Scope Out - Co-designing a legacy for Romford!

Over the past six months, the local LGBTQ+ community have been meeting as part of the project Scope Out to co-design stickers to place in shop windows across Havering.

Kaleidoscope aimed to make Romford more colourful and inviting by placing small, welcoming stickers in shop windows, indicating that the LGBTQ+ community are safe here. This is accompanied by a pamphlet for businesses to spot and act on homophobic incidents.

To strengthen the connection within the local LGBTQ+ community, Scope Out consisted of five different activities to enjoy experiences often only found in central London. These were Drag Karaoke led by Chamonix Aspen, Creative Expression, a workshop inviting participants to express their emotions through creativity, focusing on mental well-being, Climbing session at Romford Rock and Boulder, History vision workshop, a creative session exploring LGBTQ+ history and ended with the final Stickers and Pamphlet design workshop. The design of the stickers was narrowed down to key elements that should be included. The NO Collective took these designs and presented a finalised design. One important design feature was to create variations of the stickers across Havering. Harold Hill, Hornchurch, Rainham, Romford and Upminster all have a unique sticker design.

Scope Out hosted a launch party at Lumiere to celebrate the first sticker being placed in the window of Lumiere. As a venue that has supported Kaleidoscope with many different events, including the East London LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Lumiere is home to Kaleidoscope. Organiser Carrie Kendall said, ‘It felt important to unveil the first sticker here as Lumiere have been incredibly supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. These stickers might not mean a lot to someone who isn’t LGBTQ+, but will make a big difference to the local LGBTQ+ community’ Scope Out is a series of free creative events for the LGBTQ+ community ages 25 and over.

FAQ -
Are shops without stickers unsafe or unwelcoming? - Not at all! some businesses have strict brand guidelines and are unable to decorate their windows. The goal of this project was to make Romford more welcoming, not to create a guide of where you can and can't go.

How can I have one on my business? - We don't believe in not being creative! But if making art isn't for you, come along and enjoy the atmosphere. We won't force you to participate in anything, and you will still have your chance to let us know what you'd like to see more of in Havering.

Will there be more meet ups for over 25s? - The East London LGBTQ+ Film Festival is set to take place in Lumiere Cinema, Saturday 7 November. Currently there are no other events planned, if we are able to secure funding to run more projects we will be sure to announce it on our social media pages

Can I get volunteer with Kaleidoscope? - We are currently looking for people to come along with us to Pride events and help us plan Pride in Romford 2027. If you’d like to be a part of it, send us an email! kaleidoscoperomford@gmail.com

I have seen or experiences hate crime, what do I do? - If you experience or spot hate crime, report it. If reporting feels daunting, consider asking a friend or ally to help you through the process. It can take as little as ten minutes to use the MET website. This also incudes online hate crime such as comments or DMs.

Reporting makes a difference...to you, your friends, your community and your life. https://www.met.police.uk/ro/report

How do I support the LGBTQIA+ community as an ally? - There are may ways to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community. Some steps you can take is to diversify your media intake. Consider watching films with LGBTQ+ themes, or reading same-sex romance novels. There is so much cultural content available today that teaches us about queer history and about queer existence today. Be conscious of your language, it is okay to make mistakes but take time to ask for pronouns instead of making assumptions. Call out homophobia when there isn’t anyone around to validate you. Cut your friends joke short when the punchline is a marginalised community. Try and find answers to awkward questions online before asking an LGBTQ+ person. It is exhausting to be treated as a fountain of knowledge when there are free resources online. These small gestures shifts the burden of education from the LGBTQ+ community.