Sheffield is buzzing with the launch of a new initiative: the Queer Alt-Art Collective. I sat down with Zoo, the driving force behind this project, to understand what it’s all about and how you can get involved in shaping this exciting venture. If you’d like to get involved you can join their discord.
What exactly is “queer alt-art”? #
“There is no clear definition of ‘queer alt-art’, as the term has never been coined beforehand,” Zoo explained. They highlighted that while “queer art” is a recognized, albeit broad, phenomenon often sidelined due to heteronormativity and cisgenderism, “alternative art” refers to creative work outside traditional forms.
Zoo offered a fresh perspective: “Queer community itself is oftentimes already described as ‘alternative’ - we are the minority.” However, they emphasized that the collective aims to break down these very labels. “One of the many ‘alternative’ ideas behind Sheffield’s ‘queer alt-art’ collective is that any form of creative practice qualifies as art,” be it visual arts, performance, design, literature, music, even engineering or comedy. Zoo enthusiastically added, “Some people do say that the synesthesia, the inter-merging and intermingling of various art disciplines lets the art itself to flourish (and I do heavily agree with that statement)!” The core idea is to move beyond rigid definitions of what art is and isn’t.
Why Sheffield? What’s the gap being filled? #
Zoo believes Sheffield, despite its “helpful organisations, quirky businesses and vibrant population,” lacks a cohesive “scene.” They pointed to the city’s rich history – from musical legends to pioneering astronauts and radical political movements – asking, “Where is the natural progress of all of it? Where are new, interesting groups, collectives and scenes?”
The motivation is clear: “Queer people in South Yorkshire lack safe space for expression and involvement, we do lack the ‘scene’ - if we do lack it, then why shouldn’t we build it?” Zoo passionately stated, “As a minority, we do hold a lot of responsibility (actually, all of the responsibility!) for the development of our own culture.” The collective aims to harness the existing “alternative” heritage and the energy of the queer community to create something new and visible. To put it simply, quoting Starship, Zoo declared, “‘We Built This City’ - citing the band Daft Punk, ‘Work it harder, make it better…’”
What are the collective’s goals? #
The core mission, as Zoo envisions it, is “creating vibrant, visible, creative and supportive art scene for queer individuals - to express ourselves, to support each other, to enjoy our company, celebrate our community, enrich the vibrant heritage and ‘alt’ culture of Sheffield and make us visible through our creativity!”
This isn’t a top-down structure. Zoo emphasized, “Collectives are non-hierarchical by nature, therefore we all have to decide, we all have to be pro-active and we all have to build it, shape it, give it some directions and make it work together. We all decide about it’s fate.” The hope is to be a “motor of development for the local queer and art, and ‘alt’ (and queer alt-art) scene,” inspiring, engaging, and leaving a lasting impact.
Who can join? #
The collective is primarily looking for artists in the broadest sense – “LGBT+ people who are 18+, live locally to Sheffield/South Yorkshire area, and are keen to put some work into the broadly-understood art and the collective itself.” While collaborators and audience members are welcome, the initial focus is on building a core group of creators.
What kind of projects are on the horizon? #
As a “literal ’newborn’,” specific projects will be decided collectively by its members. However, Zoo shared some initial ideas: “We are planning to create our manifesto, we are also planning to engage the community with our work through direct art actions on the streets of Sheffield and we are also hoping for our first exhibition as the collective in the time span of the first year of our work.”
How can artists get involved? #
The joining process is refreshingly simple. “Joining us is as simple as joining a Discord server,” Zoo explained, providing the link at the end of the article. There’s no portfolio review or extensive interview, just an agreement to the community rules on the server. The key is a desire to “express, to engage, to create and to be involved.”
What about non-artists? #
While formal volunteering isn’t currently structured due to the collective being member-run and without funding, Zoo welcomes support in other forms. “If anyone would like to get involved in the collective through sharing skills or spreading the word about us - that’s absolutely great, 100%, go for it, we would love to hear back from you! We are also always keen to have you as our audience - it’s a great way to get involved!”
What does membership look like? #
“Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective is a non-hierarchical, non-registered and relatively structureless organisation, that relies on all of the members to equally contribute in the work of the collective,” Zoo stated. There are no fees or sign-up forms beyond joining the Discord. The expectation is active participation: “As a member, you should contribute into the collective’s work, actions, project and of course CREATE - as simple as it gets.”
