On Monday 20 May at 6pm, Chapter’s Queer Short Film Prize will celebrate the best LGBTQIA+ film shorts made in Wales. Chapter is a nominating partner of the Iris Prize Best British Short and are looking for an LGBTQIA+ short film from the region. Shortlisted films will be shown at this special Chapter MovieMaker and the winning one will be part of the Iris Prize Best British Programme shown on Channel4 and Film4. Tickets to the screening are free and it’s recommended you book in advance. The programme may contain material only suitable for over 18s. Please see the Chapter website for full film listings.

ART

For their solo exhibition at Chapter, Adham Faramawy has created a new series of installations that bring together recent video works, paintings and sculptures. Exploring the entanglement of land, rivers and migratory flows through personal histories, mythology and flora, their work centres the complex relationships between marginalised bodies and place. Faramawy is an artist of Egyptian descent based in London – in 2023 they were the Frieze Artist Award recipient. The exhibition is free to visit and runs until 23 June. No need to book.

PERFORMANCE

Off-kilter BBC New Act nominee Amy Mason’s hotly anticipated debut stand-up show about coming out in her 30s, raising kids, rinsing homophobes and confronting her wild past hits the stage on Friday 14 June at 8pm.

Amy is a comedian, writer and theatre maker. A Funny Women finalist, she has multiple TV projects in development and has written and performed for Radio 4, The News Quiz and Hypothetical. She’s made three acclaimed autobiographical shows with Bristol Old Vic – and her channel has had 8.5 million views on Tiktok!

QWERIN by Osian Meilir, is a contemporary dance performance that celebrates culture, identity and community, commenting on notions of Queerness and Welshness. Charged with Joy, QWERIN is inspired by the weaving and flowing patterns of traditional Welsh folk-dancing, combined with the pulsating energy of Queer nightlife. Performed with an original soundtrack by some of Wales’ most renowned musicians, Tic Ashfield, Benjie Talbott and Shamoniks, and costumes that give a new edge to Welsh traditional dress. QWERIN truly is a feast for the senses!

Osian Meilir is a performer, dance-maker and movement artist from Wales. whose work explores their fascination with notions of identity, culture and community. QWERIN is a 35-minute, Pay What You Can, family-friendly performance that will take place in the Community Garden on Saturday 15 June at 2pm and 4pm.

Hotelle by Billy Morgan is a performance staged in a hotel bar, that explores the divided feminine. Set to a backdrop of music and sleep, the piece riffs on the figure of the lonely femme, moving between states of abandonment, desire, survival and contradiction. Morgan is an Amsterdam-based artist working across performance and text to explore language, genre and gesture and how they convey meaning and power. The performance will take place on Friday 21 June at 8.30pm.

Raven Spiteri will also be DJing in the café bar that night between 9 and 11pm (free and unticketed). Their sets embody spiritual healing and transformation through dance; a journey through individual expression and celebration on the dance floor.

Billy will also be offering a free workshop on Thursday 28 June, 6.30-8.30pm. Body Double is a performance workshop that deals with the duplicitous subject. Through writing, movement and collective reading, the workshop explores how staging the self as ‘double’ can open new territories for intervention, transformation and contradiction. All experience levels welcome, with particular invitation extended to Queer, Trans and Femme-identifying individuals. Please contact kit.edwards@chapter.org to book.

Between 1988 and 2003, Section 28 legislation banned local authorities and schools from “promoting homosexuality”. Section 28 and Me is a playful, honest and heartfelt portrait, exploring Queer stories on past invisibility and shame and will take place on Sunday 30 June at 7.30pm.

In this new show, theatre maker Tom Marshman gathers intergenerational voices to explore their Section 28 stories; connecting his own deeply personal experiences with history and politics to celebrate the resilient and unique LGBTQIA+ community.

Tom will host a tea party on Saturday 29 June, 2-4pm to discuss the impact of Section 28 on the Queer community, making forgotten histories visible and connecting them to urgent issues of the present moment.

House of Milan and Chapter are hosting their first ever Cardiff Homage to the Icons and Legends Mini Ball Deluxe on Saturday 10 August from 3pm which pays homage to ballroom pioneers, icons and legends. The Mini Ball Deluxe will consist of a Q&A and 13 Open to All (OTA) Categories.

Please see below for all related events!