Wales' first Queer Fringe Festival, which is based in Cardiff, has announced it will be offering grants for start up projects.
Posting on social media, the festival has offered 40 people £50 to "kickstart" their creative projects. Deciding the distribution of the grants will be a panel based of LGBT+ performers and well known figures. Panelists include; drag king, Justin Drag, Queer Emporium founder, Yan White, and comedian, Leila Navabi.
The Queer Fringe Festival is a non-profit from the team behind Cardiff's Queer Emporium. You can read more about that here. Having ran multiple successful events in the shop and in Cardiff's iconic Royal Arcade.
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The Queer Emporium has seen the likes of RuPaul's Drag Race UK season three contestant Victoria Scone perform at several events, as well as local drag acts and LGBT+ creatives. More recently, the Queer Emporium hosted the Queer Gala. With the theme being 'frost', attendees adorned their most freezing looking outfits.
“The aim of the festival is to platform and pay as many queer artists as possible. The Festival will also be committed to following a number of guidelines around cultural, neuro, gender, climate and disability awareness. The Queer Fringe Festival has consulted with Trans Aid Cymru and Glitter Cymru to create these guidelines. This festival will platform LGBTQ+ artists, from grassroots to more established ones, and gives audiences opportunities to see new and unique content," said Yan White, festival director and founder of The Queer Emporium.
Throughout the festival duration, festival goers will be able to visit The Queer Emporium as a central hub for the festival, where the programme and festival merch will be available in person. The festival programme will also be available online.
Theatre maker, Luke Hereford, said: “Queer artists in Wales are thriving at the moment, and I think The Queer Emporium’s impact on Cardiff has been beneficial to this. The Queer Fringe Festival is an opportunity to amplify further and share those platforms with new, exciting grassroots artists. I can’t wait to see what will be happening throughout Pride Month.”
The Queer Fringe Festival runs from Thursday 2nd June to Sunday 3rd July. Updates about the festival can be found via their website.
