Bridging the gap: Queer Ink Safe Spaces Initiative

Queer Ink launched in 2010 to make accessible information and resources about sexualities and gender diversities of India via e-commerce and publishing.

In her latest venture, Shobhna S. Kumar, Founder of Queer Ink, is creating physical, ideological and social spaces within the mainstream for the LGBT community to express itself creatively via performance, facilitating learning and entrepreneurship. Speaking about the initiative, Shobhna S. Kumar said, “The aim of Queer Ink is to connect with the mainstream and sexuality and gender diverse communities of India to engage in conversations and interactions that will help understand each other. The larger society needs to know that people with sexuality and gender diversities are also part of the mainstream.”

At Q Fest, phenomenal theatre personalities Neha Bhat and Vikrant Dhote will deliver perform ’91.27% Gayboy’ and ‘Paradoxia’.

Faraz Arif Ansari, a multitalented film and theatre personality, will facilitate a 4 hour workshop on scriptwriting and direction. Renowned capoeira instructor Reza Baba Massah, a.k.a. Instructor Baba, is going to deliver a 15 minute demo of the Brazilian art form before training participants in the basic skills of capoeira. ‘Stories They Don’t Tell Us’ is set to feature the celebrated mythologist, author and leadership consultant Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik who will talk about his book ‘Shikhandi’, and India’s unspoken queer mythology.

Queer Ink Safe Spaces Initiative has collaborated with The Hive in Bandra, which functions as a co-working space for arts and technology, for its initiatives including this weekend’s Q Fest. Packed with events to be held between 11AM and 10PM on Sunday, October 12, Q Fest will mark the turning of a new page in India’s LGBT history.