On Wednesday Nov 20 VFDalston will be hosting a shadey look at the history of Trans representation on the big screen, how Hollywood and indie film makers have portrayed trans characters, and our fabulous panel of industry experts will discuss the good and the (often) bad examples.

The talk will be proceeded by a 45 minute montage of clips from films highlighting the ground breakingly great, the jaw droppingly awful and the downright offensive.

We will task our panel with creating a Manifesto of demands for future film makers to consult.

Then we will open up for questions and statements from the audience.

As well as in person tickets, we will be hosting the evening online, so you can sign up for an IRL ticket or a streaming link.

The venue will be The Outsiders Gallery at VFDalston, No64 Stoke Newington Road.

The space is fully accessible with a small ramp at the front door from the high street, and a newly installed wheelchair user designed bathroom.

Our panelists include Jaye Hudson (she/her) (TGirls on Film), Rue Lumbroso (she/her) Transmissions, Tara Brown (they/them) Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Festival, Molly Miles (they/them) Catagory H horror club and Trans Buffet, plus more TBC

Tickets are FREE, but we do ask if you cannot attend please let us know so we can reallocate your ticket.

Supported by Hackney365, as part of Hackney Pride 365 - Transgender Awareness Week

Join us for the final night of t’ART Exhibition: Queer Time. This is your last chance to see this group exhibition of work by queer and trans artists, exploring queer time across a range of disciplines from painting to photography, film to sculpture.

And to celebrate the end of the exhibition, we are bringing an acoustic version of our queer-curated cabaret night t’ARTopia to The Outsider Gallery. We have invited some of our most delicious t’ARTs to perform spoken word, music and dance, at a night that will be nothing short of t'ARTopian. 

Performances will run from 7pm-8pm.

We will be raising money for gender affirming surgery funds with this evening's raffle, so come with a couple of quid, win art and raise money for good causes! The raffle winner will be announced at the end of the evening.

t’ART’s resident illustrator Lucie Arnoux is going to be leading a queer life drawing session as part of the t’ART Exhibition: Queer Time programming.

Lucie will lead you through a series of quick poses and warm up exercises and then you’ll have the opportunity to spend time on some longer poses, with guidance from Lucie.

Paper, pencils and charcoal will be provided, but you’re also welcome to bring along your own materials. 

Hidden Bodies is a life drawing class that celebrates the beauty & diversity of Queer/Trans+ people; challenging norms of mainstream art spaces. In a world where traditional life drawing often perpetuates narrow & heteronormative beauty standards, Hidden Bodies provides a platform & opportunity to immortalise marginalised bodies in art.

This class invites artists of all levels to explore and appreciate the human form; destigmatising & normalising Queer/Trans+ bodies.

Whether you are a seasoned artist or picking up a pencil for the first time, Hidden Bodies offers a supportive, inclusive, and affirming environment. Come draw with us as we embrace the complexity of human form and elevate the bodies and experiences that so often go unseen.

The class will be lead, but not tutored.

Class structure will include a warm up of 10 short poses (1-3 mins), some 2 min drawing exercises that include movement, animation, stylised drawing, art swapping, technical exercises & audience participation. Longer, more traditional life drawing poses include 5 min, 10 min, 15 min & 20 min poses.

Artists are invited to bring their own materials; if you don't have your own, not to worry!

Drawing materials, boards & paper will be provided for a small donation of £2.

All are welcome—bring your curiosity, creativity, and openness. Let’s redraw the lines of life drawing, together.

The event is in the basement space of No64 The Outsiders Gallery, it has a set of stairs and is not wheelchair accessible.

Choked Up! is back and better than ever for round two, for all your scratch night itches, if you’re into that kind of thing

With stunning performances from Grace Quigley and their biting poetry, you can hear the dulcet post punk tones of TJ Padfield, Marina Scott will be breaking hearts with their words and Sam Smith will debut a brand new play that is sure to go down kicking and screaming

Our host Daze Hingorani will even be giving a look at their brand spanking new show, made in partnership with the Roundhouse

We’re committed to platforming new works by outstanding performers, and in the spirit of this, round two is a fundraiser! Bring your friends and families and lovers and support the making of Mad Jacks Theatre company’s new project

Doors will open at 7pm for a swift start of 7:30pm for performances, there’ll be plenty of breaks for drinks and kisses, we can’t wait to see you there xoxo

We are really excited to be bringing together queer and trans artists and makers for a new exhibition at The Outsiders Gallery, responding to the theme of 'queer time'. 

