Could you make a difference for members of the LGBT+ community in Edinburgh and beyond?

The Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive has grown out of Scotland’s first LGBT+ bookshops, Lavender Menace (1982-87) and West & Wilde (1987-97). They sold what we now call queer books – by, about or for LGBT+ people – at a time mainstream bookshops would not stock them. The bookshops also provided openly queer meeting places, where LGBT+ people were able to connect and felt affirmed and welcomed.

Bob Orr and Sigrid Nielsen, the owners of the original Lavender Menace Bookshop, in 2019 founded the Lavender Menace Queer Books Archive to keep this valuable LGBT+ book heritage alive and share it with the community. Through its amazing collection of books, the archive tells the story of queer people’s resistance, and the rise of what is now known as ‘queer pride’. These books told the stories of queer lives; they were written honestly and positively for the first time, and they changed lives.

We are looking for a creative and highly organised Community Programme Coordinator to work on all aspects of planning and delivering a wide range of projects and activity for the delivery of Lavender Menace’s Community Heritage Project activities, which aim to engage the LGBT+ community with the archive’s heritage and promote understanding of the early years of an out and proud queer community.

The Community Project’s key activities are:

• The Archive: to provide the LGBT community with regular access to the queer books archive, focused on books spanning the 1970-2000 period.
• Author readings and events: to deliver a programme of in-person and online events, run with a range of partners, which connect people to the archive’s collection and this heritage.
• Discussion and reading groups: to run groups and classes developed around particular themes in the collection and/or aimed at different sections of the LGBT community (e.g. older lesbians reading group, trans representation).
• Volunteering programme: to work with a team of volunteers involving them in all aspects of the archive’s work including community outreach, communications and social media, groups and events.

These activities build on the work Bob and Sigrid have developed with the team of volunteers. The post holder will thus be able to tap into their experience, contacts and knowledge in taking this work forward.

In addition, over the course of Year 2 and Year 3 the plan is to run a small-scale Oral History Project and Exhibition, focused on the impact and legacy of the Lavender Menace and West & Wilde Bookshops, which operated in Edinburgh between 1982 and 1997. We will be seeking partners and additional funding to help deliver this project.

Employee benefits package

• 35 days of leave (pro-rata including public holidays)
• Enhanced pension scheme
• Flexible working options
• Training and development opportunities