The various spaces at VFD - gallery, community basement space and the club are all available for hire, to host your party, reception, birthday, art show, performance, dance, spoken word etc

Get in touch with the team info@vfdalston.com

You are invited to put pen to paper, surrounded by queer sound as part of the Queer Sound Weekender.

Join us to have the chance to free-draw and to free-write to the soundtrack of queer musicians and queer sounds, to work collaboratively and individually, to make freely. 

Guided by writer and maker Finn Brown.

Join us for a very special live drawing session as part of the Queer Sound Weekender! 

Illustrator and graphic novelist Lucie Arnoux will lead a live-drawing class in which attendees will learn how to sketch a musician as they are playing, focusing on the relationship between a person and their instrument. 

Featuring live musician Rosie from Boom Boom Racoon!

One More DAYTime 2002

We're taking 2002 to the daytime! Pop Idol was all over the charts - from Will Young, Gareth Gates and Darius to Jessica Garlick, Rosie Ribbons, Sarah Whatmore and, err Rik Waller. Liberty X resurged and and Girls Aloud and The Cheeky Girls emerged.

Shakira launched as did S Club Juniors, Christina Milian and Ashanti and Las Ketchup whilst Enrique Inglesias, Pink, Sugababes, A1 and Atomic Kitten all returned. Meanwhile Clubland ruled with with dance music from Kelly Llorenna, Flip & Fill and Scooter and Belgian eurotrance from Lasgo, Milk Inc and Ian Van Dahl.

We’ll be playing the A list popstars from 2002 along with B listers like H & Claire, Romeo and Anastasia along with loads of other pop and dance hits from 2002. Expect loads of forgotten gems that don't get played anywhere else (from Ladies First to Mad'House and MadDonna). Our Bargain Bin first hour of 2002’s pop flops (from Soraya to Haifa and the year's biggest flop Angelle) kicks off from 2pm.

Join us in our gallery space The Outsiders at No64 for a fabulous closing night to this incredible exhibition celebrating Andrew Lumsdens life as a queer activist, journalist and artist.

See the artworks for one last time, may of which are for sale.

Our legendary cocktail bar will be open and there may be some special guests (tbc)

Tickets available on Outsavvy

Also you can purchase the book

Fruit Machine Talk Andrew Lumsden Queer Journalist

As part of the gallery show Fruit Machine Andrew Lumsden Art & Activism we will be hosting two talks, the second of which is:

ANDREW THE  JOURNALIST

Journalist and sculptor Graham McKerrow will be in conversation with Dan de la Motte about Grahams best friend Andrew.

Graham and Andrew became friends while working on rival newspapers in the 1980's - Andrew was founder and editor of gay News and Graham of Capital Gay.

There was the excitement of gay liberation mixed with the onslaught of rampant media, state and religious homophobia, framed by the AIDS pandemic. Expect stories of police raids, censorship, protests, community responses and campaigning journalism.

Graham McKerrow worked at Gay News in 1980/81 and then launched the weekly newspaper Capital Gay. He developed a first response to Aids and exposed the ‘pretty police’. In 1986 Graham ran the campaign to defend Gay’s The Word bookshop after it was raided by Customs officers. In the 1990s, he edited Positive Nation, a magazine for people with HIV.

The gallery show and events are supported by Hackney Council and Hackney Pride 365

Why not hire one of our amazing spaces for your party, launch event, art happening, club night, birthday party, workshop, pop up etc, email the VFD team info@vfdalston.com

Fruit Machine - Queer Hackney History Walk with Dan de la Motte

Learn the significance of Stoke Newington Town Hall in relation to the ‘Pits and Perverts Support the Miners’ campaign in the 1980s, Queer 'Molly' subculture in the 1700s, and the legendary residents of Abney Park Cemetery (location for Amy Winehouse's Back to Black video), including pioneering drag kings and the doyennes of Music Hall, and the all-important difference between cottaging and cruising. We'll end the tour at The Outsiders Gallery to take in their current exhibition FRUIT MACHINE, the artworks of 1970s GLF activist Andrew Lumsden. 

Meeting Point: Stoke Newington Town Hall 11.30am

End Point: The Outsiders Gallery (66 Stoke Newington High Street) 1pm ish

This tour will be step free, but please be aware that the ground in Abney Park Cemetery may be uneven (and very muddy if it's been/is raining!) 

If you cant make it on the day please let us know so we can reallocate your ticket to the waiting list.

As part of the gallery show Fruit Machine Andrew Lumsden Art & Activism we will be hosting two talks, the first of which is:

ANDREW THE ACTIVIST

GLF activist and artist Stuart feather will be talking to Dan de la Motte about his friend Andrew, and the protests, campaigns, actions and goals of the Gay Liberation Front in the early 1970's.

Expect radical drag as (and in) the face of Mary Whitehouse, dropping acid in queer communes, farcical court cases and the inside goss on the first ever Pride march in London.

This event is free, please register your place (s) so we can keep an eye on numbers, and if you cant attend please let us know so we can reallocate the seats.

