Press room

All LGBTQ+ events taking place at the Barbican from June-September, in one handy press release:

VISUAL ARTS
DIY in the North: Strength, Resistance and Hedonism 1 – 30 June
A month-long residency by Sheffield-based, queer-led DIY events space and collective Gut Level, bringing the spirit of the DIY party scene to the Barbican with images of DIY strength and queer hedonism.

VISUAL ARTS
The Cute and Sexy North Party – 3 June
An evening of music celebrating DIY strength and resilience celebrating the start of Gut Level’s residency in the Curve’s them’s the breaks.

CINEMA
Queer 90s: Cinema from a Decade of Radical Change – 6–29 June
A season featuring films from around the world that changed forever how LGBTQ+ people were seen on screen.

THEATRE
Transpose: BURN Pit Party – 15—17 June
An evening of performance and live music from some of the most exciting trans artists.

THEATRE
A Strange Loop 17 June—9 September
The Broadway smash-hit, Pulitzer-winning musical by Michael R. Jackson + post-show talks on intersectionality and the queer experience

MUSIC
Classical Pride – 7 July
The first Classical Pride concert given by a major professional orchestra in Europe with conductor Oliver Zeffman and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Adding to this celebration of the profound contribution that the LGBTQ+ community makes to classical music, the London Gay Symphony Orchestra will perform in the Barbican foyer ahead of the concert.

MUSIC
Hamed Sinno: Poems of Consumption – 8 July
Lebanese-American indie-rock musician and LGBTQ+ advocate Hamed Sinno returns to the Barbican to debut solo material as part of this year’s Shubbak Festival. After performing at the Barbican in 2015 with Mashrou' Leila, Sinno makes a solo return with a new project, Poems of Consumption.

OUTDOOR CINEMA
Paris is Burning – 31 August
The classic 1990 documentary by Jennie Livingston chronicling the late 80s ball culture in New York City, screening as part of this year’s Barbican’s Outdoor Cinema season of films in the beautiful surroundings of the Sculpture Court.

Barbican Artistic Director Will Gompertz, said: “While we programme and promote the creativity of LGBTQ+ artists all year round, I hope that you will join us this summer for a special season of events celebrating Pride. Curated across Barbican’s arts departments, with each bringing its own unique perspective to the programme, we’re proud to be presenting events that provide a platform for conversations about identity, equity, and acceptance across a diversity of voices and experiences within the Queer community. Our goal is to create a space where everyone can feel welcome and celebrated. We believe that art has the power to bring people together and foster understanding, and we hope that this season will be a platform for many conversations.”

You can follow this link to see the full programme on our website.

PROGRAMME

DIY in the North: Strength, Resistance and Hedonism
The Curve, a residency part of RESOLVE Collective: them’s the breaks
1 – 30 June

Throughout the month of June, them’s the breaks will host a residency by Sheffield-based, queer-led DIY events space and collective Gut Level. Bringing the spirit of the DIY party scene to the Barbican, Gut Level will exhibit images of DIY strength and queer hedonism within the curve, sourced from DIY, grassroots and queer noise makers from Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester & Liverpool, including Mondo Radio, Wharf Chambers, MAP Charity (Cosmic Slop), Partisan Collective and Quarry.

In showcasing these images, Gut Level aims to put their communities on a pedestal, spotlighting the people and the parties themselves as their most precious assets.

The Cute and Sexy North Party
The Curve
Sat 3 June
An evening of music celebrating DIY strength and resilience by Gut Level, part of them's the breaks Curve exhibition.

Queer 90s - Cinema from a Decade of Radical Change
Barbican Cinema
Tue 6—Thu 29 Jun 2023
(See Notes to Editors for full programme listings)

This Pride Month, explore queer representation in 1990s cinema from around the word with films that changed forever how LGBTQ+ people were seen on screen.

The 1990s was a history-changing period for queer people; while some countries shook off the queerphobia of past decades to take steps towards greater queer liberation, artists in other countries took great risks to celebrate LGBQT+ lives against repressive legislation.

Queer 90s explores how filmmakers told new, exciting stories about LGBTQ+ people, casting away clichéd ‘coming out’ stories and tales of queer misery and villainy to create unforgettable tales suggesting a different future may be possible. Through cinema from Austria, China, Cuba, Germany, Guinea, India, Japan and Spain, the films in Queer 90s shows flawed, unapologetically queer characters in a decade of great change. Queer cinema would never be the same again.

Transpose BURN: Pit Party
CN Lester
The Pit, Barbican Centre
Thu 15—Sat 17 Jun 2023

Acclaimed performer and musician Dani Dinger curates the latest edition of this revelatory evening of performance and live music from some of the most exciting trans artists.

This year’s Pit Party line-up will feature explosive performances from artists including anarchist poet Kell w Farshéa, DJ Ifeoluwa and subversive drag artist i-Gemini. Plus, Erkan Affan invites Akış Ka, Mustafa Kınalı (aka Mustkika) and Kübra Uzun as part of their MOU7I6 collective.

