Unfinished Business, LGBTQ Voices of the Revolution
" Your generous support has been of incredible use to celebrate and cultivate the next generation of artists, activists and changemakers dedicated to ending homophobia, transphobia and all forms of oppression. Events across London have generated mass attention. ‘Unfinished Business - LGBTQI+ Voices of the Revolution’ has enabled a variety of musical and artistic platforms - see photos of our previous gig at ‘Limewharf’ in East London below. A huge amount of networks have been created to support the development of creative artivist networks to build for further gigs. The main focus is to organise further gigs with our growing list of artists to climax in April 2018. This will coincide with the discussions on overturning global homophobic legislation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) - April 16th - 25th 2018 - ‘LGBTQIA+ Voices of the Revolution’. We will be taking ‘Unfinished Business - LGBTQIA+ Voices of the Revolution’ to the conference performing on a bus! It will be the public cultural platform that will raise awareness outside the conference walls agitating for a global movement of creative activism to decriminalise homosexuality everywhere and provide true freedom for all.
We are very happy that the ‘Unfinished Business’ will grow and develop and climax in April at the politically poignant time at CHOGM. It makes sense as there will be huge attention with thousands of LGBTQIA+ artists, activists and policy makers from all around the world already in London.
We are excited as we have also been approached by Rainbow Riots (with a hugely successful network of LGBTQIA+ artists and producers) to collaborate on building the continued series of gigs and event. Rainbow Riots is a new album of music featuring LGBTQ artists from Uganda, Malawi, South Africa and Jamaica – some of the most dangerous countries in the world for LGBTQ people. The album is an eclectic fusion of afrobeat, electro, soul, pop, orchestral, rap, dancehall, gospel and spoken word, composed and produced by Swedish artist and activist, Petter Wallenberg. We are currently in discussion with leading LGBTQIA+ artists from Palestine, Botswana, India, Venezuela, Lebanon, Iraq, Brazil and a collection of diaspora LGBTQIA+ artists based in the UK. Other London-based networks have also approached us offering studio time and publicity to build up until April 2018.
‘Unfinished Business - LGBT+ Voices of the Revolution’ has been incredibly useful to provide a critical international and creative perspective on the 50th anniversary of the ‘Sexual Offences’ Act which led to the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales. The festival has been coordinated with a large-scale programme of actions.
Your generous funding enabled us to be creative and pioneering with our showcase format and one of the biggest successes of the year was the ‘BANG BUS’ where many of the ‘Unfinished Business’ artists performed on the bus. It has been such a success that we have decided to continue our ongoing campaign and movement building with a wide range of LGBT+ migrant rights groups in the UK and global LGBT+ movements to create the next ‘Unfinished Business’ gig on the BANG BUS.
Also your funding has enabled the artistic integrity to attract further gigs from a much wider range of venues than expected. We are still balancing street / protest interventions whereby we bring the artists to relevant detention centre / Home Office protests as well as more established cultural venues. We are now planning for huge platforms at Rich Mix and Arcola Theatre in Spring 2018.
The major difficulties are the increased pressure on LGBTQIA+ migrants by the Home Office. Also with the new increased criteria allowing for people to stay in the UK it is increasingly harder for our artists to survive. That’s why your support is so important. Thank you. "
-Dan Glass
Unfinished Business - artists in photos
Kat Kai Kol-Kes – Artist - An international award winning Trans* ARTivist, writer, performer and author of “…on about the same old thingsâ€. She uses storytelling to bridge the divide between academic and activist jargon and real world understandings of queer livelihoods. A 2013 Brand Botswana, Best of Botswana Performance Artist honouree and 2017 TED Global Fellow, her work has been showcased locally in Botswana through her ‘Queer Shorts Showcase Festival’ and internationally as well.
Jay Kay Revlon – Artist - Described by Time Out as “one to watch†DJ and dancer Jay Jay Revlon was born and raised in London to parents of Jamaican descent. From the early age of 14, Jay Jay has used the craft of dance to express himself and has used his talents to lead other young people in weekly classes & workshops.
Ruchi Chaudhury – Artist - A popcorn chomping, sour candy loving, queer student, writer and performer. She writes to battle vulnerability and invisibility and eats them for breakfast too. This ‘Indian girl’ is a fan of slasher films starring herself and her hapless victims – middle-class respectability and chastity.
Jide Macaulay – Pastor and Artist - The founding Pastor and CEO of House of Rainbow CIC, Board of Trustee at Kaleidoscope Trust UK, and a Trained Volunteer Champion at Afruca Children’s Charity.
