Queer at Sea: Open Call
Open call for participants for a series monthly gatherings in the form of creative workshops & socials, exploring our queer connections to the sea and coast, in Portsmouth (Feb - July 2026)
Queer at Sea is a series of monthly creative gatherings in 2026, exploring our queer connections to the sea and coast.
Bringing together a small group of LGBTQIA+ adults who are based in, or have a connection to Portsmouth (and the immediate surrounding area) through shared creative experiences, delving into queer history and ecology, embodied explorations of place, material experimentations & processes, memory & imagination.
Each session will be unique, but linking together, creating a collective experience and shared learning over 6 months. Some sessions will be held fully or partially outdoors.
In-between ‘workshop’ sessions, there will also be a monthly ‘social’, as a chance to check in, relax, craft, watch some queer films, share inspirations, reflections and make connections.
Queer at Sea is free to attend. There are 8 spaces available.
All materials and tools will be provided.
Each participant will be offered a £10 travel stipend to support their attendance of each ‘social’ & ‘workshop’ session.
Snacks and refreshments will be provided for each session. You are also welcome to bring your own lunch/snacks/refreshments. There are basic kitchen facilities at Play Office including cups & plates, kettle, microwave, air fryer. There are also cafes on site at the dockyard and shops just outside by the Hard.
Hannah will plan later sessions (4-5) in response to themes and ideas that emerge from the first few sessions (1-3). More details on these can be found below.
How to apply:
Please fill out this form by midnight on 29th January 2026.
If you require this form or information in a different format, or would like to respond to the questions in an alternative way, please contact: hannah.buckingham98@gmail.com with the subject line ‘Queer at Sea: Open Call’.
Depending on how many people sign up, we may not be able to accept all applications as there are just 8 spaces available. Any decisions will be made by a committee.
You will be notified by Sunday 1st February 2026 if you have secured a place.
Requirements:
you are aged 18+
you identify as queer, or LGBTQIA+, neuroqueer
you are available to attend the majority of sessions
you are based in, or have a connection to Portsmouth (or its immediate surrounding area)
Please be aware : The outdoor activities will involve walking, over rough terrain and navigating a few steps. Please get in touch if you have any further questions about accessibility.
Session dates:
It is preferred that participants attend all sessions, as this will be a closed group and help build a shared experience, but if you are unable to attend all of them, photos and write-ups of the sessions will be shared.
If you can't attend them all, please still apply and select the dates that you can attend in the form.
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Sunday 8th February | 11am-12.30pm - Social 1 (introductions & connections)
Saturday 14th February | 11am - 2.30pm - Workshop 1 (lost & found: storytelling through objects & assemblage)
Saturday 7th March | 11am - 2/2.30pm - Social 2 (queer film screening)
Saturday 14th March | 11am - 4pm - Workshop 2 (queer mark-making: resistance, identity, wish)
Saturday 4th April | 11am - 2/2.30pm - Social 3 (sketchbook making, chat, & chill)
Saturday 11th April | 11am - 3.15pm roughly - Workshop 3 (queer explorations of place & time: Farlington Marshes visit, incl. travel time)
Saturday 2nd May | 11am - 2/2.30pm - Social 4 (TBC)
Saturday 9th May | 11am - TBC - Workshop 4 (TBC)
Saturday 6th June | 11am - 2/2.30pm - Social 5 (TBC)
Saturday 13th June | 11am - TBC - Workshop 5 (TBC)
Saturday 4th July | 11am - 2/2.30pm - Social 6 (TBC)
Saturday 11th July - Final sharing event (TBC - date and location may differ)
Location:
The main location for our sessions will be at Play Office.
Play Office is located in the Old Pay Office, within Portsmouth Historic Quarter. This building is managed by Sustainable Conservation Trust.
Further information:
Leading up to these workshops, Hannah has been researching and exploring through mentorship and collaborations with other artists and research visits, including working with James Aldridge and Ruby Campion, and a trip to Jersey.
If you would like to learn more about this process and the context behind Queer at Sea, you can read about it on their Substack.
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Workshop 1 (lost & found: storytelling through objects & assemblage)
In this session, we will explore queer narratives through forgotten history and intangible heritage, considering what gets ‘archived’, and what is left to be washed away and broken down by the tide, or perhaps even thrown into the sea.
Gathering found objects and materials from The Hard, we will construct assemblages to evoke our own queer stories, narratives and myths through memory, truth, fiction and fabulation. How might these narratives reimagine or conflict with the ‘official history’ of a place, or of our own?
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Workshop 2 (queer mark-making: resistance, identity, wish)
Through an exploration of queer identity and our relationality with the Sea, we will explore how we can use symbols and imagery to mark, replicate, resist, wish & dream.
From Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore’s images of the sea as an ‘antifascist ally’ to a Sailor’s wish for a safe return to the shore - what marks or symbols make up our connection to the sea and coast, and how do they help us communicate our identity, a message of resistance or a wish?
We will trace, incise and transfer our own symbolic messages.
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Workshop 3 (queer explorations of place & time: Farlington Marshes)
In this outdoor session, Hannah will guide the group on a short walk at Farlington Marshes, a place of local ecological importance with an uncertain future and varied past.
Through a series of creative interactions and prompts, together we will explore our experience of this place.
The creative interactions will focus on our embodied experience, personal connections and interpretations of queerness in this environment. We will discuss its history and our own.
There will be a mixture of solo and collaborative activities to record our experience and invite conversations, reflections, and the creation of queer connections to our local wild places.
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Informal sharing event (TBC)
To celebrate our connections and shared learning from this project, it will culminate in an informal sharing event. This will include sharing things we have made or explored throughout the sessions, in a context we create together.
Hannah will facilitate and help to curate this.
Taking part is not a compulsory, but it would be encouraged (even if you would like your contributions to remain anonymous or you would prefer to take more of a role in supporting others to contribute)
Documentation:
The sessions will be documented in a mixture of ways, this might include photography, filming and audio recording. If you would prefer not to be on camera or audio recorded, just let us know.
Getting here / finding Play Office:
For the first social, we will all meet at the Victory Gate at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, so that Hannah can show you the way to Play Office.
Finding your own way:
Arriving at Victory Gate, you will pass through the gate and security for the historic Dockyard, which includes a bag check (more info here), let them know you are attending a workshop at Play Office. You do not need any kind of pass or ticket for entry.
After this, turn right at the first immediate white building on your right (Porter’s Lodge). Follow the road all the way to the end, with the hedge on your right. On your left you will pass a pistachio green painted building, and grey picnic benches.
Carry on walking past a brick building with a blue door which reads ‘Waffle Studio’ and the ‘Mary Rose’ towards the tall grey fence.
On your right you will see a building painted in a deep blue - this is the Old Pay Office. Enter through the door (or ring the bell if it is closed) follow the corridor of cacti towards the end and enter through the blue double doors on your left - you have arrived!
