Cat McGill

We’re looking for a fabulous artist who can create miniature artworks to be part of the geocache trail – either to sit inside the caches themselves, or to travel between caches as a trackable item – as responses to our queer rural stories. Download the full call document using the links below:Download in MS Word formatDownload in PDF formatDownload in MS Word large printDownload as audio file Our ideal artist would: identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community be local to the Staffordshire Moorlands work with materials that connect to the history of the Staffordshire Moorlands, e.g. silk, buttons We expect the trail to contain around ten caches, each of which will explore a theme related to our journey of queerness, and be accompanied by stories from local history. We need one piece of artwork for each cache. Key dates 2nd September: meeting with the group of young people to explore the themes of the project, and hear stories from older members of the LGBTQ+ community around those themes. Week commencing 20th October: We are hoping to launch the trail during half term so anticipate needing to place the caches during the week of 20th-24th October. Fees: The commission fee is £1500. There is additional budget for materials up to £500. How to apply: Please send a short bio and examples of your work to cat@catmcgill.uk by midday on Tuesday 26th August.  With your application please: confirm you can be available for the initial meeting on Tuesday 2nd September, 5.30pm

The first ever Pride event in the Staffordshire Moorlands took place at the end of June, and it was all the rainbow fabulousness we could have hoped for! Co-created by a steering group of local LGBTQ+ people and with events spread across the Moorlands it was a real joy to be part of. The weekend culminated in a big party on Sunday afternoon in Leek town centre, with market stalls, talks, and lots of live music. Team QueerQuest were out in force chatting with people about the project and collecting stories and memories, favourite places, or places that had significant meaning for them. We had a MASSIVE map of the Moorlands that people could write and draw on, and project artist Jay Neville was on hand for those who wanted a professional to do the illustration! We’ll use these places and stories as inspiration when creating our geocaching trail. Sadly there is very little documented LGBTQ+ history in the Staffordshire Moorlands, so it’s possible that QueerQuest might end up more as a creative interpretation of the stories we imagine have remained hidden in time – but we’ve got a few leads to follow and there are some really excellent projects happening at the moment around this exact topic, such as the LGBT+ Lives and heritage project by GRAIN photography and the Older LGBT+ People’s Group. We want QueerQuest to complement the work that’s already happening in the community, so are looking at ways in which we can collaborate with other

It’s been a little odd leading a pride project as a straight-presenting person. It’s given me an opportunity to reflect on a part of my identity I don’t often let out into the open – not necessarily in a closeted way, but it just never felt like anyone else’s business. I’m really aware of the privilege of being in a straight-presenting relationship and having the choice of whether or not I share that part of myself, but the flip side of that is feeling unable to fully step into queer spaces and feel like I belong there. I’ve always known who I am, but growing up I didn’t know there was a word for it. To be quite honest I always felt like I was the ‘normal’ one – it seems crazy to me that people can know who they’re going to be attracted to based on gender when there’s so many more interesting things to know about people. I’m in awe – and maybe a little envious – of the next generation; fiercely proud of themselves and loudly claiming their place in the world. I think my ideal would be that none of it matters – ‘a person loves another person’ should not be news. But we’re not there yet, that’s the thing. About a dozen of us kicked off the Pride celebrations in Cheadle on Friday night and got accosted by the local street preacher trying to save our souls from sin. An older guy in the market

The first thing we need to do to get this project underway is start collecting stories – and OBVIOUSLY the best way to do that is to build a mini-rainbow post box! As you might be able to tell, it’s not quite finished yet but you get the idea! It was decorated by the group of young people at our first meeting last week, we had a lovely time painting and chatting about our plans for the project. We also met with our project artist Jay and brainstormed ideas for a project logo. Jay is going to create an enormous map of the Staffordshire Moorlands which we will have up on our stall at Pride in the Moorlands and be inviting people to draw or write on with their stories. We’ll also have a smaller version printed on postcards which people can write in and post in our postbox!

In this project we will create a new geocaching trail in the Staffordshire Moorlands, celebrating local LGBTQ+ stories and rooting them firmly in the geography of the Moorlands landscape. What is geocaching? Geocaching is like real-life treasure hunting. There is a vast network of ‘geocachers’ all over the world, who love exploring their local areas, hiding things for others to find – or trying to find ones already hidden. The thing you hide is called a ‘cache’ – some sort of container ranging anywhere from Tupperware boxes to tiny containers the size of your thumb. To find a cache, you download the geocaching app which will show you what is available near to you, give you directions to where it’s hidden, and a clue to find it. Inside the cache there is always a log book to sign to show you’ve found it, and sometimes there are little toys or trinkets to swap, or there might be a ‘trackable’ – an object designed to be taken from the cache and moved to another one.  When you create a new cache you upload its location to the app so others can find it – often people hide them in spots where there is a lovely view, or spots of historical significance, and cache owners will sometimes add some history about the area, or a story to go with the cache. Stay tuned to see how the project develops! QueerQuest is being funded by Historic England’s History in the Making grant programme. This new