The Queer Edge community consists of a diverse group of locals, each with their own unique stories and identities. Queer Edge’s mission is to provide a safe space and opportunities for everyone in the area while also creating an environment where every voice is celebrated.
Founded by Emma-Jane Nutbrown (EJ to her friends), this unique project is about to celebrate its first Birthday with a massive party. We caught up with EJ to find out more.
Congratulations on celebrating your first full year of Queer Edge; tell us, what inspired you to create the QE collective?
EJ Nutbrown: Queer Edge’s ethos is to bring everyone together, irrespective of your age, gender or sexuality. The inspiration was an accumulation of things, driven mainly by segregation in the gay scene. This makes sense when you look at our history; every fabulous’ group’ within the LGBTQ+ communities had to fight so hard for their basic rights. This means today, I go to raves still designed predominantly for gay men, or a lesbian event (usually in a basement), or a separate party for polyamorous people. I call BS on that!
We live in a progressive era where we can bring everyone together as one united community now. On top of this, age was also a factor – I have felt “old” when going to other gay venues, and I’m not [that bad], so Queer Edge was born in July 2023; a queer community-interest collective that brings everyone together
Please talk us through the ethos of QE and its services.
As above, our ethos is to provide queer spaces irrespective of your age, gender or sexuality, whilst supporting everyone within these spaces in every way possible. Our vision is to bring our local queer community together, uniting us all. And the services we provide have mounted to a fair bit for less than a year:
Queer Edge Events featuring QE Monthlies, QE Lates and QE Live.
Each month, hundreds travel from in and around London, with hundreds more travelling the length and breadth of the country to attend the monthlies – everyone says the gay scene hasn’t seen anything like this in the 21st century.
The Queer Pages: A directory to promote queer-run business and freelancers to their local queer community. This online business directory for queer-run businesses and freelancers makes it super easy for the queer community to find and support each other.
QE Coworking: An all-inclusive creative, and affordable coworking hub in East London where the queer community can come together day and night.
Queer Give; partnering with local, regional, and national LGBTQ+ charities that are very close to their hearts, including Give Out and Galop.
Queer Talk and Queer Date will launch later this year.
What are your biggest hopes and plans for QE? What’s in the pipeline?
We’re here to continue listening to the wants of the community, and we’ll do our best to deliver on them! I hope QE Give really makes a difference to some of our resident’s lives, and I hope that the Queer Pages serves you to keep you safe whilst supporting queer & local. There’ll be new initiatives launching soon, too, such as QE TALK and QE DATE (watch this space), but beyond the present, the future depends on what our community wants next.
How do you keep the party going, and how do you want people to feel at one of QEs music events?
A. Phenomenal music! DJ Bekefi, with her huge smile, along with amazing artists such as Michelle Manetti, Bryony Masters, Reece Spooner, Chester Hayes, Nick Clev, and Fancy Shews, set the perfect vibe on the dancefloor. Meanwhile, we have hosts going around, connecting people and integrating the community, ultimately bringing everyone in the room together, which is why there’s such a charm to these spaces and our nights. The beautiful thing about human kindness is that it’s contagious, so the atmosphere that’s created together is quite special but needs to be experienced to be understood.
Who else do you think is offering a phenomenal LGBTQ+ night scene in London?
Go check out all the artists I’ve mentioned above for the best music and queer vibe! I’m a fan of Adonis, Unfold, Femme Fraiche, Body Movements, Dalston Superstore, and of course, Queer Edge. We are blessed in the East!
Have you done all this alone/who’s your team/support?
Hell no, it’s a collective. It started when my friend Bekefi had a gig at Two More Years, where my office is, which synced perfectly with the idea of QE, so the parties launched there, and there are SO many people to credit and thank for its growth since. Bee Armstrong, for example, recently became our Charity Coordinator, working with our charity partners Galop & Give Out while also working on initiatives such as QE Give and QE Talk. There’s Chloe Mercer, whocame up to me at a QE party offering her help- she’s since built our entire website! Esme Lonsdale is a local queer graphic designer and a very good friend of mine who’s designed all of our posters (thank you, Es!). And that’s just naming a few. The collective effort is by the community for the community.
Queer Edge will be celebrating their 1st Birthday with a massive party on Friday 5 Jul 2024, 8 pm – 3 am, at No 90, 90 Wallis Road, London E9 5LN, United Kingdom.
https://www.instagram.com/qe_london/