The gallery show and events are supported Hackney Council and Hackney Pride 365

Join us in t'ARTopia for a queer-curated cabaret night of drag, music, poetry and more from some of our most delicious t'ARTs. We have invited some of our favourite performers to entertain you all, at a night that will be nothing short of t'ARTopian. 

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.

Let’s get mouth-watering!

P.S. Our new mini-journal Trans Tongues is coming out soon. You can prep-order a copy to pick up at the event by selecting one of the ticket options with ‘Trans Tongues vol. 2’ in the description!

Private View - Andrew Lumsden Art & Activism Thur Feb 6 from 6pm

Andrew Lumsden was a London based pioneer of the Gay Liberation Front, a pioneering openly queer journalist and also an incredibly talented artist working across a variety of mediums.

Throughout February The Outsiders gallery will be showing a retrospective covering Andrews artwork from the early 1970's through to the 2020's. 

A contemporary of Derek Jarman and David Hockney, Andrew Lumsden created a steady flow of artworks reflecting his life as an activist, traveller and lover. His work ranged from abstract and impressionist works in the 70's through to highly detailed photo realistic works reflecting the landscapes, beaches and interiors as he travelled around the UK, across Spain and Goa, to personal sketches and paintings of friends and lovers, and then back to his first love of abstraction during the lockdown period in 2020.

Join us for the opening night PV on Thursday February 6th from 6pm to 9pm

Throughout the month we will be hosting talks and also a walking tour of Dalston/Stoke Newington.

Check our other VFD events for more details

This LGBTQ+ History Month, The Common Press is hosting a free evening of Pride and Protest on 5th February, from 7 PM - 9 PM, at VFD Dalston / Outsiders Gallery.

Join us to explore stories of pride, resilience, and revolution as we bring together brilliant queer authors and activists for thought-provoking discussions on the movements that have shaped our pride and history of resistance.

We are excited to feature some of the talented authors stocked at The Common Press. The session will be hosted by Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir (Director at The Common Press). 

   'Queer' not as being about who you're having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but 'queer' as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and that has to invent and create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live.”― bell hooks

Mad Jacks Theatre present their hot and horny new scratch-night fundraiser: SEX SELLS!

Themed around kink, intimacy, sex and relationships, you're in for a jaw-droppingly raunchy and sensually multidisciplinary evening of stand-up, new writing, poetry and dance. 

Featuring performances from: Hanna Hirst, TJ Roderick, Aimée Ruhinda, Frank Bertoletti, Jazzy Green, Ellis Foster, Matisse Ciel and Nancy the Seven Foot Slut.

That's right. 8 performances for £12. That's £1.50 an act. Clock that tea.

This event is fundraising for Mad Jacks Theatre's upcoming production of ACNE ROMEO, premiering at The Place's Resolution Festival this Valentine's Day.

Doors at 7pm. Event starts at 7:30pm.

Lubricants recommended xx

Short Film Screening and Q&A with Filmmakers

25th January, 19:00-21:00

19:00 - Introduction by Charlie Jimenez

1. Bloodclot (2022) blood tainted film converted to Digital - 30s by Autojektor autojektorx

2. Mass Hysteria - Over You! (2024) 8mm film converted to digital & thermal vision - 5 minutes by Alistair Hendry alihendrys

3. ASMR – This Should be Okay 8mm film converted to Digital – 4m by Autojektor autojektorx

4. Seae within Yourself (2024) 8mm film converted to Digital - 4 minutes by Polina Kuzminska Polinakzmnska

5. Three Moons (2024) Digital - 5 minutes by Gregory Gangemi greggangemi

6. The Little Soul (2019) Digital Animation - Stop-motion - 9 minutes by Barbara Rupik @barbara_rupik

   20:10-20:20 - Break

   Introduction to Macabre and second section of Films

7. Macabre (2024) 8mm film converted to Digital - 7 minutes by Brodie Rake brodie_rake

8. (Secret Film)

9. Doll's Don't Cry (2019) Digital Animation - Stop-motion - 20 minutes by Frédérick Tremblay

In-conversation Q&A with Filmmakers - Charlie Jimenez, AutoJektor, Alistair Hendry, & Polina Kuzminska

21:00 - 21:30

We are excited to announce Bodysongs, a group sculpture exhibition curated by Charlie Jimenez which navigates the transformative nature of the human form within works that intertwine the grotesque with the fragile, beautiful, bizarre, and mythological. 

Bodysongs invites viewers into an otherworldly vision of bodily transformation, where the body becomes a gender-fluid language of the corporeal, emotional, and absurd. 

Each piece offers a spectral display of bodily realities which arouse and challenge conventions of identity, while also inviting contemplative rethinking of the body as an emotional entity - a fluid and mutable reality where identities and mythology assimilate. 

