A warm hello this spring!
Do you have texts or performance ideas that you would like to present to the public? Or do you know someone whose poetry or songs should be heard at a queer poetry night?
The Nuori Kulttuuri festival organized during the 26-28 May 2023 Queer-runoilta is looking for performers! The event is on 26.5. in Kuopios City Theater from 19:00.
Info about the background of the poetry evening:
General
Queer-runoilta is a collective founded a year ago, which has organized poetry evenings at the premises of Oranssi ry in Suvilahti about every month. We saw a need for an event that makes room for queer word art. Our dream is to provide a space where queer-identified people from different backgrounds can more safely and accessible share their art and thoughts and get to know each other.
Queer poetry evenings are meant to be conversational, both regarding the art itself and its themes, as well as queer culture. We strive to create a space that supports relaxation and rest and enables a safer environment for dialogue and queer identities. All feelings are important and welcome!
It is important for us to build poetry evenings as a community and for the community. I have been able to participate in the organization according to my own resources and interests. At the moment, there is a core group that adapts to the situation, and there is a larger, more mobile group of people involved in queer poetry nights.
It is important that there are spaces where the community can meet and form. Collective discussion and the sharing of one’s thoughts and feelings in the form of an open mic have served as an important part of community building. The approachability/accessibility of the open mic has been promoted by the fact that there have been two stages. One is a more traditional raised stage, and the other is a living room type setup with a sofa, rug and lamp.
Queer poetry evenings have been implemented in different forms: often a few guest performers have appeared at the beginning of the events, after which the open mic has been open all evening. Often in the evenings, there have also been open discussions on various topics, and sometimes instead of guest performers, the entire evening has been used for collective discussion and open mic.
Accessibility
The accessibility of the event is important to us, and we have thought about accessibility from different perspectives. We want the event to be accessible in terms of location, meaning that the event can be reached by public transport. It is also important that the space itself is approachable, possibly already familiar and safe for the community. Our goal is to create a space that is sheltered and clearly bounded into its own little world, with a sense of security and homeliness.
The space must also be barrier-free, i.e. movement in the space is possible for persons ——-. Both physical and mental accessibility.
For the sake of accessibility, it is also important to us that the event is free, meaning that visitors do not have to pay for participation or food. Poetry evenings have always had different themed servings, such as waste, cake, lettu and porridge servings. The servings are always free.
The mental accessibility of the event also includes striving for a safer space. We have prepared a list of principles on which our operations are based. We hope that every visitor familiarizes himself with the principles we prepared in advance and follows them when he arrives at the event. The principles of a safer space can be found at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ubrI9ZE_piXX6snlqR30_TzlepT7X2ITFWhPEcuSg-Y/edit?fbclid=IwAR0oisL6pvfZlZfh6syo1TBEIkGihXUtc_i_JB7DVtXjCoibRxCHPWpyIqA
DIFFERENT LANGUAGES / ART FORMS
Queer poems have space for all kinds of art forms: poetry, performance, music, all other performing or moving art, and visual art. It is important to us that you can perform in any language, and the event is produced (shows, social media posts, etc.) always in Finnish and English.
Previous guest performers: Pink 187, Kuopus, Melisssssa, Rae, Saint Santí, Uhma-i, Ansa Kurola, Ranja Omaheimo, Anni Mylläri, Onerva, Elsi Sloan & Iiris Miettinen.
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If you are interested in taking part in the event, you can inquire for more information directly via queer-runo’s social media:
Instagram: @queer_runo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1137008860204980/
The evening is organized in cooperation with the Nuori Kulttuuri festival, and it would be great to have especially young people participate in the event!
If necessary, you can also request more information about the association from us by sending messages to info.pohjoissavonseta@gmail.com or via our social channels on Facebook, Instagram and the contact section of our website.