Time is different for us. The markers of a life have not always been accessible to queer people: marriage, children, their children and so on. And then there’s coming out, again and again. Transitioning, changing our bodies, changing our pronouns. Many of us explore as our true selves late. 

We have gathered work from both emerging and established queer and trans artists, working across a variety of disciplines from painting to photography, film to sculpture. And we can’t wait to share it with you.

We’d love for you to join us to celebrate the exhibition’s opening at our Private View on 2nd November. Tickets are available for a suggested donation of £3 and all proceeds go towards the exhibition’s costs, or you can purchase one of our most recent publications to pick up at the event! Drinks will be available to purchase at the bar.

One More Time goes daytime! Re-live your youth and enjoy the hits, forgotten gems and flops from 1998! And get home at a reasonable hour!! 

It was the year pure pop really hit the big time with B*Witched and Billie making their chart debuts, Steps, Five and Aqua hitting the big time and Cher making THAT comeback.

It was also the year Celine‘s heart went on, Des’ree had some toast, Cleopatra came 'atcha, the Spice Girls Stop-ped as a five piece (and said GET WELL SOON/ Goodbye to Geri) and The Honeyz and The Corrs hit big. We were also Horny having Sex On The Beach whilst wondering what she would look like with a chimney on her. 70's covers were all over and epic ballads ruled the charts. Imaani and Dana International tussled it out for Eurovision success whilst Brandy and Monica fought it out over a boy.

We’ll be playing the A list popstars from 1998 along with B listers like Lutricia McNeal, Alda and Garbage along with loads of other pop and dance hits from 1998. Expect loads of forgotten gems you're unlikely to hear anywhere else (from Ultra and Lucid to Solid HarmoniE.). Our Bargain Bin first hour of 1998’s pop flops (from Kerri-Ann to E-Male and Christian Fry) kicks things off for the first hour.

Come along on 19th October - the Music Sounds Better With YOU!

FREE EVENT - No Drama! - Reading Trans representation on screen and other film making crimes, an illustrated panel event.

On Wednesday Nov 20 VFDalston will be hosting a shadey look at the history of Trans representation on the big screen, how Hollywood and indie film makers have portrayed trans characters, and our fabulous panel of industry experts will discuss the good and the (often) bad examples.

The talk will be proceeded by a 45 minute montage of clips from films highlighting the ground breakingly great, the jaw droppingly awful and the downright offensive.

We will task our panel with creating a Manifesto of demands for future film makers to consult.

Then we will open up for questions and statements from the audience.

As well as in person tickets, we will be hosting the evening online, so you can sign up for an IRL ticket or a streaming link.

The venue will be The Outsiders Gallery at VFDalston, No64 Stoke Newington Road.

The space is fully accessible with a small ramp at the front door from the high street, and a newly installed wheelchair user designed bathroom.

Our panelists include Jaye Hudson (she/her) (TGirls on Film), Rue Lumbroso (she/her) Transmissions, Tara Brown (they/them) Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Festival, Molly Miles (they/them) Catagory H horror club and Trans Buffet, plus more TBC

Tickets are FREE, but we do ask if you cannot attend please let us know so we can reallocate your ticket. 

Supported by Hackney Council, as part of Hackney Pride 365 - Transgender Awareness Week

Queer Family Cabaret

Welcome to a relaxed and fun afternoon for families of all ages and abilities, to learn and explore performance skills, located at the VFD Outsiders Gallery 64 Stoke Newington Rd. The workshop will be led by Arkem and Sally (see their details below).

The workshop will open at 1.30 and will run between 2 and 4.30 with time for feedback

(aim to arrive with at least 15 minutes to settle in).

