Storyhouse Queer

Storyhouse Queer celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as its allies and supporters. If you feel like this festival and any of its events are for you, then please come along.

While everybody is welcome, we would kindly ask you to take a look at our Storyhouse Queer Code of Conduct below before your visit.

9.35% of people aged 16 years and over in Chester City & Garden Quarter are lesbian, gay, bisexual or other –  Storyhouse Queer festival is curated both for and by this community.

Storyhouse Queer is held in partnership with Chester Pride and co-curated with lots of local LGBTQIA+ groups and individuals. We want even more people to be involved!

Please join us at the festival, or get in touch. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas so that next year can be even more incredible.

Absolutely! Storyhouse is, and always will be, a safe space and a home for the community, whether that’s through our programmed shows, films and events, or through providing community spaces for local groups and organisations to meet, socialise and collaborate.

Keep an eye on our upcoming community events and to discover some of the groups and organisations that come together in Storyhouse.

Storyhouse is for everyone.

In order for us to be able to come together to be creative, to celebrate ourselves and each other there are a few ground rules to ensure that everyone feels as welcome and comfortable as possible at all times.

• Please treat everyone with dignity and respect and without prejudice toward any protected characteristic.
• Please be respectful of and try not to make assumptions about the identities and experiences of performers, participants, and staff at the event, or any other visitors to the building.
• Do not attend any event with the intention of sharing hateful or derogatory opinions, or engaging in behaviour that is likely to cause harm to others.
• If you have any concerns please raise them with one of our volunteers or members of staff.
• Anyone behaving in a way that doesn’t uphold these values will be asked to leave the event.

We are aware that the term ‘queer’ has historically been used as a slur. However, it has now been widely reclaimed by the LGBTQIA+ community and is understood to now be one of the most inclusive ways that the community self-describe, reject specific labels and address intersectionality.

We have co-programmed this festival with people from the LGBTQIA+ community, of all ages and identities, and ran a series of drop ins for artists at Storyhouse to consult with the wider community about the programme and the festival’s name.

We use ‘Queer’ specifically as its a gender neutral term and covers a wide variety of sexual orientations and gender identities that are not exclusively heterosexual or cisgender. Queer isn’t a narrow definition, so it allows space for fluidity of identity and many people find it useful as a way of describing themselves without being too specific about their exact identity, either for reasons of comfort and safety or just because they are still exploring and learning about themselves.

We’re also not alone in our use of the word queer; both Shout Festival in Birmingham and Homotopia in Liverpool describe themselves as celebrating and platforming queer art and artists.

As per the LGBTQIA+ charity, Stonewall:

Queer is a term used by those wanting to reject specific labels of romantic orientation, sexual orientation and/or gender identity. It can also be a way of rejecting the perceived norms of the LGBT community (racism, sizeism, ableism etc). Although some LGBT people view the word as a slur, it was reclaimed in the late 80s by the queer community who have embraced it.

Mini Pride is a family-friendly creative event during Storyhouse Queer, for young children and their carers. It has been carefully designed for children aged 3 –7 and focuses on themes that are well
established within early years education: kindness, imagination, creativity, difference, and standing up for things you care about. It does not introduce sexual content, sexual
behaviour, or adult concepts of sexuality.

The event comprises three main elements:

• Storytelling , using widely published picture books commonly found in schools, nurseries, and libraries. These stories explore emotions and experiences such as worry, belonging, confidence, friendship, and being yourself. They are age-appropriate and non-sexual, and reflect a range of everyday childhood experiences.

• Creative craft activities , including decorating a paper figure inspired by someone the child is proud of, or making a small banner expressing something that matters to them —from caring for the environment to being kind to others. These activities are open – ended and guided at the child’s own pace.

• A fictional storytelling character , used in the same way that many children’s venues employ costumed or character – led storytelling to engage young audiences. This is a character for the purposes of storytelling, not a drag performance.

Children are not asked to discuss sexual identity or sexual orientation. The focus throughout is on creativity, inclusion, and imaginative play, with parents and carers present at all times.

It is also important to recognise that many children in the UK are already growing up in families with same -sex parents. National data shows that tens of thousands of children live in households headed by same-sex couples, and these families are part of everyday life in communities such as ours. For those children, inclusive cultural spaces matter. They provide opportunities to participate in shared activities without their family experience being absent or marginalised.

The stories and activities within Mini Pride are intentionally broad and inclusive. The picture books may include examples of different family structures — including families with two mums or two dads — alongside many other familiar situations that children encounter routinely in books, schools, and libraries. The themes explored include family, friendship, emotions, imagination, caring for others, and pride in who you are. This is not about instructing children what to think, but about ensuring that all children and families who use a public cultural space can feel welcome and represented.