Pop, Apples and Snakes, the Writing School at MMU, Royal Exchange Theatre, George House Trust, The Albert Kennedy Trust, LGBT Youth North West, Cake Tin Foundation, Richmond Tea Rooms, Royal Exchange Theatre, and Barefoot Wine. • Queer Contact Festival 2016 Media Partners are DIVA, Gay Times, Canal Street, and Gaydio.