Queering the Wye

Connecting Rural LGBTQIA+ People Through Creativity & Advocacy

Queering the Wye is a dynamic project championing inclusivity, environmental awareness, and creative activism across rural communities in Wales and the West of England. Through creative workshops, visibility campaigns, heritage projects and environmental advocacy this initiative nurtures mental well-being, reduces isolation, and encourages self-expression. By bridging heritage, activism, and ecology, Queering the Wye redefines belonging in rural landscapes, ensuring that LGBTQIA+ voices are heard, celebrated, and empowered.
If you have an idea for a project, or would like to work with us, get in touch!

Key Projects

• Monmouth Pride – Establishing a lasting Pride presence in Monmouth, celebrating identity, joy, and advocacy in partnership with local councils, businesses, and community members.
• Queer Nature Cabaret – A vibrant showcase of LGBTQIA+ performers blending art, activism, and environmental themes, fostering connection and expression.
• Queer Heritage Craft Series – Revitalising heritage crafts through a queer lens, amplifying LGBTQIA+ narratives in rural spaces.
• Safer Spaces Ally Scheme – Training businesses and organisations to create inclusive spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals through workshops and co-creation initiatives.
• Queer Rural Connections – Collaborative art and storytelling projects exploring nature through a queer perspective, strengthening creative networks.
• LGBTQ+ Youth Engagement – Weekly sessions supporting young people through artistic, environmental, and craft-based activities.
• Pine Marten Monitoring Scheme – Engaging LGBTQIA+ individuals in conservation efforts to strengthen biodiversity.

Queering the Wye grew out of the WVRF Creative Community Champions Project. Project Lead Aimee Blease-Bourne is a visionary community leader, artist, and advocate specialising in intersectional inclusivity, environmental resilience, and creative activism. With a deep commitment to fostering safe spaces and amplifying marginalised voices, Aimee has spearheaded Queering the Wye to bridge the gap between LGBTQIA+ identities and rural landscapes. Her work blends storytelling, heritage preservation, and ecological engagement, ensuring that queer narratives are celebrated and embedded within community-led initiatives.

Contact Aimee, aimee.wvrf@gmail.com, or follow the project via our social media on Instagram, Facebook and Soundcloud.

Forest of Dean LGBTQ Youth Group

Since September 2023 2e have been working across the Forest of Dean to provide monthly LGBTQ+ youth sessions with a creative, environmental, and craftivist focus. Many thanks to the support we have received from Gloucestershire Community Foundation and the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire Funds.

Queer Connections

Through 2023 and 2024 we worked with Pride groups across the region and queer ecologists and artists to deliver queer ecology workshops. These inspired designs for our silk banners which showcased at the River Festival and Pride events in 2024.

Safer Spaces Ally Scheme

We worked with youth groups in Monmouthshire to deliver a Safer Spaces Scheme in our local towns. Under this scheme, businesses, and public and voluntary sector organisations sign up and mark their organisation as a safer space by displaying our poster, putting the campaign logo in their window, and undertaking training to guide staff about how to deal with discrimination and challenge prejudice.  This will help us create a network/directory of safe spaces available online and advertised locally and nationally. 

Craftivism in Herefordshire

We worked with Craftspace to deliver a participatory LGBTQ+ contemporary craft project involving co-creation workshops and engagement between queer artists and a group of queer young people in Herefordshire. The purpose was to introduce the young people to ‘craftivism’ (craft+activism) with a focus on environmental activism linked to the Wye Valley resulting in the production of a ’how to’ digital resource that can be shared with and activated by others. Bespoke activity tailored by and for LGBTQ+ communities is a means for them to connect, flourish and have their voices heard. New alliances and partnerships were forged between Craftspace, the Wye Valley River Festival ‘Queering the Wye’ project, Hereford Pride, youth groups, and regional artists.

Queer Nature Cards

We have produced a set of beautiful and original Queer Nature Cards, exploring diversity within nature. 

If you would like to buy a set of our Queer Nature cards (£12 + £1.50 postage and packaging) you can do so here!

Youth Podcast (2022)

We made an LGBTQI+ podcast with youth groups in Monmouthshire, exploring different experiences of nature as defined by queer people in the Wye Valley. Queer to us is a collective and creative term used to describe LGBT+ community. What is it to create a safe space through sound? We are giving queer people, who are often marginalised, a space to discuss issues that affect them. There is a stereotype of queer people within the urban landscape, and we want to challenge this and bring more visibility to rural queer folks. We are weaving together the geographically separated communities and individuals across the area and creating an archive made by and for our communities. The work included a gathering at Biblins Campsite in the Wye Valley where the young people participated in craft activities and enjoyed being out of doors.

Project lead Aimee says:

‘As a queer woman, I want to investigate nature, specifically the River Wye, through the lens of queer ecology. Building relationships between people and place, the project will promote environmental stewardship and nourish the souls of folk who have been made to feel like they don’t belong. I want to utilise skills such as fire building and other naturalist knowledge to rekindle relationships with the natural world. It is increasingly empowering to learn survival and earth-based skills. It provides a sense of peace in an uncertain world. I want to question perceptions of the natural world and reframe them based on sexuality and gender. The natural world does not have binaries: nature, like the river, must take its course. It is fluid and flexible. Like gender and sexuality, nature has a depth of diversity.’

Project partners include Monmouthshire County Council, Monmouth Youth Service, Queer Dye Clothing, Hay on Wye Pride, Hereford Pride, Basecamp Cooperative, Chepstow, Biblins Camp Site, Jennifer Singleton, Bronte Williams, Nicola Goff, Isla Badenoch, Rachel and Cam Adams, Boo La Crux.

In April and May 2023 we worked with Craftspace and Lady Kitt to deliver this exciting and thought-provoking online workshop with young people in Monmouthshire. This event is part of the Drag Declares Emergency project and #EcoDragChallenge developed by Lady Kitt and commissioned by Craftspace.

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About Creative Community Champion Aimee Blease-Bourne:

Aimee has 20 years’ experience working in the community with young people. She is a writer and artist with a passion to weave alternative histories about people, place and nature. She has developed a scrapbooking tool, Mindful Scrapbooking, which not only creates art, but also helps others to record their observations, thoughts, evaluations, poetry, art and conversations. As a doctoral researcher, she investigates the connections between people and places through creative, counter-cultural and exploratory experiences.

Photos of Queering the Wye Gathering April 2022 by Bronte Fae Photography