What support can members expect? #
At this early stage, resources are limited to the collective’s members and their contributions. “We are creating our own support, and our resources are limited to the member’s and supporters contributions. We are able to offer as much support as our self-sufficient collective is able to collectively generate.”
How to stay updated? #
While a full communication network is in development, the primary hub is currently the Discord server. Zoo mentioned plans for a Linktree to consolidate channels and encouraged looking out for “our posters about us and (in the future) our events, our actions and exhibitions in Sheffield and any local media.” Interestingly, the collective is consciously avoiding major American social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, opting instead for community-focused outreach. “You won’t find us on Twitter (called ‘X’ by some), Instagram or Facebook, but you will for sure find us in the local community!” Zoo affirmed.
What does this project mean to Zoo? #
Zoo’s enthusiasm is palpable. “I believe that the whole project is very exciting! What not to love? We’re building, we are expanding, we have fresh heads and exciting ideas!” They are eager to see the creative outcomes, the community’s response, and the collective’s evolution. “We have a great chance to leave a long-lasting queer scene legacy in the ‘alt’ heritage of Sheffield! We have a chance to meet new people, to meet new ideas, make something new, enriching, flamboyant, unique. Isn’t it just all exciting?”
The vision for the future? #
The immediate goals are foundational: “We for sure need to conclude a manifesto and try to give ourselves some direction and shape - we need to establish where we will be going as a collective.” Expect to see “several live art actions in Sheffield’s City Centre” and the collective’s “first exhibition” within the next year or two. Growth, in-person meetings, and potentially art workshops are also on the horizon. Ultimately, Zoo understands that “establishing a well-working collective isn’t a matters of days or weeks, it usually is the matter of years!”
This new Queer Alt-Art Collective holds immense potential to enrich Sheffield’s cultural landscape and provide a vital platform for queer creatives. If you’re a local artist looking for connection and a space to push boundaries, now is the perfect time to get involved and help shape this exciting new chapter.
Full Interview #
This interview happened over Discord, I sent a glut of questions and Zoo was kind enough to spend an age carefully answering them all. There’s a lot of repetition in my questions and in the answers due to this hence why the article above attempts to summarise the learnings from the interview.
What is The Queer Alt-Art Collective About? #
For someone unfamiliar with the term, how would you describe “queer alt-art”? What kind of artistic expressions might fall under this umbrella?
There is no clear definition of “queer alt-art”, as the term has never been coined beforehand. The ‘queer art’ is a well-known phenomena, although it is a very vague umbrella term, and sadly, oftentimes a genre of it’s own, due to the default heteronormativity and cisgender-ism. Alternative art, on the other hand, is a well-described and researched art movement, and describes creative artwork outside of traditional art forms. Queer community itself is oftentimes already described as “alternative” - we are the minority, and therefore “alt” for the general population (which in majority is heteronormative and cisgender), although what we do in terms of creative expression oftentimes isn’t “alt” in the LGBT+ community itself. One of the many “alternative” ideas behind Sheffield’s “queer alt-art” collective is that any form of creative practice qualifies as art, let it be visual arts, performance arts, happenings, design, literature, dance, fashion, trad crafts, music, engineering, comedy, storytelling, cyber-art and so on - it doesn’t have to be visual in the slightest! Some people do say that the synesthesia, the inter-merging and intermingling of various art disciplines lets the art itself to flourish (and I do heavily agree with that statement)! We are trying to get rid of labels that are associated with what is and isn’t art, what is and isn’t “alternative”. Paradoxically, it does makes us, by definition, very “alternative”. We are also queer, hence why the “queer alt-art” 🙂
What sparked the idea for this queer alt-art collective in Sheffield? Was there a particular need or gap you identified that you’re attempting to fill?
