Press release: Preston LGBT History Festival 2017
04/11/2016
Lancashire LGBT, Preston Pride and Lancashire Archives are proud to represent Lancashire as the Preston Hub of the Third National Festival of LGBT History in 2017 with the support of Lancaster Library and the Lancashire LGBT Network Group.
Events will be taking place at three venues in Lancashire including festival theatre at Burnley on Saturday 18 February, film and an evening event at Lancaster Library, Market Square, Lancaster on Wednesday 22 February and our main hub event at Lancashire Archives, Record Office, Bow Lane, Preston, PR1 2RE on Saturday 25 February.
Creativity is very much a theme of the event and there will be opportunities to learn more about how archives can inspire creativity with work by a local LGBT youth group and the National Archives with their project ‘Queer and the State’, and a chance to let your creative juices flow on the day with a creative writing workshop. With exhibitions and presentations on such diverse subjects as Trans representation in rock music, LGBT people and football, using criminal records for research and the Jan Bridget collection at Lancashire Archives, LGBT History Month at Lancashire Archives looks to be another spectacular event.
In 2011, we held our first Outing the Past event as part of LGBT History Month to uncover some of the hidden histories of our LGBT communities Since then we have organised four more hugely successful Outing the Past events with themes ranging from sport to music, and have taken deposits of specifically LGBT related collections, such as the Lancaster Campaign for Homosexual Equality and the Jan Bridget archive and library. These collections shine a positive light on the life and work of our LGBT communities post 1967 and are a positive representation of civil rights campaigning, and an invaluable resource for the study of LGBT history helping to put it firmly in the general historical narrative.
Lancashire Archives is home to 900 hundred years of Lancashire’s written heritage. The collections document the county’s diverse history and include the archives of people, organisations, local authorities and businesses in Lancashire, reflecting the changing landscape, communities and economy over nine centuries. Our mission is to inspire people and communities to explore their heritage; promoting and continuing to collect Lancashire’s archives while preserving them for everyone to use and enjoy, now and in the future.
Lancashire Archives and Lancaster Library are services provided by Lancashire County Council and you can visit our web sites at www.lancashire.gov.uk. You can also follow us on Twitter @lanchistory.
Lancashire LGBT is a registered charity working across Lancashire (including Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool) for Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGB and/or T) people. Their aim is to support LGB and/or T people in Lancashire to be happier, healthier and well connected. You can visit their web site at lancslgbt.org.uk and follow them on Twitter @LancsLGBT
Preston Pride has been going from strength to strength over the years and is an established event on the Preston calendar. Follow them on Twitter @PrestonPrideUK .