Pride Online 2020

Celebrate Pride from home!

by Cas Bradbeer 22nd June 2020

QHF Pride Poster by Queer Heritage Forum (Courtesy of @QHForum)

The Courtauld has been invited by the Queer Heritage Forum to join PrideOnline2020! From Monday, June 22, through Saturday, June 27, this week, check out @QHForum on Twitter for a series of events, podcasts, videos, craftivism activities and much more.

“The Queer Heritage Forum is a collection of international heritage sector workers/freelancers who are volunteering their time and energy to make Pride extra special this year. This is an unfunded, non-commercial, grassroots effort which aims to help build positive connections across the sector and we would love for you to be involved with the celebration!”

The project aims to connect individuals in a time where physical gatherings are challenging. Its virtual platform is an opportunity to share queer projects and materials beyond the localities of the institutions producing them. Last week saw interactions with a wide range of people, such as (to name a few): Jack Shoulder from the British Museum sharing the history of queer superheroes; Olympic diver, Greg Louganis reminiscing about his queer double dive with Tom Daley; and Ben Paites from Colchester Museums publishing a video about the history of same-sex marriage. You can check out all these tidbits on the Twitter page.

It’s all been building up to this week, so now is the time to get involved!

Here’s a little taster of what’s in store: a queer DJ night; a loo roll DIY drag queen tutorial; a Twitter takeover by English Heritage; ‘Grassroots vs. Commercial in the Context of Pride’, a podcast featuring Hannah Ayres from Queer History Warwick; and ‘History of Pride’, an international timeline-based Twitter takeover by Claire Mead and me (former and current Courtauld students).

Here are some activities you can join in right now!

1. ’QHF Pride Parade 2020’ (also organised by me) - share what you would like to have done at Pride with #QHFPride2020 to join this digital, non-commercial, grassroots protest. Check out the line-up so far on Twitter, where you can scroll through a stream of queer content as if you're watching the parade go by.

2. ‘Story from Home’ - share your personal queer histories! Do you have a story to tell about an object, event or individual in your life? Post them by Saturday with #QHFPride2020.

3. ‘Queering the Quarantine’ - let your imagination run wild and post whatever you imagine this phrase to encompass with #QHFPride2020 by Thursday.

4. Share your queer resources online (both for existing materials and those newly made in 2020) using #QHFPride2020, #QueerHeritageForum and #BeingTogether2020.

5. Share our posts and activities on social media and within your organisations.

See you over at Queer Heritage Forum. I hope you’re as excited as I am!