The workshop begins with warm up games and an easy-to-follow process will then help you to create a character in the moment and to find a costume. Further games enable you to share your character and game in an impromptu co-created cabaret in front of the appreciative and supportive audience of your fellow participants. In cabaret the audience and performers are equally important and so there is no pressure to perform. This workshop will end in a celebration of each other.
With this workshop we hope that you will have laughed and created together as a family in a new and fun way. The workshop is held by experienced and caring performers and will be accessible, inclusive and responsive. Please do not hesitate to get on touch if you have any queries.

 This workshop has been well received by families. We would like this work to develop in a responsive way from the feedback from families and so this will be a low-fee offering with time at the end for feedback.

The ground floor is a fully accessible space with a bathroom designed by wheel chair users.

Come celebrate the end of summer with us at a relaxed day party designed especially for Black neurodivergent folks! We know that big, chaotic events like Notting Hill Carnival can be overwhelming, so we’re keeping things low-key and focused on connecting in a safe, supportive space. This is in collaboration with VF Dalston and is also our last fundraiser of the summer, with all proceeds going towards some incredible upcoming events and workshops that we can’t wait to share with you! The venue is beautiful, the DJ’s are amazing (also black and neurodivergent), the vibes will be vibing, and tickets are limited—so secure yours asap. Let’s close out the season together, our way!

We all know that Notting Hill Carnival is at the end of August, I don’t know about you but we’re getting a little impatient. Lucky for you, GawdX and Scarba have teamed up to bring a QUEER BIPOC CARNIVAL STARTER TO VFD!!

Expect Soca, Bouyon, Baile Funk, Dancehall, Reggaeton and some juicy edits delivering the "wine ya waist" energy. We got heat going all night 😍😍🔥🔥🔥

Bring your gyals, gays, & dem allies! 

We want respect, good vibes, waist wines and nothing else!

Sophie Duker x Kemah Bob at VFDalston

Comedians Sophie Duker (Taskmaster, Live At The Apollo) & Kemah Bob (QI, Jonathan Ross’ Comedy Club, Comedy Central Live) have been working up hilarious all-new stand-up hours to show off at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August. But before they head up to Scotland, they're giving the cuties of VFD an exclusive double-header preview performance! Tickets are strictly limited. Do. Not. Miss. This. 
The shows will run one after the other with a short ten minute interval. Doors at 6:15. The first show will start promptly at 6:45 pm. 

MISS FORTUNATE - Life is gunna life and brains are gunna brain. Miss Fortunate is a debut hour that's as raw and silly as you’d expect from acclaimed oversharer Kemah Bob. 

BUT DADDY I LOVE HER sees Sophie champion delusion, arguing that we should all choose hot wet fantasy over cold, bleak reality. Be bonkers, dream big, lose your damn mind! In this intentionally unhinged show, delulu is the solulu. 

Follow the girls on IG - @kemahbob / @sophiedukebox

Queer Noise is back with another amazing line-up of London's finest poets, musicians and performers!

 Join us on May 30th at VFDalston for a simultaneously silly and sensitive exploration of queer community, identity, and relationships hosted by the dykenamic duo, Grace Quigley and Kia Matanky-Becker.

In addition to our amazing line-up of performers, photographer Cris vople will be selling queer as fuck prints and cyanotype's 

We've missed you and we know you've missed us two, so get yourself down to VFDalston for an evening of queer gorgeousness. 

Please arrive in time for a 7.30 start

Featuring:

Poetry from Kia Matanky-Becker and Grace Quigley 

Music from Holly Blair

Music from Honey Birch 

Dance / movement from Stephanie Burrell 

Music from Bella Artois

Doors 7pm

First Half 7.30 - 8.15

Break 8.15 - 8.40

Second Half 8.40 - 9.30

TICKETS:

Standard: £8

Solidarity: £14*

Pay-it-forward: £9**

 *Solidarity tickets: for allies or those who can afford to pay a higher ticket price to will help us keep this event sustainable and make it grow, so please consider this option if you can.

**Pay-it-forward tickets: please consider this option if you're an ally who'd like to support low/unwaged people from the community.

Long Live Queer Night Life 

7 pm Doors 

7.30 pm Start / Three sections of 20 minutes with 10-minute reset breaks. 

A panel discussion with author Amin Ghaziani, Phoebe Patey-Ferguson, and Kat Hudson will be hosted by Lyall Hakaraia. Talks of the establishment of VFDs activation Femmetopia, which encouraged queer disrupters in East London to tear down the patriarchy and celebrate diversity beyond the heteronormative.  We will explore the wider themes of change recorded in the book and finish with a Q and A. 