Sheffield does lack “the scene”. There is a lot of helpful organisations, quirky businesses and vibrant population, yet somehow it isn’t always so visible. Sheffield is a diverse city with rich history and heritage, that doesn’t seem to flourish to it’s fullness. The home of many popular music discoveries (eg Spice Girls or Arctic Monkeys), important constructivist art, first British astronaut and the first Western European woman astronaut, the history of “Steel City”, the history of anarchist collectives, miner’s strikes and famous/infamous visit of Picasso - that’s a lot of unique heritage, although it already have happened. Where is the natural progress of all of it? Where are new, interesting groups, collectives and scenes? Where’s the current in the present, that everyone seems to live by and nostalgically mention here and there? Where is the vibrancy hidden? It seems to be around (and it is around for sure!), yet nothing conclusive does happen. There’s no ’new’, but there’s plenty of dwelling in the ‘old’. For the ’new’ to happen, there needs to be action taken - and it would be a shame to not base it on the ‘old’, especially such a unique ‘old’ that everyone around seem to love! It’s a strong foundation to build on. There is plenty of queer people living in Sheffield and South Yorkshire that are more than eager to contribute to that rich heritage, by building something ’new’ on the ‘old’ foundations. Queer people in South Yorkshire lack safe space for expression and involvement, we do lack the “scene” - if we do lack it, then why shouldn’t we build it? Queer people are oftentimes associated with various “alternative”, “arts” or “the scene” - we already have it, but we need to make it happen. We need to organise to make it happen!
As a minority, we do hold a lot of responsibility (actually, all of the responsibility!) for the development of our own culture - in the end of the day, there is less of us (less than general public). There’s a huge potential to build a great art collective in Sheffield, based on the very strong foundation of ‘alternative’ heritage, vibrancy of the queer community, accessibility to art and help of great organisations and other collectives! To be absolutely honest, I was genuinely surprised that such a collective doesn’t already exists in Sheffield, as everything that is needed to start is already there - the people, the diversity, the heritage, the vibes, the willingness to make it happen! Let’s create our “scene”, let’s engage with the audience, let’s show our community off, let’s make our creativity explode and cover the whole area with what we want to show! Let’s make part of Sheffield’s rich ‘alt’ heritage, culture and current scene about us (LGBT+), as we are already there - very visible, very connected, very much associated! To breifly sum up, citing the band Starship, “We Built This City” - citing the band Daft Punk, “Work it harder, make it better, Do it faster, makes us stronger More than ever, hour after, hour Work is never over”.
What are the core values and mission of the collective? What do you hope to achieve?
As a Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective, our core mission (as I imagine) would be creating vibrant, visible, creative and supportive art scene for queer individuals - to express ourselves, to support each other, to enjoy our company, celebrate our community, enrich the vibrant heritage and ‘alt’ culture of Sheffield and make us visible through our creativity! We are a community. We are a queer community, and we are also a part of the local community. We need space to exist, we are all collectively creating our space to exist in. We develop local ‘alt’ heritage, we enrich local art scene, we exist in the art scene, we exist in the community, we innovate, we express, we engage, we provoke thought, we promote our community, we promote creativity, we promote ourselves, we work together to achieve as the collective, we promote our queer culture, we develop queer culture as a collective and as individuals. It is up to all of us, what the mission of the collective will be - in the end of a day, it is a collective. Collectives are non-hierarchical by nature, therefore we all have to decide, we all have to be pro-active and we all have to build it, shape it, give it some directions and make it work together. We all decide about it’s fate. I believe that we will be able to achieve whatever goals we will set for ourselves and the collective, we will be able to make a true impact on our community, and that we will be the motor of development for the local queer and art, and ‘alt’ (and queer alt-art) scene. I hope that we will inspire, I hope that we will engage, I hope that we will last, we will grow and we will achieve whatever goals we will set. I hope that we will innovate, and I hope that we will be a part of something great - something that we have created, something that we developed and something that will wake up the local creative community spirit once again.
Who is the collective for? Are you looking for artists, collaborators, audience members, or a mix?
We are mainly searching for artists, in the broad meaning of the said word. As it is the very beginning of Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective, collaborators might not find what they are searching for just yet. Audience is of course always on the agenda, unless the direction of the collective would’ve change. If it comes to joining our collective, we are searching for LGBT+ people who are 18+, live locally to Sheffield/South Yorkshire area, and are keen to put some work into the broadly-understood art and the collective itself.
Can you share some examples of the kind of projects or events the collective might undertake?
Our collective is a literal ’newborn’ at the current stage of matter. It would be hard to decide it’s fate just yet, as we are not properly established yet. We are an idea that needs some work putting into it to make things work out. The course of action of the collective should actually be decided by the members of the collective, well… collectively. As of now, I can for sure confirm that we are planning to create our manifesto, we are also planning to engage the community with our work through direct art actions on the streets of Sheffield and we are also hoping for our first exhibition as the collective in the time span of the first year of our work. Of course, as a collective, it is due to all of it’s members to decide it’s course of action. I personally have some high hopes for great themes, projects and general actions of the collective 🙂
How Can People Get Involved? #
For artists interested in joining, what’s the process? What kind of work are you looking for?
Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective doesn’t have elaborate joining process. As of now, we are operating through a Discord server, as that seems to be the most convenient for all the members and the collective itself. Joining us is as simple as joining a Discord server. We don’t want to enforce a strict recruitment process, there is no need to showcase us with a full-on portfolio or undergo any extensive interviews. We have rules that have to be accepted upon joining, although those are more of the social rules of peaceful co-existence rather than any traditional ’terms and conditions’ or any form of contract. As I have mentioned beforehand, we are looking for local queer artists (in the broad meaning of the word ‘art’) who have the need to express, to engage, to create and to be involved in the collective.
Are there opportunities for non-artists to get involved? Perhaps through volunteering, supporting events, or offering skills?
Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective is a very loose, non-registered and non-hierarchical organisation runned entirely by it’s members, without any finances involved, any income for the organisation nor the individuals involved. At the current moment, we cannot offer any form of volunteering other than through direct involvement as a member of the collective. If anyone would like to get involved in the collective through sharing skills or spreading the word about us - that’s absolutely great, 100%, go for it, we would love to hear back from you! We are also always keen to have you as our audience - it’s a great way to get involved!
What does membership to the collective look like and what structure does the collective follow?
Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective is a non-hierarchical, non-registered and relatively structureless organisation, that relies on all of the members to equally contribute in the work of the collective, to make it happen. We will never ask our members for any finances or personal information, there is no official sign-up process other than joining our Discord server. We all collectively decide about the shape, the direction and the actions of our collective. We run it together. As a member, you should contribute into the collective’s work, actions, project and of course CREATE - as simple as it gets 🙂 We have to create the space, the “scene”, we have to make the queer community visible, we want to engage the local audience, we want to inspire, we want to provoke - this is what our work orbits around.
What kind of resources or support do you hope to be able to offer to members of the collective?
Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective does not have any resources, aside from it’s members and contributors. We do not have any sort of finances nor courses, we do not run any centers nor galleries, we do not provide with work opportunities, volunteering or internships. The collective’s work is based solely on the work of it’s members, hence why equal contribution and pro-active approach are so important. We are creating our own support, and our resources are limited to the member’s and supporters contributions. We are able to offer as much support as our self-sufficient collective is able to collectively generate.
How can people stay updated on the collective’s activities and upcoming opportunities? (Website, social media, mailing list, etc.)
As I have mentioned beforehand, Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective is still a ’newborn’. We didn’t developed all of the communication network yet, although it is a work in progress. As of now, we do operate a Discord server, we will also gather all of our communication channels on linktree. We also heavily encourage people to look out for our posters about us and (in the future) our events, our actions and exhibitions in Sheffield and any local media - let it be online or more traditionally. We are aiming to refrain from using American social media websites, especially the ones belonging to Zuckerberg’s Meta or Elon Musk, due to the crash of values - you won’t find us on Twitter (called “X” by some), Instagram or Facebook, but you will for sure find us in the local community! 🙂
What Does This Project Mean To You? #
What excites you most about this project? What are you personally looking forward to?
I believe that the whole project is very exciting! What not to love? We’re building, we are expanding, we have fresh heads and exciting ideas! I do heavily wonder what kind of new ideas we might come up with, what we will present, what kind of art will we develop - maybe something absolutely new? How much synesthesia will occur? How the community is going to respond? How we will shape the collective and where it will head to? How the queer scene in Sheffield will benefit, how much it will grow? What will come out of it? Who will come out of it, or into it? We have a great chance to leave a long-lasting queer scene legacy in the ‘alt’ heritage of Sheffield! We have a chance to meet new people, to meet new ideas, make something new, enriching, flamboyant, unique. Isn’t it just all exciting?
What’s your ultimate vision for the collective in the next year or two?
The goals are quite simple really, as Sheffield’s Queer Alt-Art Collective is a literal ’newborn’. It needs to grow and develop. We for sure need to conclude a manifesto and try to give ourselves some direction and shape - we need to establish where we will be going as a collective. Several live art actions in Sheffield’s City Centre should be expected, and our collective’s first exhibition! We are also expecting to grow, organise quite a few in-person meetings aside from the live actions and our first vernissage - potentially some art workshops as well. A lot will depend on the members, and whichever art disciplines we will be able to gather and execute. Establishing a well-working collective isn’t a matters of days or weeks, it usually is the matter of years!