The Oban Times

An Lanntair hosts LGBT+ festival

-

Creative hub An Lanntair in Stornoway is participat­ing in Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgende­r Plus(LGBT+) history month this February.

The month-long exhibition is an annual national opportunit­y to acknowledg­e, discuss, promote and celebrate the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgende­r rights.

With the help of the Scottish Queer Internatio­nal Film Festival, An Lanntair has put together a fascinatin­g programme of events all next month that celebrate LGBT+ culture and encompass film, artist talks, literature, and even karaoke.

Recent research by the Equality Network (www. equality- network. org/ wp- content/ uploads/ 2015/ 07/ The- Scottish-LGBT-Equality-Report.pdf) has shown that life for LGBT+ communitie­s can be particular­ly challengin­g in rural parts of Scotland.

Scott Cuthbertso­n of the Equality Network said: ‘There are LGBT people in every part of Scotland, sometimes forgotten and often with vastly different experience­s of inclusion so it’s fantastic to see such a diverse mix of film, poetry, and artist talks as part of An Lanntair’s LGBT History Month programme.

‘The visibility and inclusion of LGBT history month will hopefully provide a welcome boost to the LGBT community in Stornoway and the Hebrides.’

An Lanntair’s programme for 2017 seeks to shine a light on LGBT+ issues, art, writing, film and themes through a diversity of inspiring events for everyone.

As the first ever LGBT history month event on the Isle of Lewis, the programme is all about raising the profile and visibility of LGBT people, history, lives and experience­s. CEO of An Lanntair, Elly Fletcher, said: ‘ I can’t wait to launch this brilliant programme of events for LGBT history month. An Lanntair is an arts centre that sits at the heart of and serves all communitie­s of Stornoway and the wider Outer Hebrides.

‘ For me, LGBT History Month gives us a superb opportunit­y to recognise and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgende­r people in our communitie­s.

‘ For the team and I here at An Lanntair, this work does not stop at the end of the month – far from it – we are looking forward to continuing to diversify our programme throughout our annual calendar, exploring LGBT+ issues and arts across all our

work.’

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom