AK Souffle: Live & Let Live
Major excitement this month for the team here as our bid for a Heritage Lottery Fund grant was successful. For some time now some I have been working with my colleagues to prepare a bid that will allow us to gather together and curate our large collection of print, image and video footage that in so many ways charts the history of Brighton and Hove’s LGBTIQ+ heritage. Latest 7 and our predecessor The Punter always carried news stories from the gay community. We felt that as a local media organ it was right to do so, offering opportunities for all sectors to find information about what was happening in the gay world. It worked and we now have an archive of fascinating material.
With our funding we are creating Live & Let Live, a project that will embrace a range of aims and activities. Our archive is being digitised and the resulting archive will be fully searchable and accessible by all. That archive will also be the core element of a new digital exhibition, a vibrant visualisation of the gay culture in the city going back in time, charting the major cultural changes, politics and events that have made this city the gay capital of the UK.
To do this we will be asking people to join us in making this as good and all embracing as it can possibly be, and in a few weeks time people will be invited to join in, and in many many ways.
A vibrant visualisation of the gay culture in our city that has made Brighton & Hove the gay capital of the UK
Live & Let Live will offer education opportunities for people of all ages, and not just from the LGBTIQ community but from anyone who is interested – equality for us means that we do not operate in isolation but engage the whole city.
We will be looking for people to be interviewed for aural histories, people who have expert knowledge of our heritage and people who have archival material that we can include in our final outcomes. Not that anything about this project will be final, after all, history starts today. We see this as an ongoing concept that will become a hub for Brighton and Hove’s gay heritage.
We are enormously grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for their support and advice, to MP Lloyd Russell-Moyles for his support and agreeing to be our Patron, to Andy Garth for his expert archival resources and knowledge – and a list of brilliant supporters too long to list here.
And we want you to join in… you can write to me here at Latest 7 to register your interest and we will keep you updated with forthcoming opportunities and events. In advance: thank you!
