The Beat of Our Hearts - Staging new histories of LGBTQ+ loneliness
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology
Abstract
Many LGBTQ+ people in Britain have been subject to exclusion and isolation, both historically and in at present. This can result from explicit discrimination and hostility in family homes, on the street, and from institutions such as our education and healthcare services, as well as a more diffused cultural bias which favours and naturalises some lives and relationships over others. Loneliness is one of the most significant emotional and psychological expressions of this marginalisation. It is a frequent and complicated problem, and can lead to serious difficulties in mental and physical health. It is also an understudied and under-discussed phenomenon, with scholarship and visibility low in relation to other at-risk groups. LGBTQ+ loneliness has a long history, as do the relationships and spaces that LGBTQ+ people have built for solidarity, creativity, and care. This project will engage LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ audiences with these histories, reconnecting them with past queer lives.
Over the last two years, Dr Charlotte Jones and Dr Fred Cooper (PI and RF) have been working in partnership on arts-based, interdisciplinary approaches to loneliness. This collaboration included the creation of a large data set on loneliness in Britain, collected through Mass Observation, a national writing archive; a one-year participatory project with a cohort of Exeter students, who worked in partnership to deliver a workshop series on student loneliness; and a creative journaling project during the Covid-19 lockdown. LGBTQ+ loneliness has been a recurring theme in this research, as well as in Jones's work with intersex people, and Cooper's historical practice on loneliness and estrangement.
This fellowship will transform this research into a programme of creative workshops about loneliness with LGBTQ+ communities in Devon and Cornwall, in partnership with the Intercom Trust, a leading LGBTQ+ charity in the South West. This will culminate in the development and staging of an original performance at Exeter's Northcott Theatre across one week in November 2021, as part of the Being Human festival. The performance will be written by the playwright Natalie McGrath, drawing on a community of queer writers and artists, and responding to research outputs by Jones and Cooper. The performance will be accompanied by a parallel festival of events, bringing in local and national LGBTQ+ charities, groups, and initiatives.
Engagement Activities
Our programme of engagement will begin with six workshops to initiate conversations on LGBTQ+ experiences of loneliness, hosted in collaboration with the Intercom Trust. These workshops will be an extension of the Trust's community work, part discussion-based and part creative writing, and will ask participants to respond to Jones and Cooper's research. Two will be age-specific (16-25 and 50+), on the theme of 'intimacies', and four will be intergenerational (16+), on the themes of 'communities' and 'margins.' Participants will respond creatively to brief vignettes taken from early, unfinished sections of the script drafted by McGrath, and to research conducted by Jones and Cooper. They will also engage with the final development of the creative work, including conversations about access, response, and the future of LGBTQ+ programming and outreach at the Northcott.
The project's work will then be brought to multiple audiences through an innovative theatrical performance and a parallel festival of events and activities at the Northcott. This will take the form of a cluster of short vignettes on queer history, loneliness, and solitude. The accompanying festival will include discussion groups on the performance, conversations with actors and other collaborators, and opportunities to explore the academic research behind the project. The festival will also engage local LGBTQ+ students and act as a meaningful intervention on loneliness at university, which LGBTQ+ students are disproportionately likely to experience.
Over the last two years, Dr Charlotte Jones and Dr Fred Cooper (PI and RF) have been working in partnership on arts-based, interdisciplinary approaches to loneliness. This collaboration included the creation of a large data set on loneliness in Britain, collected through Mass Observation, a national writing archive; a one-year participatory project with a cohort of Exeter students, who worked in partnership to deliver a workshop series on student loneliness; and a creative journaling project during the Covid-19 lockdown. LGBTQ+ loneliness has been a recurring theme in this research, as well as in Jones's work with intersex people, and Cooper's historical practice on loneliness and estrangement.
This fellowship will transform this research into a programme of creative workshops about loneliness with LGBTQ+ communities in Devon and Cornwall, in partnership with the Intercom Trust, a leading LGBTQ+ charity in the South West. This will culminate in the development and staging of an original performance at Exeter's Northcott Theatre across one week in November 2021, as part of the Being Human festival. The performance will be written by the playwright Natalie McGrath, drawing on a community of queer writers and artists, and responding to research outputs by Jones and Cooper. The performance will be accompanied by a parallel festival of events, bringing in local and national LGBTQ+ charities, groups, and initiatives.
