Equal Arts - Creativity Matters

In this third and final episode we hear from the pioneers who set up the first Pride marches and festivals in Newcastle. In the early 1970s, members of the main organisations campaigning for LGBTQ civil rights at the time; the more radical and anarchist Gay Liberation Front and the more middle class, making inroads into the establishment Campaign for Homosexual Equality, joined forces to create the first Pride marches in the city. 

Fifty activists marched through the city centre at a time when to claim your space and announce publicly your queerness was very much a political act. Then in the early 1990s, with no knowledge of these prior Pride marches, a new group of lesbians and gay men set up Pride on Tyne, a month-long festival of events and celebrations for the Tyneside LGBTQ community. 

Presenters: Jesse Alexander and Alice Thwaite

Interviewers: Jesse Alexander, Melody Sproates, Alice Thwaite and Richard Bliss.

The activists sharing their stories were: Norman Powell,Tim Pickford Smith, Sarah Van Jellie and Emma Holliday.

Produced and edited by Julie Ballands, working with oral history interviews from the HOOH archive.

Music: Sarah Van Jellie.

Handing On Our History is an Equal Arts project created by Alice Thwaite and Richard Bliss and is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund.

In this second episode from the year-long Equal Arts project, we reflect on the importance of carving out queer spaces, especially during the hostile political and generally homophobic climate of the 80s and 90s. 
We hear from some of the pioneers who worked hard to carve out queer spaces in the cultural landscape of Newcastle, giving the LGBTQ communities safe places in which to just be and express themselves, dance, have fun, organise, find their tribe and  a space in which queer culture could flourish. We speak to women who were part of a collective that ran club nights and the long-standing queer cabaret night, Rock 'N' Doris and who went on to set up Pride on Tyne and also, two of the founders of Proudwords, the UK's first queer writing festival.

 Presenters: Melody Sproates, Alice Thwaite.

Interviewers: Melody Sproates, Alexandra Medesan, Richard Bliss.

Interviewees: Sarah Van Jellie, Emma Holliday, Julie Ballands, Lisa Matthews, Mary Lowe.

Produced and edited by Julie Ballands, working with oral history interviews from the HOOH archive. 

Music by Sarah Van Jellie

Handing On Our History is an Equal Arts project created by Alice Thwaite and Richard Bliss and is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund.

In this first episode from the year-long Equal Arts project, hear from those involved in LGBTQIA+ activism in the North East during the 70s through to the early 90s. Episode 1 is a timeline of coming out stories, the burgeoning gay and women's scene and the creation of services by and for the community. Handing on our History was supported by Heritage Lottery funding.