The exhibition’s curator, Matthew Storey, who currently serves as a curator at Historic Royal Palaces, says that he hopes the displays “reflect the rich diversity of the LGBTQ+ community past and present, as we look to the future of this important new museum”. The inaugural show, Welcome to Queer Britain, displays works and artefacts from the museum’s growing collection, including photographs by Allie Crewe and Robert Taylor as well as portraits by Sadie Lee and Paul Hartfleet, winners of Queer Britain’s first Madame F Award for queer creativity. The organisers hope to move to a more permanent home after the first two years. The free-entry space, which was previously occupied by the House of Illustration, includes four galleries, workshop and education spaces, a shop and offices. It takes over the ground floor of a building in King’s Cross owned by the Art Fund charity, which has granted Queer Britain a two-year lease to deliver a programme of exhibitions. Opening on 5 May is Queer Britain, founded by the eponymous charity, billed as “the UK’s first national LGBTQ+ museum”. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the UK’s inaugural Gay Pride march, two cultural institutions focused on the LGBTQ+ community will launch in London this spring, the first of their kind in Britain.
