PROJECT OVERVIEW

The LGBTQIA+ Cultural Barometer is an independent research project aiming to better understand and contextualise the experiences of backlash currently being received against LGBTQIA+ and cultural programming and/or creatives working professionally in the UK’s cultural sector. 

The project will consult with independent LGBTQIA+ cultural practitioners, LGBTQIA+ led cultural organisations, and policy/decision-makers (eg. programmers, producers, curators, directors, board-members) from cultural organisations who programme/develop/curate/present/research LGBTQIA+ creative/cultural events (see project definitions for further). The project will consult with a range of communities, and we will take an intersectional approach to the research in line with our commitment to social justice movements encompassing ethnic background, disability, gender identity, and class background. We want this work to foreground how our rights are intertwined, promoting the value of coalition building across society and the true power of allyship. Whilst we may experience backlash differently and to different degrees, we also recognise that our rights and experiences are intertwined, and seek to promote the value of coalition building across society and the true power of allyship. 

Using a mix of anonymous data collection, interviews, and case studies, The LGBTQIA+ Cultural Barometer will measure and articulate the current atmosphere surrounding LGBTQIA+ cultural programming and creatives in the UK (including, but not limited to, cultural backlash targeting trans-focused cultural activity & creatives, and targeting LGBTQIA+ cultural activity aimed at families and/or young audiences). 

The LGBTQIA+ Cultural Barometer aims to understand the pressures and impact of this across a range of factors, and bring the wider cultural sector together to consider ways to respond to and counter the findings. 

WHO IS DELIVERING THIS?

The LGBTQIA+ Cultural Barometer has been created by a coalition of LGBTQIA+ cultural organisations coming together led by Curious Arts (Hartlepool) in partnership with Marlborough Productions (Brighton) and Fatt Projects (Birmingham) with funding from Arts Council, England. The project is being delivered on behalf of curious arts by project manager Adam Carver (Fatt Projects) working in collaboration with researcher Chloe Turner.

WHY ARE WE DOING THIS?

This project is built to understand and make recommendations based on the specific cultural moment in which we find ourselves. The need and reasoning for this project is based upon the following:

  • The lived experiences of Curious Arts, Marlborough Productions, and Fatt Projects in directly receiving backlash targeted towards their LGBTQIA+ inclusive family programming, towards drag performance in a range of contexts, and towards trans artists and cultural practitioners. 

  • The reported experiences of backlash from queer-identifying artists, colleagues, and partner organisations in our professional networks. 

  • The experiences of and demand for Curious Arts, Marlborough Productions, and Fatt Projects work delivering awareness training, crisis management and consultancy to cultural organisations across the UK, on LGBTQIA+ awareness, artist development, and strategies to mitigate and manage backlash. 

  • The challenging realities of the current cultural ecology in the UK, including reduced availability of funding, the closure of cultural spaces and organisations, difficulty retaining artists in the sector, and funders and cultural organisations becoming increasing ‘risk’ averse. 

  • Rising community tensions, including increasing levels of queerphobia and hate crime.

  • Growing anti-trans sentiment, and the ongoing practical and legal implications of the EHRC’s proposed guidance on single sex spaces (which at the time of writing has not been ratified or brought into law). 

WHAT ARE OUR AIMS?

The aims of the LGBTQIA+ Cultural Barometer are to:

  • Gain a detailed understanding of current experiences of backlash happening against LGBTQIA+ programming and/or creatives in the UK’s cultural sector.

  • Provide a more robust evidence base of the impact and scale of this backlash, demonstrating the need for further support to funders, organisations, and stakeholders. 

  • Measure the ways backlash is being experienced across the sector, identifying key target areas and pressure points (eg. LGBTQ+ family programming, trans-focused programming etc.), and understand any potential disparities in levels and impact of backlash across the LGBTQIA+ community. 

  • To build a national picture of the current climate for making and presenting queer cultural activity
    programming, and look for sector-wide patterns beyond the reported experience of individuals.

  • To raise awareness with funders and cultural organisations of the extent and impact of backlash currently being experienced across the sector, evidencing the need for support. 

  • Develop greater cultural competence across the wider sector to provide better support to LGBTQIA+ creatives & communities. 

  • Empower queer artists and queer-led organisations to understand, prepare, and advocate for their needs, and embolden funders, organisations, and stakeholders to support these. 

  • Prompt critical reflection amongst queer cultural practitioners and organisations about our practices, programmes, safety, and the ways we might want to respond and/or adapt. 

  • To provide a foundation of data/evidence on which others can build responses and make decisions from. 

  • To make initial recommendations from the evidence collected, and consider how we can support organisations and funders to take risks, continue, and enhance their support for LGBTQIA+ cultural projects. 

ACCESSIBILITY

We are committed to ensuring that participation in this research is as accessible as possible. Below is a list of some of the steps we have taken to ensure greater accessibility for participants.

  • Our chosen survey platform Typeform allows participants to submit their answers as voice notes or typed responses. 

  • If  completing an online survey is a barrier to participation we are able to offer a session with a project worker who can schedule a zoom meeting with you, ask you the questions and input responses on your behalf (please note we are only able to offer a limited number of these sessions).

  • We have allocated a flexible access budget to support participants’ access needs responsively; this includes providing emotional wellbeing support where needed either through the Artist Wellbeing Company or via your existing service providers. 

  • Our in person event launching the publication in March 2026 will be BSL interpreted.

If you need specific support in order to participate in the project (eg. a BSL interpreter, support to help complete the survey etc.) Please email research@curiousarts.org.uk to discuss how we can meet your needs. 

STRUCTURE OF CARE

This project deals with emotionally sensitive issues, it asks participants to explain their experiences of backlash. Having experienced this first hand, we understand that experiencing backlash can be particularly difficult, and emotionally distressing particularly when it is relating to work which already often asks us to draw on our own lived experiences. Similarly, the impact of experiencing backlash is likely to be amplified if you have been a target of homophobia, transphobia, racism, ableism, classism, discrimination, hate-crime, and/or backlash in the past.

We recognise that in asking participants to review and share their experiences they will be undertaking emotional labour, and that this labour has value. 

This project is being supported by the Artist Wellbeing Company, who have supported the development of the project’s care structure. In recognising that this project make prompt emotional responses from participants we have taken the following steps to support participant wellbeing: 

  • We have produced a resource of UK-based support services which will be provided to everyone who participates in the research surveys, and we encourage anyone who needs it to use it to seek support. 

  • We have budgeted to reimburse participants invited to take part in a research interview or case study for their time, receiving a one-off payment of £75.00pp for participation in a research interview or £150pp for Participation in case study. We are unable to offer any payment for taking part in the surveys. 

  • All participants taking part in research interviews or case studies will also be entitled to one free online support session with a practitioner from the Artist Wellbeing Company if desired. 

  • Project staff will have access to support sessions with practitioners from the Artist Wellbeing Company throughout. 

  • An additional flexible access budget is available to support any participant who is impacted as a result of participation in the research. please email research@curiousarts.org.uk to discuss your needs.

ELIGIBILITY

Anyone choosing to participate in the research must be 18 or over at the time of completing the work, we cannot accept responses from anyone under the age of 18.

You should be an individual, organisation, or venue based in the UK and working within the cultural sector in some way (as set out in the project definitions). The backlash you or your organisation has experienced should be connected to an event, project, or cultural activity that happened, or was planned to happen, in the UK between 01/01/2020 and the date of completion.

If you are unsure about your eligibility to participate in the research please contact research@curiousarts.org.uk to discuss this further.