Celebrating queer, transgender or intersex people of colour: musicians & artists

Art Exhibition Party was a celebration of QTIPOC (Queer, Transgender or Intersex, People of Colour) musicians and artists, hosted at Hyde Park Book Club on 23 October 2021. 

This event was a collaboration between OddBod Events, run by Leeds Beckett Students, and Leeds University LGBT+ Society. The motivation behind this event was to bring QTIPOC artists to the forefront and celebrate the amazing work and art they produce. All proceeds went towards supporting ‘What Can We Do’ charity (@whatcan.wedo), which helps support medical care, mental health and housing needs of black and brown Trans and Non-Binary people in the UK.

Odd Bod Events, run by BA (Hons) Music Industries Management students Olivia Barnes, Sophie Davis and Kieron Ferries, have been involved in running numerous open mic and music events at Hyde Park Book Club and The Fenton pub. Senior Lecturer and academic advisor Stuart Moss has commented on their work, saying “these students have been incredibly pro-active, entrepreneurial and selfless in their approach to gaining valuable work experience within the music industries by organising a series of events for good causes. Students all need to complete 80 hours industry experience as a part of their Professional Practice 2 module, and running these events is not only directly helping the charities that they are partnered with, but will also contribute to their work experience hours. I hope that other students will be inspired by their achievements”.

To find out more about the exhibition we talked to Olivia Barnes from OddBod Events.

How did the event go?

It was amazing! It was great to see the beautiful artwork and unreal DJ sets, in such a supportive and safe space. This was a sold-out event, and so far we estimate there was £900 raised for What Can We Do, which makes us so happy.

Can you tell us about the OddBod events and how you came to work together?

The Leeds University LGBT+ Society run some super cool events. Dacia (she/they) who is part of the society contacted us as at OddBod Events as we had hosted two previous music events at Hyde Park Book Club where we had incorporate art installation, spoken word and sustainable fashion. The society wanted to do something similar and together we came up with the concept, found the artists and DJs, and supported with online marketing (with our very own Kieron making some social media posts), posting out flyers and spreading the word about the event throughout LBU.

Has anything you learnt on your course helped you with setting up this event?

Yes for sure. During our artist management module in our first year, we had to host an online event, studying artist liaison, marketing plans, video editing and copyright. We think we’ve all found the connections and skills we’ve gained throughout the course, especially developing confidence in networking through visiting Yorkshire Music Forum Conventions 2021 at Belgrave, to be invaluable in putting on and crafting successful events. We would also like to do a huge shoutout to Simon Peter Green, the ex-tour manager for Wu Tang Clan, who has become a great friend and mentor of ours. Simon did a guest lecture in our first year and has been super helpful in giving advice on how to run and improve our events.  A connection we would have never gained without Beckett.

What kind of support or encouragement have you had from your tutors in working on events like this?

Our tutors have been so supportive, sharing posters around the art department for us and giving us advice on technical aspects of events and getting us in touch with venues. Both our tutors Vivienne Gaskin and Stuart Moss have been great at helping us connect with Hyde Park Book Club and The Fenton, as well as hiring kit from the uni.

How has it been putting on an event in the ‘post-lockdown’ era? Have there been any unique challenges or are things getting back to ‘normal’?

We set up OddBod Events in October of 2020, at the height of restrictions changing. Our first event moved from March 2021 to July 2021, so from the offset we’ve had to adapt and be ready for how dynamic and changing the industry and external factors can be.
 
Studying throughout lockdown our Artist Management event module was moved to an online event, which was great to understand how to translate live music onto a virtual platform. When we did our first event at Hyde Park Book Club, 'GreenScreen', we had to consider reducing the capacity in the case restrictions would come back into action.
 
Despite it being an unsure time for the industry our course mates have been super supportive about our events and people have been eager to get back out there to see live music and experience art. We’ve had so much fun getting hands on experience and meeting all the talented creatives that have participated in our events.

Have you got any plans to do something similar in the future and is there anything you might do differently?

Our events have always incorporated live music, spoken-word, art installation and sustainable fashion. We’ve got huge plans to rebrand and do some more fun projects next year. That’s all we can say for now, so keep an eye out…

About OddBod Events

We are all in our second year of BA (Hons) Music Industries Management (Liv, Sophie and Kieron).

If you would like to get in touch/ find out more about what we do/ keep up to date with our events you can do so through our Facebook @weareoddbods or Instagram @weareoddbods. Also feel free to contact we via our email at weareoddbods@outlook.com or to checkout our OddBods YouTube channel.

All images courtesy of Jorge @jor.graphy