Action and Art for allyship and connection

For those who haven't heard of Room to Be, I wanted to do a shout out to explain who we are - a grassroots community group for the LGBTQIA+ community in Dundee with particular focus on gardening, nature, art, connection and climate awareness. We work nomadically across the city, partnering with community spaces and organisations who are keen to express active allyship which is a massive part in what we do - we need our allies.

Stickers from the trans solidarity pack local artists created - proceeds go to Room to Be. Find out more here

We have particular focus on trans and non binary allyship - especially at this difficult time when a lot of media misinformation is circling about our trans communities which has created a spike in transphobic behaviour and needlessly pitted women's rights against trans rights. Things are unfortunately only going to get worse with the newly updated EHRC guidelines which puts trans people at very real disadvantage in public life and puts many organisations and businesses at risk of lawsuits regarding the services and facilities they provide. 

If this concerns you and you want to assert yourself or your group or organisation as an ally, please feel free to get in touch. Room to Be is looking at how to strengthen LGBTQIA+ allyship in an active, positive and meaningful way in Dundee, and we would welcome you to become a part of the conversation in how we do that mindfully. 

A creative way in which we have approached this is with Listen to the Lavender - the amazing collaboration with Manuela del los Rios and Lana Al Khateeb from the Art and Nature Collective. This installation will be available to see and more importantly listened to this summer with its launch at the POD gallery in June for Pride month, before touring three community gardens over the course of three months, and ending with an afternoon of allyship later this year.

We look forward to sharing more about this soon! 

And thank you again to the 6 artists connected with Dundee who designed the stickers to celebrate trans and queer identities. Art as activism and allyship! Big LOVE.

If you are interested in finding out more, please click here.