29 SEPTEMBER 2023

National project to lift LGBTQ+ voices and preserve queer histories

QUEER BRITAIN
PARTNERS WITH AUNT NELL

ANNOUNCEMENT

Queer Britain will collaborate with Aunt Nell on a project focussing on capturing oral histories from LGBTQ+ people throughout the UK, ensuring that these stories are shared and our history preserved. The work is possible thanks to a grant awarded from Missions + Mindsets.

The UK’s queer history is endangered. Unheard stories are held by diverse LGBTQ+ people who often feel excluded from museums and society. This project will increase recognition of oral histories as valuable and impactful research practice and resources – focussing on LGBTQ+ histories – and further reduce barriers against full inclusion of queer heritage in the traditional GLAM sector. Through active participation of underrepresented groups, we will disrupt traditional ideas of knowledge and heritage, empower people to see their stories as an essential part of history, and produce a high-profile podcast series that will democratise and diversify history.

Mindsets + Missions is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and delivered by Museums Association in partnership with The Liminal Space and the Association for Science and Discovery Centres. Aunt Nell is an independent podcast production company co-directed by Tash Walker, Shivani Dave and Adam Zmith, who previously made The Log Books podcast, which won Best New Podcast(Gold) at the British Podcast Awards 2020.

Joseph Galliano-Doig, Director and Co-Founder of Queer Britain, said: “Queer Britain began as a way to protect the UK’s LGBTQ+ history and to make it accessible to the public, so everyone could have the opportunity to see themselves represented. This project will help us to capture more of this valuable history by reaching those in our communities that are based in locations often overlooked or forgotten. Queer people live everywhere - not just cities - and all of their stories form an important part of our history and should be remembered and celebrated. Who better to help us do just this than the talented team at Aunt Nell?”

Tash Walker, co-director of Aunt Nell and producer of the podcast series, said: “This is a dream podcast project for Aunt Nell. Our company is dedicated to telling timeless stories and unheard stories, as we have through series such as Black And Gay Back In The Day. This partnership with Queer Britain, and funding from Missions + Mindsets, gives us a huge boost to produce a groundbreaking national podcast series telling a broad history of lived LGBTQ+ experience. Coming from outside London, near Plymouth, I know that’s important! We can't wait to start travelling around as producers and recording these fascinating, crucial stories.”

Adam Zmith, co-director of Aunt Nell and producer of the podcast series, said: “Growing up in Cleethorpes and Grimsby, I felt so detached from queer life and history — it was banned in school and where I lived wasn't a hotspot for visible queer life. Of course LGBTQ+ folks have always been there: lesbian, gay or bisexual make up 3% of the national population (census 2020), and we're spread all over. Queer people are more and more visible outside London and the other big cities now than when I grew up. So the time to capture our stories and histories of queer life around the UK is now. I can't wait to build on the success and reach of The Log Books podcast, my earlier collaboration with Tash, to make this happen.”