A Queer Walk of York
Event details
Join us for StreetLife's annual Queer Walk of York, an LGBTQI+ heritage trail of sites of significance to the city's queer communities.
A Queer Walk arose from StreetLife's aim to change how people think about York city centre - to recover lost histories, tell forgotten stories and make connections with the people who have lived, worked and played there through the centuries.
For a city of York's size and importance, it is astonishing to find such few traces of LGBTQI+ lives as we walk through its streets - A Queer Walk of York brings into focus the city's LGBTQI+ communities past and present, enabling queer residents and visitors to see themselves and their lives reflected in the cityscape around them.
So, let's come together this Pride week, to celebrate the contributions made by LGBTQI+ people to the history and development of our city.
This walking tour will highlight sites of both historical and current relevance, and aims to uncover further stories, anecdotes and memories exploring the experience of being and growing up LGBTQI+ in York. Afterwards join us for drinks and discussion of Spaces of Queer Activism in York, past, present and future.
The tour will start and end at the entrance to City Screen, 13-17 Coney Street. Afterwards, why not stay for drinks and conversation from 4.30pm to 5.30pm at Dusk Cafe Bar, 8 New Street. Admission is included in your tour ticket. Please note that the venue is not wheelchair accessible.
Presented in collaboration with StreetLife and QueerArts.
About the speakers
Andy Egerton is a PhD Researcher in the School of Arts and Creative Technologies (ACT) at the University of York, currently working on a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) funded by WRoCAH. Andy's PhD is looking at staff perspectives on barriers to creating more accessible, inclusive, and multisensory museum exhibits, particularly in heritage sites and listed buildings in a post-lockdown landscape. In 2023 Andy was Research Assistant for the music strand of the StreetLife project, and produced the 'Love it or Hate it? The Willow Legacy' exhibition in addition to the 'Queer Walk'.
Rachel Cowgill MBE is a Professor in Music in University of York’s School of ACT, Associate Dean for Research (Arts & Humanities) and Director of the Humanities Research Centre; previously she was the University’s Research Theme Champion for Creativity from 2021 to 2023. She initiated the StreetLife project and led the music strand, and was also Principal Investigator for the AHRC-funded projects InterMusE and OurPlace. Rachel is a cultural-historical musicologist working on histories of live performance and community archiving. She is also a lifelong activist for equality, diversity and inclusion in music studies.
Laura C Forster is a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of York. She is a historian of radical and socialist ideas, cultures, and communities in modern Europe. Laura also has practical and research interests in public history and in queer histories and methodologies. She is an editor at History Workshop, and her forthcoming book, Friends in Common, considers the radical potential of friendship and queer intimacies as part of political struggle.
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