RAZED AND CONFUZED Goes Digital

Raze Collective are bringing together four of the most exciting early career artists across cabaret and theatre in an eclectic online celebration of queer performance. Transporting the thrill of the club to our screens, the line-up includes new material from drag artist, composer and queen of anti-glamour and debauchery, Barbs, who has previously worked with the likes of Sink The Pink. Barbs will be joined by Drag King, Mr Wesley Dykes: a proud member of the esteemed The Cocoa Butter Club who uses spoken word, poetry and rap to play with identity, gender, sex and attraction.

The evening also includes a performance from self-taught circus and performance artist Symoné who is renowned for fusing multiple skills together, including roller-skating and multiple hoops. Symoné is a Fierce Festival associate and her work currently explores themes of human consciousness, body architecture, rave culture and rebellion. Completing the line-up is performance artist Brian who mixes lip sync, spoken word and movement to create work inspired by conversations, music and female empowerment in a blend of butch and camp.

The charity, Raze Collective, has commissioned these four early career artists working in theatre, cabaret and live performance to support those who rely on venues and live audiences.

The event will be streamed on Something To Aim For's new digital platform, Us In The Making, a site for experimentation and co-creation, which aims to support artists who have been de-platformed through the Coronavirus lockdown. A collaborative project mobilised to help organisations sustain their communities whilst building new connections and profiling critical voices online.

Raze Collective producer Cassie Leon said, "The charity is called Raze as the organisation was established in response to queer spaces being razed, through the threats and closures of many queer performance spaces in London and elsewhere around the UK, such as Camden's much-loved The Black Cap. Raze Collective are going digital and are teaming up with Something To Aim For. We have commissioned four brilliant artists to GO DIGITAL, create magic online and keep you entertained from the comfort of your own space. We are trying something new, experimenting with digital space and inviting you to join us for an evening of captivating cabaret, colossal confessions and cult curiosity."

Raze Collective is a charity established to support, develop and nurture queer performance in the UK. They have defined queer performance as "performing arts undertaken by people who identify as Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Intersex (LGBTQI+) or that contains LGBTQI themes, content or context." The collective brings together people working in different aspects of the queer performance community, including performers, producers, promoters, directors, venue owners, academics and audience members in order to protect and promote queer performance for everyone.

Razed and Confuzed is a series to give LGBTQAI+ early career artists the opportunity to develop performance in the early stages of creation. They offer performance opportunities, rehearsal space, production support, producing and directorial support and a cash fund to make sure they are able to support queer artists. This is in response to performers' feedback that there is limited opportunity for scratch performances of newly developed work outside of low-tech bars and clubs.

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