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COC’s Shakespeare Club is a co-production between COC Amsterdam e.o. and Amsterdam Museum and is characterized as a relaxed, inclusive hang-out in the city museum for and by the (Amsterdam) LGBTQI + communities Now that so many events are canceled this year, we’ve looked for an alternative form to allow this festival to continue. A solution is found in making the festival primarily online with offline mini-events at Amsterdam Museum where possible. Therefore COC’s Shakespeare Club is still the place to be (yourself) this year during the intended Pride Week. The festival takes place from July 27th to August 2nd with the theme Take Care.
Traditionally, we focus on the marginalized groups within the LGBTQI+ community. With an online variant, it is therefore also possible to elaborate some program components at (inter-) national level. Because the focus is primarily online, there are no large meetings in the museum, but the content of programming is pre-filmed or goes live via social media (for example, virtual tours, there are streamed webinars, soirées, talks and living room concerts). In addition, there are also offline activities, such as small hang-outs in the courtyard of the Amsterdam Museum, a growing exhibition on location and performance art for an audience of one or two people.
THEME TAKE CARE
This year’s theme, Take Care, will not be unknown to some within the community. At the beginning of this century, many campaigns took place under this heading to create awareness about the HIV virus and its consequences. The Coronacrisis has many similarities with the AIDS epidemic. It is a disruption of life the way it was, there is loneliness, sadness, fear of the other and of ourselves and the danger of stigmatizing. For most of us not unusual in it’s entirety, even without the current coronacrisis. But there are also so many similarities, such as the solidarity in the way we are here for each other and in the wave of creativity that stems from the strange situation we are in now. This year is about self-care, resilience and community spirit: themes that are extremely current today and also have a link to the silent epidemic of the past.