Engagement Activities
Our programme of engagement will begin with six workshops to initiate conversations on LGBTQ+ experiences of loneliness, hosted in collaboration with the Intercom Trust. These workshops will be an extension of the Trust's community work, part discussion-based and part creative writing, and will ask participants to respond to Jones and Cooper's research. Two will be age-specific (16-25 and 50+), on the theme of 'intimacies', and four will be intergenerational (16+), on the themes of 'communities' and 'margins.' Participants will respond creatively to brief vignettes taken from early, unfinished sections of the script drafted by McGrath, and to research conducted by Jones and Cooper. They will also engage with the final development of the creative work, including conversations about access, response, and the future of LGBTQ+ programming and outreach at the Northcott.
The project's work will then be brought to multiple audiences through an innovative theatrical performance and a parallel festival of events and activities at the Northcott. This will take the form of a cluster of short vignettes on queer history, loneliness, and solitude. The accompanying festival will include discussion groups on the performance, conversations with actors and other collaborators, and opportunities to explore the academic research behind the project. The festival will also engage local LGBTQ+ students and act as a meaningful intervention on loneliness at university, which LGBTQ+ students are disproportionately likely to experience.
Publications
Cooper F
(2022)
Co-production for or against the university: student loneliness and the commodification of impact in Covid-19.
in Qualitative research journal
Jones C
(2022)
The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment.
in Feminist theory
McGrath Natalie
(2022)
The Beat of Our Hearts
Title | Creative workshops dataset |
Description | A range of creative writing and art was produced by people who attended the two series of creative workshops. Participants produced two co-written poems ('I come from', based on Dean Atta's poem of the same name) and two manifestos for tackling LGBTQIA+ loneliness in the South West. All seven 26+ participants wrote a letter offering to give someone an object of their choice, representing an aspect of their LGBTQIA+ identity. Two 16-25 participants also took photographs representing their understanding of loneliness. |
Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | One photograph was displayed at the University in 2021 as part of an Arts & Culture exhibition. The poetry, manifestos, and photographs were all displayed in a project exhibition at Exeter Northcott from 28th January - 5th February 2022. This work inspired the writing of Natalie McGrath's The Beat of Our Hearts play script. |
Title | The Beat of Our Hearts - production film |
Description | The premiere of The Beat of Our Hearts was filmed professionally on 4 February 2022. This is now available to be viewed online. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | The play now has a wider reach and can be viewed by a broader national and international audience. It will also be screened at various one-off events and used by partners and stakeholders as an educational resource in schools RSE work and community outreach. This is ongoing. |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCnXnrtmbo&feature=emb_imp_woyt |
Title | The Beat of Our Hearts production |
Description | The production of The Beat of Our Hearts at the Exeter Northcott Theatre involved four public performances from 3rd-5th February 2022, attended by 574 audience members. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | The play attracted significantly more first-time bookers (40%) than the Northcott's average new attendance for plays (27%). The majority of the audience travelled within Devon (70%), but people also attended from Wiltshire, Cornwall, Bristol, London, Kent, Nottingham, and beyond. After two of the performances, we hosted a public panel event, and a private discussion with the Intercom Trust youth group. In the Northcott bar, there was an interactive project exhibition, displaying contributions and outputs from our workshops, and we were also joined by stalls from nine local organisations and community groups. A film of the performance has also been made available online for free/donations. The production received national and regional media coverage and reviews. The recording of the play will be used by local and national stakeholders as a stimulus for LGBTQIA+ education, support, and awareness. |
Title | Various exhibitions |
Description | A photograph taken by a workshop - illustrating their understanding of loneliness - was displayed at the University in 2021 as part of an Arts & Culture exhibition. A larger, interactive project exhibition was also displayed at the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health (14-18 March 2022) and at the Northcott Theatre during the production week (28 Feb 2022 - 5 March 2022). |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Impact | Many positive responses and feedback, as well as new contacts and discussions. |
URL | https://www.artsandcultureexeter.co.uk/news/new-arts-and-culture-display-space-for-the-university |
Description | Two series of creative workshops connected local LGBTQIA+ people with one another, to their rural environments, and with regional histories of queer experiences and literatures. The workshops provided a space for discussion and solidarity: sharing perspectives and stories of LGBTQIA+ loneliness and belonging; as well as for creativity: co-writing poetry, letters, taking photos. Through an active website, blog, and social media accounts, this writing and other creative work has been shared widely. The staging of Natalie McGrath's original playscript at the Northcott Theatre has also been a significant achievement at such a challenging time for arts organisations and creative professionals in the UK. |
Exploitation Route | Local and national stakeholders can make use of the production film and published playscript as a stimulus for LGBTQIA+ education, support, and awareness. |
Sectors | Creative Economy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
URL | https://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/beatofourhearts/ |
Description | The Northcott theatre production has been professionally recorded in order to reach a wider audience through online platforms, and for use as an LGBTQIA+ educational resource by the Intercom Trust in PSE programmes in local schools. |
First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
