Celebrating is remembering: OUTing the Past as a study in the reflective and transformative potential of small events

Abstract

Since its emergence in the latter half of the twentieth century, public history has engendered ongoing transformations in the creation and dissemination of knowledge. Its aims, as well as efforts undertaken as part of its praxis, are reminders that collaborative engagements with individuals and communities can simultaneously serve to commemorate, educate and empower. Recent scholarship that examines pop-up events underscores both their significance to public history and the innovative potential they represent in celebrating LGBT+ lives and experiences. In particular, the extent to which they encourage considerations of space that are more attentive to localities and pluralities is indicative of the disruptive significance of small-scale events. Among other possibilities that lend themselves to expanding the reach of public history, particularly by adopting new modes of interpretation that place a premium on active engagement, creative arts programming provides a pathway to stimulating interest in exploring and understanding the past. The work of OUTing the Past, a UK-based organisation, effectively reflects aspirations associated with public history, with the logistical benefits of pop-up events and the contributions of creative productions finding purchase in its programming. Documenting the commitments it makes to re/centring history and the frameworks it has strategically developed in realising these provides the impetus for this critical study of a multifaceted approach to promoting small-scale LGBT+ celebrations.