Program
The program for Camp Betty is coming together! We're in the process of timetabling the workshops, and most events have now been confirmed and scheduled. Below is the structure for the weekend. If the event title has a link, click on it to read a blurb about what it's all about. More descriptions coming soon.
Thursday 7 June
- Short opening of Camp Betty @ Open Studio (6pm)
- Self Organising Men book launch @ Open Studio (6-8pm)
- Our Love is the Size Of @ Forepaw (8pm-late)
Friday 8 June
- Workshops & Panel Discussions (throughout day)
- SUWA Radio Program on 3CR 855AM (5:30pm-6:30pm)
- TWEE AS FUCK: an evening of bands n talk @ Downstairs, Irene Warehouse (6-10pm)
- !!Camp Betty Cinema!! @ Forepaw (7pm for 7:30pm start)
- King Vic Drag Kings @ Opium Den (late)
Saturday 9 June
- Workshops & Panel Discussions (throughout day)
- Procession (2-5pm), followed by reception @ Joint Hassles Gallery (5-6pm)
- Upstart Alley II @ CARNI (8pm-1:30am)
Sunday 10 June
- Workshops & Panel Discussions (throughout day)
- The Amazing Melbourne Queer History Race @ various locations (12:30-2pm)
- Queen's Birthday Picnic @ secret location (1:30-5pm)
- Get Bent @ Bender Bar (Sunday, 6pm)
- Sweaty Betty Party @ Crystal Ts (10pm-3am)
Monday 11 June
- Hang-over Breakfast & Zine Fair @ Cloudcity (11am-2pm)
- Closing Panel Discussion (4:30pm-6pm)
Throughout the weekend
- Storytime @ lunchtime (Irene warehouse)
- Big Betty Bike library
Event Descriptions
- Opening of Camp Betty! @ Open Studio (Thursday, 6pm)
Come along for the opening of Camp Betty, where you'll hear a short rundown why we've decided to organise the Camp Betty weekend. Come to meet fellow campers, pick up program guides. Followed by drinks and straight into the Melbourne launch of the anthology, Self-Organising Men.
- Self-Organising Men book launch @ Open Studio (Thursday, 6:30-8pm)
It's the Melbourne launch of Self-Organising Men, an international anthology of ftm transgender creative types (writers, artists, poets, performers). There will be wine and cheese and nibbly things! We’ll have readings from local and interstate contributors! and podcasts from overseas contributors!
There will be swanky fundraising teatowels for sale! We’ll even be selling copies of the book at a special booklaunch discounted price! (See www.homofactuspress.com if you’d like to know more about the publishing company)
- Our Love is the Size Of @ Forepaw (Thursday, 7:30pm-midnight)
Hot az shit party/show/filmscreening/art opening! Inspired by the culture
and nurturing of the riot grrl movement - making us happy, healthy, and
riteous! At the delightful Forepaw community arts space and venue on June
7th starting at 7:30. With art by Emily Hasselhoof (http://www.myspace.com/mcslurry)and
Georgia Rose and performances by Combloutron, Singling and World Without... We'll be
screening the movie 'We Don't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrl' and some shorts by
Corey Crush Core Dream Lover. DJ Snaxxx will be spinning the hits and you'll be eating
fairy floss and life will be better than you can imagine! Entrance is trade and share: mix
tapes/zines/patches/cupcakes/sex toys/art/amazingness .
Dressing to theme is highly suggested.
- SUWA Radio Program on 3CR 855AM (Friday, 5:30pm-6:30pm)
Squatters & Unwaged Workers Airwaves: Since the mid 1980’s the SUWA show has been covering a variety of issues about squatting, unemployed and unwaged organising, the working poor and troublemaking in general. Our focus is on struggles for change which are grass-roots and use direct action. Our basic aim is to support and promote those out there resisting the social order and trying to create an alternative to it. As part of the Camp Betty weekend, this show will be focusing on resistance to capitalism in the context of gender & sexuality.
