Museums Showoff

Taking to the stage for this extravaganza of wit & wisdom, objects & exhibitions will be:

Naomi Paxton – actor, magician, expert on suffrage plays and owner of an inflatable duck costume, Naomi will be your compere for the night! Find out more about our multi-talented MC here: http://www.naomipaxton.co.uk/

Vicky Iglikowski-Broad – With finding ‘love’ now as easy as a swipe left or a swipe right, do we take our access to dating apps for granted? How did LGBTQ+ people strive to make romantic connections in the past? Join Vicky Iglikowski-Broad, from The National Archives, going beneath the sheets to discover what Grindr might have looked like if it was invented 100 years ago.

Frances Sampayo – Before visiting the Chelsea Physic Garden there are some things you need to know. How to pronounce it’s name for starters… and most importantly how to navigate yourself around a living collection which has the capacity to kill you!

Hannah Hethmon – In 2017, Hannah embarked on a project to collect the museum collectors of Iceland through her podcast, Museums in Strange Places. She traveled all over this strange island interviewing museum professionals and volunteers at some very…uh…unique museums, and this is your chance to meet some of the fascinating characters she met on her travels.

Dan Vo – LGBTQ+ Tours in Cymru!
Queer tours will kick off at Amgueddfa Cyrmu National Museum Wales this year! From ceramics to sodomy, the tours will show off the greatest hits of queer culture from Wales: from the Ladies of Llangollen to their modern emulators the youngest daughter of William Morris, May, and her very close companion and live-in bodyguard Vivian Lobb (read: they probably shagged lots). Come delight in stories of guys, gals, their numerous “very close” (and very intimate and very naughty) pals, and all the enbies in between.

Peter Barratt – Alice Hawkins, Suffragette. Peter tells of how great granny Alice was commemorated in centenary year through the unveiling of a statue of her, loaning the national heritage standard suffragette memorabilia to Parliament for the ‘Voice and Vote’ exhibition, supported the Leicester Museum service in a school visit programme and more!

Claire Mead – Claire is a queer activist curator whose drag king alter ego Eugène Delacroissant is an artist-genius-director of all the museums, with 0% experience and 100% entitlement. Be dazzled and mansplained at about queering museums and dismantling their patriarchal hierarchy via performance, pop songs and parody!

Steven Saxby – “In the footsteps of Nathaniel Bryceson” is a showcase of my year following the 1846 diary of my ancestor, visiting the places he wrote about, researching the people and experiences of a 19/20 year old in Victorian London, and comparing them to life in the capital today.

Danielle Thom – Trade unions are just for grumpy men in sheepskin coats, warming their hands over braziers, right? Wrong! Danielle is a curator at the Museum of London, and chair of the museum’s trade union branch. Come and find out about their recent strike, the power of collective action, and why museum workers should bother with joining a union.