The Closet with Awards for All

The only closet you need to be in.

In 2024, thanks to the support of The National Lottery, Awards for All, we were able to start creating a new space for marginalised people to come together and form a community.

With the help of Raw Arts CIC, we were able to occupy a small space in Carlisle City Centre. We invited some of our community into the space when it was still a baguette shop, rolled out some paper and asked people to scribble down what they wanted in the space!

Over the last 12 months The Closet has seen a bold and beautiful Queer community form. We have Book Club, Writing Group, Trans Support Group, Zine Club and Art Group and Witch School all happening on weekly and monthly intervals!

We have created 7 exhibitions – Queer Cumbria Collective, Stamp Tiny Art, Carlisle Youth Zone ‘Belong’, Gender Euphoria, Mend, Queer Originals and Grace Phyllis Silver-Smith.

The Closet is proof that our community exists, if we are afforded space to exist in.

We are so proud of The Closet and all the brilliant people who have created it WITH us! Thank you to everyone who has built this special little space!

The project has also allowed us to deliver activities in other spaces, such as Tullie, Sketch and Sip, Kittchen, Drovers Rest and Rosehill. These have allowed us to hold larger inclusive events full of music, art, fun and community building.

As our funding comes to an end in July 2025, we are talking to our funders at The National Lottery Awards for All, to help us keep this work going – We have produced a Community Report with a selected 25 testimonials in support of the project from our community, collaborative organisations and Cumberland Council. You can download it on our ‘Mag’ section.

The Closet is currently open and our events and workshops can be found on our ‘Socialise’ page or on instagram @Queercumbria.