Happy Birthday Normski on 8 June. You are catching up with me!

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The Derek Jarman exhibition PROTEST! at Manchester Art Gallery has been temporarily postponed.

The exhibition is a major retrospective of the work of Derek Jarman (1942-1994), one of the most influential figures in 20th century British culture. The exhibition brings together the diverse strands of his practice as a painter, film maker, writer, set-designer, gardener and political activist, shown together for the first time in over 20 years.

PROTEST! captures Jarman’s engagement with art and society, including political protest and personal freedoms arising from the AIDS crisis.

However, the Gallery has now published the Derek Jarman archives (including film and audio content) with a commentary. See here

The comments are from LGBT Foundation following a discussion between staff and community members from the Pride in Ageing programme.

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Pride in Ageing had its first anniversary last week

Launched by Sir Ian McKellen in June 2019, Pride in Ageing has already made huge strides in helping to ensure that Greater Manchester becomes one of the best places for LGBT people to grow older.

This programme was set up in response to concerns that too many lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people over the age of 50 are living in isolation and facing discrimination as a direct result of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Laws change but attitudes can be harder to shift.

The initiative is ensuring that the voices of LGBT people over the age of 50 are heard when it comes to ageing policy and activity in Greater Manchester, with an advisory group of LGBT community members at the heart of the project. The views of LGBT people in mid and later life are now also directly informing the services and support delivered by the LGBT Foundation.

Pride in Ageing is also set to launch a new quality assurance standard and social prescribing service, which will help adult social care services and housing providers to better support their LGBT residents and service users.

Here are photos from the launch a year ago: