A collage celebrating Liverpool's LGBTQ+ Archives. © Queer Places, 2025 Source images: Museum of Liverpool, Liverpool Central Library & Archives, Homotopia, John Harrison, News from Nowhere & Sonic Yootha.
Why?
Recording the spaces that LGBTQ+ people may not have built, but have inhabited — spaces where we’ve gathered, claimed territory, remained visible or invisible, read, cooked, loved, danced, performed, and belonged — helps us build a more complete history of our community for tomorrow.
Queer Places was born from a deep need to uncover what’s been hidden, forgotten, or erased. So much of LGBTQIA+ history lives in memories, not museums — in stories passed between friends, in vanished venues, in personal archives tucked away in private homes. Traditional records rarely capture the richness, resilience and joy of queer life, especially in the spaces we’ve claimed, created and sadly lost.
We do this work to challenge that erasure. To honour the lived experiences of our communities. To make space for queer voices in conversations about heritage, cities, design and public memory. These conversations shape our mission of building a more inclusive future — one where queer people don’t just survive in the margins but thrive in spaces that are designing to protect, celebrate and support our community.
This is important because space shapes how we live, connect, and exist. By archiving queer pasts and imagining new possibilities, we’re working to ensure that LGBTQIA+ people are never left out of the story again.
How?
We bring queer histories to life through creative methods that centre memory, community and space. Our work blends research, storytelling, creativity and community engagement to preserve and share LGBTQIA+ experiences that are often overlooked or erased.
We listen to lived experiences, unearth forgotten venues and collaborate with queer communities to document the spaces where life happened — from bars and bedrooms to dance floors and community centres. These memories are transformed into digital models, physical installations, sculptures and creative interventions that reconnect the past with the present.
We collaborate with artists, creatives and organisations who share our approach of inspiring new ways of engaging with queer archives. Through workshops, talks, exhibitions and hands-on making, we turn archiving into a regenerative, active, evolving and accessible process — one shaped by the people whose stories it holds.
Want to collaborate with us?
We’re always looking to connect with individuals, organisations, artists and communities who share our passion for queer history, culture and space. Whether you're working on a heritage project, developing inclusive design strategies, researching LGBTQIA+ histories, or looking to creatively engage your community — we’d love to work with you.
At Queer Places, we can support you with:
Exploring the past: Access to our growing creative archive and research into the evolution of LGBTQIA+ spaces.
Engaging the present: Co-creating workshops, events, installations and creative outputs that centre queer voices and lived experience.
Shaping the future: Collaborating on projects that imagine inclusive, joyful and resilient queer spaces through placemaking, architecture, urban design, storytelling and creative practice.
We bring together impactful research, creative methods and community engagement to reimagine how LGBTQIA+ stories are told and shared. Let’s work together to make space for queer memory — and build the foundations for our future.
Thank you to our partners and sponsors:
