Yvon Bonenfant Vocal Art (he - him) is inviting LGBTQI+++ persons, members of the Queer community, to participate in the co-making of a Party Show which will take place in the Cork Midsummer Festival 2025!
Community Invitation: Opposite of Queer Trauma - Join Our Participatory Vocal Art Project!
Are you ready to make joyful noise and explore the opposite of trauma with fellow LGBTQI+++ adults in a supportive and fun environment? We are thrilled to invite you to be part of Opposite of Queer Trauma, a participatory vocal art project led by Yvon Bonenfant, a queerness + voice specialist.
This project is about creating a safe space where professionals, non-professionals, and everyone in between can come together to form a super-fun choir. No experience is necessary, just a willingness to explore your voice and have fun! There will be sound, and a little movement, too.
What to Expect:
Yvon and his team of professional performers will lead us through improvisation exercises that include voice and movement, helping us develop our own unique choral songs with some movements, which will eventually be set to dance beats. As the project progresses, we’ll collaborate with an electronic musician to add beats to our creations. Who knows, we might even take some of our work outdoors if the group feels comfortable. Ultimately, we’ll create a special performance for Cork Midsummer Festival 2025, and we want you to be a part of it!
We’re calling this experience "Opposite of Queer Trauma" because we aim to counteract difficult experiences with moments of joy, energy, and pleasure. Through sound and gentle movement, we’ll discover what the opposite of trauma feels like when voiced together. The result? A not-trauma party performance.
Two Parts
In part 1 of the process, we’ll rehearse and develop our own sounds and some movement, and make our own party music. That part will last seven rehearsals.
In part 2, if you wish to continue, we’ll make that music into a party show, and some movements. We’ll do some open showings, and make video, photo and sound recordings. And, you will be supported, if you wish, to write your own instructions to other LGBTQI+ people on how to find their own opposites of trauma, based on your experiences!
What’s Required:
All you need to do is send your interest to our producer, Yvonne Coughlan, at rsvpireland@gmail.com. Yvonne will then get back to you with further information.
Try it out: Come to a rehearsal and see if it’s a good fit for you.
Commitment: If you try rehearsals and like them, and if you feel you wish to consent to the process, we have 21 sessions planned leading up to June 2025. Including 4 performance dates (TBC 28 April to 2 June) at The Granary Theatre UCC. These are divided into part 1, 7 sessions introduction, and part 2, 14 sessions intensively making the show and its materials.
No prior experience: You don’t need to be a good singer or have a “nice” voice, just an open mind!
Rehearsals: Mondays, 6:30–9 pm (with a long break), at UCC’s Theatre Department, Lancaster Quay, on selected dates.
There will be photos, audio and visual documentation of the final performances, and you will be asked to consent to this, for PR purposes in the first instance. We may also wish to take some photos or video snippets for promotional purposes in the lead up to the Midsummer Festival.
Yvon Bonenfant works at University College Cork and also does academic research. He may want to write about this process, in a deeply respectful way. You will be given full project information and asked for consent before this might happen, and consent won’t be asked for until part 2, after week 7.
Here are the autumn rehearsal dates, always Mondays. There may be some flux with dates - to be confirmed!:
November 18, 25 – if you can’t make the 18th, the 25th will be fine!
December 2
Spring’s schedule will be released shortly!
Do you have any enabling or assistance needs to participate?
We also have a budget to assist those with particular needs. If you’re neurodiverse, disAbled, living in direct provision, or have difficulty with travel, let us know, there may be support available. We also warmly welcome LGBTQI+++ members of the Deaf community, with sign translation and sensory devices provided to amplify the tactile qualities of the vocal experience.
Please note that you must be over 18 (a legal adult), and you must be able to make your own consent decisions to participate in this experience. The project environment is not suitable for adults who are considered vulnerable. While the project explores The Opposite of Trauma, it is a pleasureable, art-making environment; the leadership is caring; but it is not an actively psychotherapeutic environment.
Ready for more info?
Contact RSVPIreland@gmail.com to be put on the list to receive full details of the project and more information.