SHOUT Launches Their 11th Festival Programme

This Thursday (5th) SHOUT will be launching their 11th festival programme, which this year has evolved and is taking place entirely online. Aptly named 'SHOUT: At Home', the festival features over free 30 events and a film programme that speaks to issues relevant to the LGBTQIA+ community right now including exclusive, never-before-seen performance by Tom Aspaul.

Funded by Arts Council England, Heritage Lottery fund and BFI FAN Film Hub Midlands and sponsored by Southside District, Browne Jacobson, and Galliard Homes, SHOUT aims to produce an inclusive and accessible festival, prioritising the health and safety of the LGBTQIA+ community.

SHOUT is thrilled to be working with Town Hall and Symphony Hall to broadcast an exclusive never-before-seen performance by Wolverhampton musician, Tom Aspaul. Filmed from the beautiful Symphony Hall, Tom will perform his debut album 'Black Country Disco', which was released in September of this year to critical acclaim - amassing over 1.5 million streams already.

Other highlights include the award-winning Queer House Party, Birmingham's premier vogue house 'HOUSE OF BAB', a takeover by Midlands-based queer experimental music collective QUE.E.F, and a performance by the incredible family inclusive Fantabulousa.

This year SHOUT is working collaboratively with CineQ Queer Film Festival, bringing a new fuller film programme to the festival audiences, some of which was due to be screened when CineQ had to cancel due to COVID-19 earlier this year. The film programme boasts 9 feature films and 5 short film programmes, with titles including one of the earliest depictions of a queer person of colour in Portrait of Jason, the Iris Prize shortlisted My God, I'm Queer, and the BFI Flare selected Pride and Protest.

The main programme is entirely free, whilst the film programme costs just £4 for access to all the films. There are also amazing zines created by Holly Revell from her project 'People Like Us' which are available for purchase throughout the festival.

SHOUT Festival Manager Rico Johnson-Sinclair said, 'This year is as much about the artists as it is about the audience. We want to inspire artists and give them the resources to reimagine performance in a digital space, so we've funded nine micro commissions and a new artist in residence from the region. Festivals need to evolve to reflect current times, as well attracting audiences who have previously felt excluded. Inclusive means everyone, and we're working towards that goal.

This festival is very experimental and is our first venture into the unknown. For us and for the artists, this is a really exciting moment.'

The full programme is available on SHOUT Festival's website ( shoutfestival.co.uk/shout-at-home ) and the detailed film programme is available on CineQ's website ( cineqbirmingham.co.uk ).