Description | National Lottery project grant |
Amount | £14,940 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ACPG-004044968-SW-0000004684 |
Organisation | Arts Council England |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2021 |
End | 03/2022 |
Description | Wellcome Trust's Institutional Strategic Support Fund - Translational Research Exchange @ Exeter |
Amount | £19,941 (GBP) |
Organisation | Wellcome Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2022 |
End | 10/2022 |
Title | Creative workshops dataset |
Description | A range of creative writing and art has been produced by people who attended the two series of creative workshops. Participants produced two co-written poems ('I come from', based on Dean Atta's poem of the same name) and two manifestos for tackling LGBTQIA+ loneliness in the South West. All seven 26+ participants wrote a letter offering to give someone an object of their choice, representing an aspect of their LGBTQIA+ identity. Two 16-25 participants also took photographs representing their understanding of loneliness. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | This is an important dataset illustrating creative ways of articulating LGBTQIA+ marginalisation and future hopes. Key themes ranged widely, from experiences of Section 28 and trans healthcare, to LGBT+ support groups in places of education and the impact of social media on young people's mental health. Participants responded thoughtfully and urgently about the areas they felt needed addressing: healthcare, queer meeting spaces, and access in schools to LGBTQ+ support groups. |
Description | Project partner - Exeter Northcott Theatre |
Organisation | Northcott Theatre |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Many audience members (40%) were new to the Northcott so this play brought them new interest and publicity, and new community engagement. Intercom Trust provided LGBTQIA+ training for their staff which will have a continued legacy. EDI issues also raised by the collaboration (e.g. gender-neutral toilets) will feed into their renovation work. This was the biggest collaboration between the Northcott and the University so it highlighted the value of co-creation and partnership across the arts and research, and gave them new skills and areas for reflection. They have also created new connections, with the Wellcome Centre and University, the Intercom Trust and the creative team. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Northcott played a key role in facilitating the delivery of the production, helping to turn the research and engagement components into a staged performance. They led the recruitment of the creative and production teams and cast, and ensured script development and rehearsals went ahead as required. They also staged the main production of the play and hosted our stalls and project exhibition. The Northcott team attended regular team meetings throughout the project, guiding the process and offering regular input, and contributed to the AHRC grant application. |
Impact | - The production of The Beat of Our Hearts at the Exeter Northcott Theatre included four public performances from 3rd-5th February 2022, attended by 574 audience members. - At the production, there was an interactive project exhibition, displaying contributions and outputs from our workshops, and we were also joined by stalls from nine local organisations and community groups. - The Being Human Festival public online event on 11 November 2021 included extracts of the draft script performed by four actors, alongside invited speakers, and a feedback discussion. This was at capacity, and attended by 35 people. - The play script has been published by Salamander Street press and is available to purchase online. A film of the performance has also been made available online on the Northcott website for free/donations. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Being Human Festival event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We held a Being Human Festival public online event on 11 November 2021, which included extracts of the draft script performed by four actors, alongside invited speakers, and a feedback discussion with public attendees. This was at capacity, and attended by 35 people. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/beatofourhearts/ |
Description | Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender, University of Brighton, UK. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited talk on 3 November 2021 about Engagement and Arts Collaboration in LGBTQIA+ Research for the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender Research Seminar, University of Brighton, UK. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Production PR - National and regional media |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | The Northcott production in February 2022 received a range of regional and national media coverage, including live interviews with BBC Radio Devon (Pippa Quelch show, 13/01/22 and David Sheppard, 26/01/22), Soundart Radio (31/01/22), and ITV News (05/02/22). We also received online and newspaper features in Broadway World, List, and Visit Devon. After the show, reviews included Crediton Courier and Exepose. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Production film |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A film of the live theatre production of The Beat of Our Hearts is currently available on the Northcott website for a two-week run, 11 March - 24 March 2022 (https://www.exeternorthcott.co.uk/events/the-beat-of-our-hearts-streaming/). If this link is no longer active, you may be able to access the film using the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCnXnrtmbo&feature=emb_imp_woyt. Numbers are not yet available as this is still ongoing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.exeternorthcott.co.uk/events/the-beat-of-our-hearts-streaming/ |
Description | Project website |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | We have shared details of project activities and creative work produced through the workshops on an active website/blog (https://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/beatofourhearts) and social media accounts. We published 13 blog posts between August 2021 and February 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
URL | https://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/beatofourhearts/ |
Description | University of Exeter Arts and Culture workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited workshop on 23/11/21 for University of Exeter's Arts and Culture, with PGRs and ECRs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |