Queer Out Loud CIC

Your Queer Support Network. We are all about working with the queer community in whichever ways they need. If you’d like to collaborate with us on a one off event, or to organise regular sessions as part of QOL, let us know! As a small business, we are very free flowing and learning as we grow, and part of learning is working with your feedback! Queer Out Loud started back in August 2022 after Mimi noticed how few queer artists were performing on the poetry scene in Plymouth. We are an incredibly young and creative city, where was everyone hiding? It was clear that the poetry groups around didn’t quite understand or appreciate queer content as much as they did other themes, and so Mimi decided to change that. They emailed Minerva Cafe and Clothing and enquired about hiring the space for a few hours one evening. Minerva said Yes! And so, the first event happened. It was just poetry, about 10 artists (most of which Mimi already knew) but it was a fantastic event. Surprisingly, about 40 people turned up! And so they hosted another. By the end of the second event, it was clear that there was a huge need for events like this. So huge a need that we outgrew our venue! After some desperate searching, we ended up at B-Bar. They had a sound tech for us to hire each event which meant we could add music to the sets. With such a weirdly successful start, we finally had to come up with a name. After messaging everyone they knew for name ideas, Mimi settled on Queer Out Loud (and then realised it was incredibly similar to Write Out Loud, a group part of Down Stage Write and we have been apologising ever since!) With the addition of music, and space for even more, we started calling our events ‘Performance Nights’ so that any kind of act could sign up. We’ve have violin, burlesque, comedy, acoustic, and poetry, of course. We have since moved back to Minerva after they expanded their space and things are going amazingly!