Celebrating LGBTQI+ History Month
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Celebrating LGBTQI+ History Month

I revere difference as a lens for introspection and synthesis, for holding ‘stronger spaces’ where we cherish challenging ourselves and each other, lovingly, to grow. As cynical demagogues prey on division once again, we arts activists spring up through the cracks to rekindle shared narratives about the human journey through the timeless medicines of laughter, dance and song. As old as the ‘human’ herself.
On the occasion of LGBTQI+ History month, we invited gender-bending artist and activist Alex Echart to introduce our newsletter. Alex works across causes for social changes, showing up as their true selves in every space they enter. You can find out more about them and their work at www.alexetchart.com.

I’m a British-Uruguayan musician, composer, theatre maker and educationalist. Whether as a solo performer or a workshop facilitator in LGBTQ+, environmental and decolonial collectives, all my work explores how community care, identity and regeneration can be mediated through communal creativity, performance and ritual.

My father is a political exile from the Uruguayan dictatorship so I grew up in our colourful, caring and socially-engaged London South American refugee diaspora. From a young age I learned through our folk songs how to preserve intergenerational memory while constructing a cohesive, modern and global identity. Whether making queer performance art, touring marginalised-led shows around the world or training the community artists of tomorrow I believe every opening is a chance to build bridges, find a common language and heal through acts of collective truth and joy.

I revere difference as a lens for introspection and synthesis, for holding ‘stronger spaces’ where we cherish challenging ourselves and each other, lovingly, to grow. As cynical demagogues prey on division once again, we arts activists spring up through the cracks to rekindle shared narratives about the human journey through the timeless medicines of laughter, dance and song. As old as the ‘human’ herself.

Alex Etchart (they/them)
Follow Alex on Twitter
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