Transpose was founded by artistic director CN Lester in 2011 and has spent over a decade celebrating, promoting, and platforming the wide-ranging talents of the UK trans community. This edition is curated and directed by performer, activist and musician Dani Dinger and will explore the building blocks of a shared culture, trans identities and offers a direct challenge to the status quo. In the words of CN, it’s a space in which ‘we can show you our vulnerabilities, our strengths, and – most of all – our authenticity.’

Fluid in its format, the Barbican’s Pit Parties invite a guest artist, producer or organisation to curate a programme of work by multiple artists that interest them and offers time for audiences and artists to socially interact in a relaxed environment. The inaugural Pit Party took place in 2016, curated by nitroBEAT. Since then the Barbican has presented Pit Parties in collaboration with Touretteshero, Studio 3 Arts, Transform Festival, Inua Ellams, Jamie Hale, Transpose and The PappyShow.

A Strange Loop
Barbican Theatre
Sat 17 Jun—Sat 9 Sep 2023

The ground-breaking and critically acclaimed winner of every ‘Best Musical’ award on Broadway, and the Pulitzer Prize, bursts onto the stage this summer for a one time only, limited season.

Hell-bent on breaking free of his own self-perception, Usher, a young, gay, Black writer who hates his day job, so writes a musical about a young, gay, Black writer who’s writing a musical about a young, gay, Black writer...a strange loop. Usher grapples with desires, identity and instincts he both loves and loathes, all brought to life on stage by a hilarious, straight-talking ensemble. Nominated for 11 Tony Awards, Michael R. Jackson’s blisteringly funny, ‘audacious and uproarious’ (The Guardian) show is a heartfelt and thought-provoking masterwork that uses humour and honesty to explore difficult topics around race and sexuality.

Post show talks

Thu 6 July
The importance of pride, community, and allyship
Speakers to be announced soon. Free to same-day ticket holders. 

Thu 20 July
The intersectionality of being Black and Queer
Hosted by Dope Black Queers and Palace of the Dogs.
Free to same-day ticket holders.

Mon 24 Jul
In Conversation hosted by actor Omari Douglas (It’s a Sin, A Little Life and Rye Lane).
Free to same-day ticket holders.

Classical Pride
with ViiV Healthcare and GAY TIMES
Barbican Hall
Fri 7 Jul 2023, 7.30pm

In this special charity event, conductor Oliver Zeffman and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra present the first Classical Pride concert given by a major orchestra in Europe, presented by DJ Nick Grimshaw.

Queer composers have contributed enormously to the vast body of classical music we hear in our concert halls and opera houses. This concert will celebrate the diversity of the LGBTQ+ musical community, featuring performances from trailblazing classical stars including Pavel Kolesnikov, Samson Tsoy, Davóne Tines, Nicky Spence and Ella Taylor. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra will be joined by an LGBTQ+ community choir, specially assembled for the occasion, and Zeffman will lead them in works by Tchaikovsky, Poulenc, Bernstein, Caroline Shaw and a new commission from British composer Julian Anderson. 

Adding to this celebration of the profound contribution that the LGBTQ+ community makes to classical music, the London Gay Symphony Orchestra will perform in the Barbican foyer ahead of the concert.

Proceeds from the concert will go to LGBTQ+ charities – Terrence Higgins Trust, Amplifund and Rainbow Railroad

Programme
Bernstein Candide – Overture
Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos (soloists - Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy)
Julian Anderson Echoes (soloists - Davóne Tines and choir)
Caroline Shaw Is a Rose (soloists - Davóne Tines, Ella Taylor and Nicky Spence)
Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet

Hamed Sinno: Poems of Consumption
Barbican Hall
Saturday 8 July, 7.30pm

Lebanese-American indie-rock musician Hamed Sinno returns to the Barbican to debut solo material as part of this year's Shubbak Festival. After performing at the Barbican in 2015 with Mashrou' Leila, one of the most prominent indie-rock groups of the Arab world, Sinno makes a solo return with a new project, Poems of Consumption, co-commissioned by Shubbak Festival and the Barbican.

Passionate about LGBTQ+ rights, Sinno, who is queer, is a strong advocate for social justice in the Middle East and around the world.

Poems of Consumption is a literary song cycle exploring the resonances between consumerism in the era of Amazon, mental wellbeing, environmental collapse and unrequited love. In it we meet “Nero”, a desolate, working-class melancholic, crying in Whole Foods while the world outside comes to a boil. The compositions combine and contrast the soaring romanticism of strings with hyper-industrialist electronica created using hallmarks of consumerism: cellophane, bubble-wrap, unboxings and tearing plastic, swinging between the dancefloor and an aural assault. 

Produced by the Barbican in collaboration with MARSM & Showponies Studio 
This performance is part of Shubbak Festival 2023
Find out more

Outdoor Cinema: Paris is Burning (15)  
USA 1990, Dir Jennie Livingston, 78 min 
Barbican Sculpture Court
Thu 31 Aug, 8.30pm  

Screening as part of the Outdoor Cinema programme, Paris is Burning is a chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on dance balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality. Its importance continues to grow as the years pass; it was a rare film that focused on the lives of queer people of colour, whose charisma shines through in their witty interviews and their fierce routines and performances.