Welcome our final Pride Spotlight for 2024. In June, we interviewed local businesses, charities and organisations that contribute meaningfully to Oxford's vibrant LGBTQIA+ community and scene.
Now, we're closing out Pride Month by highlighting (T)ART Productions, local organiser of a range of LGBTQIA+ events, from drag and cabaret shows, to casual meet-ups, yoga, life drawing and more.
Daily Information: Let's start simple: What is (T)ART Productions? What makes you unusual?
(T)ART Productions: T(ART) is a not-for-profit organisation with a big focus on accessibility, creativity and inclusivity! Our events aim to be as accessible as possible, and we consider the community’s needs and priorities. Oxford City Council commissioned us this year to carry out a survey on queer people across the county, and 40% of people who responded were Disabled! We want to make events that welcome everyone - we're run by queer, trans, Disabled people, that's at the heart of everything we do.
DI: What do you have planned for July? After Pride Month, what's next for you?
(T)P: Pride month is just a dip in the water for us! We’re constantly running Queer events, both regularly scheduled and one-offs like fundraisers and workshops. We’ve got our usual monthly events: two classes (Queer Yoga and Life Drawing) as well as 2 sober social meetups, Fruit Salad in Oxford for Trans*, Nonbinary and intersex folks, and Fruit Cakes in Didcot for queer folks! We also ran both classes as a one-off at the Cornerstone in Didcot for Pride month, and we’re excited to keep expanding and providing more opportunities for folks to get together and volunteer within the queer community.
In June, we hosted OxPHWOARd (our cabaret show) at the Cornerstone, and we’ve got another one at the Old Fire Station on July 20th - OxPHWOARd is back!
We are also launching a new social group called ‘Raspberry Ripples’ for Queer Disabled folks across Oxfordshire - It’s currently in production and should be starting up soon!
DI: What are the joys and challenges of offering such a wide variety of events?
(T)P: It’s been wonderful to see so many individuals coming back and getting involved in our events, whether they’re participating or volunteering, it really reaffirms our core mission! So many Queer people in Oxfordshire are so isolated and struggle to find other people like themselves.
Many of our community members have made long-term friendships (and relationships!) because of the spaces we create. That said, we’ve had tough times recently given our limited resources and capacity, which has led to cancellations for some events as we can’t sustainably cover costs around hiring venues and staff. We are always on the lookout for funding and people to lend a hand!
DI: If I wanted to volunteer with (T)ART, are there openings for getting involved?
(T)P: Absolutely, we are always happy to take on more volunteers! We are entirely volunteer-run so we really value any help someone can offer - we have lots of flexible opportunities for both online and in-person roles, including:
- administrative support (e.g. e-mails, planning, minutes during meetings)
- practical help during events (e.g. setting up chairs/tables, greeting new people or doing crafts sessions at meetups)
- offering ideas or support for events (e.g. virtual movie/game nights)
As most of our volunteers are Disabled, we are always flexible around people’s skills and abilities - you just need to be up for helping out! Visit our volunteers page here for more info.
DI: What have been some of your favourite moments at (T)art events?
(T)P: We really enjoyed hosting some of our Fruit Salad socials at accessible parks in the summer where people bring out all their blankets and picnic gear in the shade, they’ve always been so lovely and cozy, we’re keen to have another picnic when the weather is right.
This year we also ran our first-ever intro course to drag for adults, Fresh Fruit, which finished with a big showcase, and it was more fabulous than we could’ve imagined so we’re hopeful to run it again
DI: Finally, please describe T(ART) Productions in three words.
(T)P: Accessible, Queer, Inclusive.