9 pm to 9.20 pm performance and then dancing till 11 pm.
Following the discussion there will be cabaret performances from QTIPOC artist Rhys's Pieces, then dancing until late. 

Please RSVP so we can reserve you a spot !
 

You can also buy the book ‘Long Live Queer Night Life’ published by Princeton University Press at the event and signed by the author Amin Ghaziani at an incredibly discounted rate of £15.

Amin Ghaziani 

The book: In this exhilarating journey into underground parties, pulsating with life and limitless possibility, Acclaimed author Amin Ghaziani unveils the unexpected revolution revitalizing urban nightlife.

Far from the gay bar with its largely white, gay male clientele, here is a dazzling scene of secret parties— club nights—wherein culture creatives, many of whom are queer, trans, and racial minorities, reclaim the night in the name of those too long left out. Episodic, nomadic, and radically inclusive, club nights are refashioning queer nightlife in boundlessly imaginative and powerfully defiant ways.

@amin_ghaziani @princetonupress

Dr Phoebe Patey-Ferguson is an academic, artist and producer. Their research expertise is on international theatre festivals, rooted in the Sociology of Theatre and Performance. This work frequently intersects with their further research interests in live art, contemporary British theatre, and queer theory. 

Phoebe is the course leader of the world's first MA in Queer Performance training students to create, explore, examine and expand queer performance practice.

@ppateyferg

Kat Hudson Katherine 'Kat' Hudson is a multimedia artist and writer who works closely with archives and libraries. Kat has curated notable community-focused exhibitions and nightlife events and lives and works in London, England.
@kathudson_
Kat's personal art practice explores individual multiplicity, collaborative creation, community wellbeing and performing utopia through drawing, painting, collage and sound. Her curatorial practice explores queer intersectional feminism, the work of her peers and subcultural art and nightlife movements in London.

Lyall Hakaraia is a QTBIPOC Maori artist and Takatapui Rangatira queer community organiser who runs the queer art spaces  VFD over two venues in Dalston . A parent to our beloved daughter Tui and a raft of fish, birds and two black cats.

@lyallhakaraia

Rhys Pieces  is a gender-f*cking cabaret creature! A one-stop cabaret troupe, multitalented, multi-award winning messy, smelly, fabulous, and putting on a show! They are the creator and host of @QueerdosCabaret and have toured the world shaking their pieces! 

@RhyssPieces_

Ugly Sisters @ VFD (WIP)

piss / CARNATION  are a multi-award winning transfemme performance duo. This is a horrible, messy and dirty and sinister work in progress of their new show ugly sisters. it is the surreal rendition of a real-life encounter between Germaine Greer and her transgender superfan which bridges live-art, alt-comedy and speculative fiction. but really, it is a love story. and it is award winning. even tho it hasn't been made rly yet.

previous acclaim:

UNTAPPED AWARD WINNER 

OFFIE AWARD WINNER 

★★★★ - “brutally revealing and beautifully soft” - The Guardian 

★★★★★ - “peerlessly fearless” - To Do List 

★★★★★ - “nuclear charm and shocking gusto” North West End 

★★★★★ - “truly dark” Reviews Hub 

- we will also be joined by some of our yet to be announced friends for sum WIP warm up acts  x

Right, Year Three. Listening ears, please.

Today you are SO LUCKY, because your former teacher, Mrs Lisa Lakeside (John Tothill), has (out of the KINDNESS of her heart) organised a Very Special Comedy Show.

On 19th May at VFDalston, she will be hosting an INCREDIBLE line-up of comedy acts (to be announced), and you are going to listen POLITELY to what they have to say. Remember: they are giving up their time and you are representing the school, so I know I can TRUST YOU to be sensible.

When you grow up and start applying for jobs, this will be EXACTLY the kind of extra-curricular activity your boss will be looking for.

Mrs Lakeside’s School Night. Coming soon.

This is a charity fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians @medicalaidpal

Hosted by John Tothill (as Head of Year 3, Mrs Lakeside)

Produced By Queenie Miller