Photo: Jez Dolan
Legacy of '67 was a wide-ranging project that explored and illuminated the stories of LGBTQIA+ people before and after the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967.
The project fused oral history interviews, archival exploration, visual art, theatre and participatory events and sessions to preserve these histories for the future.
Legacy of '67 ran between February 2022 and June 2023.
Click on any of the images below for further information about specific areas of the project
Image design: Lee Baxter
Digital Walking Tour
Internships
A very important part of the project was to offer training and employment opportunities to practitioners at the beginning of their careers.
Two paid internships were advertised in October 2022 and we received 30 applications. We short-listed seven candidates for interview and appointed two excellent candidates as our two interns. The interns expressed an interest in working across the disciplines of the project, undertaking both artistic and production work. They are Rosheen O’Hanlon and A B Bradnack.
Each committed to undertake 20 day’s work on the project and to keep a learning diary of their experiences, which were duly submitted to our independent evaluator and formed part of the evidence base for her report.
Both were involved in the selection of archive material for the exhibition and in its subsequent installation. They both were in attendance for most of the rehearsals for the play Great Indecencies and were both involved as part of the team that actively put the show onto the stage and worked on the performances as lighting and sound operators.
We deliberately presented the play using industry-standard techniques used by operators across the UK. Rosheen and AB were therefore under the direct supervision of an experienced director, designer and stage manager and are now highly familiar with standard practice. Rosheen has gone on to work with playwright Joshua Val Martin on a new project being made by national touring theatre company, English Touring Theatre.
We have found the experience to be highly beneficial to our company and we would expect to employ interns on all future projects.
Both interns contributed to the independent evaluation of the project. This is their feedback...
"THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN AMAZING”
"Getting that experience of working in the industry has been really helpful for me in terms of reinforcing that as something I wanted to do for myself away from just community work"
"It was so nice to be in a project that had so many close relationships between people. It felt a bit like a family, and everyone had different connections with each other. I liked being welcomed into that, I really enjoyed being a part of that, and I think it really helped the whole experience. It was something to really treasure"
"The aspect I enjoyed the most is definitely putting together the exhibition, so I loved going through the archival material and things like that and I also really enjoyed how Jez made some of the screen prints. That was really, like a really valuable experience"
"Just talking to a variety of people in the arts sector helped me; learning how to like network with people has been hugely valuable as that's just not something I'd really developed. I think I'm pretty chatty but it was always a case of like, I never really got to experience that before"
"From the first read through of the play, being in the set and reading the play and creatively thinking about what it’s going to look like, has re-awoken my director-y side. It’s not something I’m going to do at the moment, but it’s definitely made it resolute in my mind, that I’m going to just apply for funding and direct a play at some point."
"I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO BE MORE ABOUT WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES AND PEOPLE, BUT ACTUALLY IT’S BEEN MORE ABOUT LEARNING ABOUT BEING AN ARTIST IN MY OWN RIGHT. AND THAT’S SOMETHING THAT I DON’T KNOW WHETHER I WOULD HAVE PAID AS MUCH ATTENTION TO OTHERWISE. I THINK IT’S SOMETHING I COULD HAVE REALLY EASILY LOST AFTER UNI. I’M SO GLAD THAT I’VE DONE THIS”
