23rd August 2023 7pm - 1am - Overdraught Manchester and In Place of War host - Pride, Passion and Power Power - ‘Queer Footprints’ Book launch, Q+A and party with your MC Rob Foreman - fitter than the hot vicar from Fleabag
Join some of Manchester’s leading creative visionaries and pioneers who have dedicated their lives to inspire and elicit hidden truths from underrepresented voices from within our communities
With -
Nathaniel Hall, Theatre-Maker, Writer and Performer,
Ruth Danste, CEO, Artistic Director. Activist. Change-Maker.
Josh Val Martin - Free Manchester Walking Tours
Dan Glass - Author, Activist, Sinner
Rob Foreman - Queer Ministry Student
Where - Overdraught Manchester, 855 Stockport Road, Manchester, United Kingdom
Time - Reading and Q+A 7-8.30pm followed by DJ’s Amateur Hour, Lil’Fee, Jeremy Hoade, Siobhan Daniel, DJ Eddie Stewart until – 1am
Meet our incredible speakers -
Nathaniel Hall is an award-winning writer, actor and HIV activist, known for his solo-show First Time about his experience of growing up HIV+ after diagnosis at 16. An expert by experience in the art of storytelling for health and wellbeing, Nathaniel is also known for his creative outreach projects including In Equal Parts, a community-led creative programme tackling HIV stigma and shame. Nathaniel appeared as Donald Bassett in It’s A Sin, the hit C4 drama about HIV/Aids in 1980’s Britain. His community-led creative activism has been covered extensively by the UK’s media including Good Morning Britain, Lorraine, Channel 4 News, BBC News and BBC Breakfast. He is Co-Artistic Director of Dibby Theatre, an award-winning LGBTQ-led theatre company from Manchester. Nathaniel's next show Toxic explores the impact of minority stress on queer relationships and will premiere at HOME Manchester in October before touring the UK in spring 2024. www.nathanieljhall.co.uk
Rob Foreman - I am Robert Dennis Foreman, a 44 yr old Queer Ministry Student from Lancashire. I came out when I was 12 and have been fascinated with all things Queer ever since. I have worked in Customer Services, IT Helpdesk, and Telecoms and eventually signed up a year ago to train for the Ministry. I have been recently described as, "ohh your like the hot vicar from Fleabag" which I suppose is a compliment. My denomination Unitarian is affirming to LGBTQI+ community. We have been blessing same-sex couples since the 70s and were the first Church to perform Same sex weddings. I have always been interested in LGBTQI+ activism. When I worked at Barclays Bank Ltd. I was Head of the LGBTQI+ Employee Taskforce called Spectrum and organised and entered a float into the Manchester Pride parade, which was the first time a Bank had entered into Pride in Manchester. Following on from my work on the task force, I met and spoke to Ben Summerskill of Stonewall and was able to chat to him about fundraising when I and others completed a 10-mile march in NYC as the Civil Partnership Act gained Royal Ascent. I am a passionate believer that we are not free until everyone that is oppressed is free!
Ruth Danste - CEO. Artistic Director. Activist. Change-Maker. Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Manchester. Ruth is a multi award winning CEO, activist and change-maker. Inspired by the transformative use of hip-hop in the drug cartels of Medellin, Colombia, when a young MC said: ‘If it wasn’t for hip-hop, I would be dead. Hip-hop gave me another option and I’m truly thankful for that.’ Ruth believes art has a capacity to make change in the toughest of contexts. From guitarist at the age of 8 to record label owner, band manager, fundraiser, international cultural activist, entrepreneur, educator, influential speaker (TEDx) to prestigious award winner within a national arena (Social Enterprise of the Year & Manchester Woman of Culture to name a couple), Ruth’s passion to empower people to build their own positive futures through creative entrepreneur programmes, the development of cultural spaces and artistic collaboration shows no boundaries in terms of fields of work.
Joshua Val Martin - also known as Val, is a writer and public historian from Bolton. He has made musicals for Central School of Speech and Drama and Hope Mill Theatre, written documentary plays for Northampton Royal and Derngate as well as the New Vic Theatre, and achieved recognition with his play THIS IS NOT AMERICA, which won a 2017 Bruntwood Prize. His work titled A VOCATION: 49 SCENARIOS FOR GAY MEN has enjoyed wide-ranging performances in art galleries, theatres, overseas, in film, and through dance. More recently, Josh has contributed to a SKY television writer's room, embarked on tours with two autobiographical solo shows, and authored the musical TODAY THE STREETS ARE OURS, commissioned and produced by the Royal Exchange Theatre. He's currently engaged in making new plays for Silent Uproar (Hull) and also English Touring Theatre. Nearly a decade ago, he established Free Manchester Walking Tours (www.fmwt.co.uk) and, after obtaining a History MA during lockdowns, initiated the LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour. In his role as associate artist for the year-long 'Legacy of 67' project, he penned an essay on employing oral history in theatre, wrote a new play GREAT INDECENCIES, and devised a digital walking tour, editing together dozens of oral testimonies.
About Free Manchester Walking Tours - As Storytellers, History MA graduates, and most importantly proud Mancunians - we wanted to make a tour with a difference… On our entertaining, informative and informal adventure through Manchester, we tell a story: The story of a city that shocked the world, when it became the first ever industrialised city. The story of a city at the cutting edge of Victorian politics, architecture and technology. The story of a city that rose from the rubble of war and industrial decay, to become a swaggering home of poets, ravers, football and music makers. We tell the story of Manchester. www.freemanchesterwalkingtours.com
About In Place of War - In Place of War is a global organisation that uses creativity in places of conflict as a tool for positive change. We enable grassroots change-makers in music, theatre and across the arts to transform a culture of violence and suffering into hope, opportunity and freedom. www.inplaceofwar.net