A place where the body is both vessel and narrative for transformation.
19:15 - 19:30

Tomb - Live Art, 15 minutes - by Electric Adam
 19:45-20:00

Doppelganger - Live Performance, 15 minutes - by Charlie Jimenez and Melanie Ashton

 Live musician: Emily Buckley Bunn
 

One More Time is back with another daytime party! It's 1995 and grunge was out and pop was back in. A new wave of pop acts shared 1995's charts with stalwarts Janet Jackson, Celine Dion, Cher, Madonna, Mariah Carey, M People Annie Lennox and Eternal. Boybands ruled with Take That, East 17, Boyzone, Let Loose and PJ & Duncan all over the charts. And Whigfield proved she was more than Saturday Night!

But the big story of 1995 wasn't Britpop (despite what the history books said)… it was the year of the dance banger. The Top 10 was filled with dance hits including Set You Free, Missing, Boom Boom Boom, Don't Give Me Your Life, Dreamer, Two Can Play That Game, Cotton Eye Joe, U Sure Do, Total Eclipse Of The Heart, The Sunshine After The Rain, Not Over Yet, Scatman, I Luv U Baby, Baby Baby, Your Loving Arms, Hideaway, Try Me Out, Runaway, Axel F, Push The Feeling On, Reach Up, These Sounds Fall Into My Mind, Son Of A Gun, Don't You Want Me, Keep Warm, Short Dick Man and Right In The Night. Whew - what a list!

We’ll be playing the A list popstars from 1995 along with B listers like Deuce, MN8 and the Human League along with loads of other pop and dance hits from 1995. Expect loads of forgotten gems you're unlikely to hear anywhere else (from Zig & Zag and Sean Maguire to the Childliners and Michelle Gayle). Our Bargain Bin first hour of 1995’s pop flops (from Mary Kiani and Diva to Motiv8) kicks things off from 2pm!

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.

Our model for this session will be Zee

 Zee (they/them) is a writer and speaker exploring the intersections of Blackness, queer and trans identities. Find their work on https://substack.com/@souldeep 
 

As seen in our recent amazing window display, DaddyStreetFox will be leading a Corn Dolly Workshop.

Learn how to make a traditional corn dolly using soaked husks.. Corn dollies were created at the end of harvest with the belief that they kept the spirit of the grain alive throughout the winter months until the following spring sowing season, when they were returned to the earth by burying or burning.

Spaces are limited to 15 people (over 16 yrs), materials provided.

You will be working with wheat, barley, sweet rye and lavender which are dried and may be dusty (in case of allergies).

The event will be in The Outsiders Gallery space at VFD, and is fully accessible with a wheel chair user designed bathroom.

One ticket to see both Sascha Lo: Rotten (WIP) and Gwen: This is NOT A Pyramid Scheme (WIP) at VFDalston on Thursday 5th December!

NB: tickets are available for both shows separately

SASCHA LO: ROTTEN (WORK-IN-PROGRESS)

Sascha LO is just a (rotten) girl. Through the medium of performance art (comedy), she will be exploring important issues like whether babies should be allowed to get their ears pierced, and why girls who used to shop at lush, vape now?

At the insanely young age of only 23, Sascha has already been a Funny Women Finalist 2023, two-time BBC Comedy Awards Nominee and nominated as ‘Best Writer’ by the BFI. She has been described as ‘desperate for attention’ and a ‘brat’ by a reviewer who definitely has a crush on her (CHORTLE).

With support from Alice Markey.

GWEN: THIS IS NOT A PYRAMID SCHEME (WORK-IN-PROGRESS)

“Gwen here, I've recently been banned from Zumba instructing because I was putting subliminal messages into the songs in an attempt to sell my Avon body lotion. Anyway, onwards and upwards. This is my next venture, I will teach you how to become resilient, gorgeous and gregarious through storytelling, '90s dance music, and interaction.”

"I forced my neighbour Mary to see a run-through of this show, she fainted and shat herself but that was because we were in my downstairs cupboard and it was July. My lawyer John said to mention that this is NOT a Pyramid Scheme and that he is NOT legally my lawyer."

'Amazing woman, an inspiration to us all' - A woman who had taken ketamine.

Rachel Baker (Gwen) is a Funny Women Finalist, BBC New Creative, and former Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award nominee. As heard on BBC Radio 4.

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

Please join us for the launch of SONGS, a new book of comics and writing by Leo Fox published by Zgriptor Press, and an evening of readings and performance.

SONGS is a new anthology of poems and comics by Leo Fox, brashly and tenderly exploring ideas of intimacy and sex. Over the course of six comics and several poems, SONGS rolls, dives and resurfaces through personal anxieties, odes of appreciations and epic fabulations.

Leo Fox is a UK-based cartoonist and painter. He is transmasculine and makes work about it sometimes. His previous work includes Prokaryote Season, My Body Unspooling, and Boy Island.

Zgriptor Press is an independent publisher that supports work which unpicks the em(body)ment(s) hidden at the intersections of overlapping disciplines. It is dedicated to supporting the work of emerging writers and artists, hoping to offer a space for experimental communicative practices. 

This event will be held at The Outsiders Gallery at 64 Stoke Newington Road. Since its inception in 2023, The Outsiders Gallery has been host to many incredible exhibitions and also has been a community space for queer arts, poetry and other endeavours used to foster joy and an appreciation for creation.