Please join us for a zoom workshop facilitated by Natalie Denny and Xana that will explore how people have, on a local community and national level, amplified their voices in protest. This workshop is open to queer, trans, non-binary and femme black and people of colour and responds to Black Obsidian Sound System’s current exhibition at FACT, for Liverpool Biennial.

During the first part of the workshop, Natalie will discuss her own activist work and Liverpool’s history of activism, before opening up the conversation for attendees to talk about their experiences and build networks together. In the second part of the workshop, Xana will lead a megaphone making workshop as we continue our conversation, and explore protest music theory.

The workshop will not be recorded but we will be collecting a list of websites, organisations and books referenced in this workshop to share as a resource on FACT’s website after the event for anyone who would like to continue their research.

There are limited spaces available for this workshop, and there will be a waiting list for places. If you sign up and then find you are unable to attend, please cancel your booking and your space will be reallocated to someone on the waiting list.

The materials needed for the making element of the workshop will be household items such as card, glue, felt tip pens and scissors. If you don’t currently have access to these materials, we will arrange this for you. Details will be sent out closer to the event. There will be a live captioning available during the workshop, please let us know if you have any questions about our access arrangements.

Natalie Denny is the force behind Skywriters, an initiative that supports people to develop and grow through creative education. Her roles include writer, activist and Programme Manager for Anthony Walker Foundation.

Natalie is chair of The Period Project Merseyside, a voluntary led initiative providing women and people who have periods with menstrual items and campaigning to #endperiodpoverty and co-founder of The Goddess Projects, an organisation with the mission to empower, inspire and assist Black women and women of colour to develop and achieve in their communities.

Follow Natalie on Instagram and Twitter

Follow The Goddess Projects on Twitter and Instagram

Xana is a freestyle live loop musician, sound artist, vibrational sound designer, archival audio producer, audio researcher and theatre maker. Xana composes scores for spaces/film through Xanas genres orchestral noise and thicc bass.

Xana blends Caribbean magical realism in their improvisational performance taking apart words to make protest music to invent new streams of sonic layering. Xana runs sound researcher label for audio hardware and software inventors called soulcase.live

Black Obsidian Sound System is an artist collective, established in the summer of 2018 with the intention of bringing together a community of queer, trans and non-binary black and people of colour involved in art, sound and radical activism. Following in the legacies of sound system culture they wanted to learn, build and sustain a resource for our collective struggles.

Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest festival of contemporary visual art. Taking over historic buildings, unexpected spaces and art galleries, the Biennial has been transforming the city through art for over two decades. A dynamic programme of free exhibitions, performances, screenings and fringe events unfolds over the 15 weeks, shining a light on the city’s vibrant cultural scene. The 11th edition of the Liverpool Biennial, The Stomach and the Port, is curated by Manuela Moscoso and runs at FACT until 29 August 2021.