- TWEE AS FUCK : an evening of bands n talk @ Irene band room (Friday, 6pm-10pm)
these bands don't make self-consciously queer/feminist/political music, really. but you might like them. and if you do, or if you already do, or if you don't, or if you already don't....you might think about them anew in terms of sex/gender. conceptualising culture in new ways shouldn't just be about artists making laboured statements, but about audiences making fresh connections.
between acts - the musicians, plus various melbourne street press writers, interviewing each other: gossip, skill-share, mouth off, rant, pant, pout.
JESSICA SAYS
JULIAN NATION
LAZY STRIPPER
THE RAYLENES
THE DANIEL JENATSCH BUCCAL ORCHESTRA
and more, maybe.
At Irene, from 6 til 10, entry $3 or donation.
- !!Camp Betty Cinema!! @ Forepaw (Friday, 7pm)
Queer film is not just about re-interpreting straight storylines to
accommodate 'gay' characters -
it's an excuse to play with more than gender and sexuality... super 8,
chroma key, sci-fi
storylines about aliens and androgynous bisexual nymphomaniac fashion
models and remaking
Soviet propaganda into a transgender revolution are all examples in our
film programme of how
queer film can play with you, and cinema too.
Come for queer shorts, a performance by Gaylourdes invoking the film
theory spectre of vagina
dentata in song and dance, 2 minutes of infamy for queer film makers and
a screening of the
cult 80s sci-fi movie Liquid Sky.
• MAGGOTS AND MEN (Trailer) by Oakie Treadwell (5 minutes):
In the style of a Soviet Propaganda film Maggots and Men recounts the
tragic events of the
Kronstadt Uprising (Russia, 1921). This history is combined with
fictionalized inter-personal
relationships between the sailors.
• PHINEAS SLIPPED by Oakie Treadwell (15 minutes):
A boy’s school class and their teacher discuss romance in literature.
Each boy has his own
interpretation on this. The film is one of the first genderqueer version
of schoolboy fantasies,
played by genny boys, trans boys and butches.
• A GIRL NAMED KAI by Kai Ling Xue (8 minutes):
An autobiographical vignette in three chapters about Kai Ling’s
relationships, self discoveries,
passions, secrets and dreams. Using digitally-edited Super 8 and 16mm,
this experimental
short is a journey from the highs of love to the lows of loss,
delicately threaded together with
original music.
• SUPERHERO by Salote Tawale (4 minutes):
A satirical take on the superhero genre. Multiplicities of identity are
explored – you can be the
hero and the victim in the same moment, play more than one
gender/archetype in a story.
• INTERMISSION w/ two minutes of filmic infamy and performance by Gaylourdes
• LIQUID SKY by Slava Tsukerman (1 hour 52 minutes):
Invisible aliens in a tiny flying saucer come to Earth looking for
heroin. They land on top of a
New York apartment inhabited by a drug dealer and her female,
androgynous, bisexual
nymphomaniac lover, a fashion model. The aliens soon find the human
pheromones created in
the brain during orgasm preferable to heroin, and the model's casual sex
partners begin to
disappear. This increasingly bizarre scenario is observed by a lonely
woman in the building
across the street, a German scientist who is following the aliens, and
an equally androgynous,
drug-addicted male model. This is a mostly fun movie but does contain
scenes that may disturb
some viewers.
- King Vic Drag Kings @ Opium Den (Friday, 10pm-late)
King Victoria is featuring a show starring... Wife (from Sydney), Rocco D'Amore, Bust Herr and Bang Herr the Herr Brothers, groovin dj till late and
much more. Check out http://www.kingvictoria.com/
- Procession, with reception @ Joint Hassles Gallery (Saturday, 3-6pm)
The Procession will include a 2 hour workshop on participation techniques for PROCESSION. This will be followed by a 1 hour manifestation through Brunswick and Northcote to Joint Hassles Gallery on High Street for PROCESSION Reception. There will be several microstations prior to departure covering the topics:
DRESS (ANNIE WU)
HAIR (AMELIA BORG)
RHYTHMS
SPEECHES (KIRSTEN LAW)
CHANTS / SLOGANS
PLACARDS
MARSHALLING / FIRST AID
ACTION
FLOATS + BIKES
PROCESSION wishes to dislocate commonplace demonstration clichés by experiencing them in a different way. This will embed new meaning and create new traditions. The focus of PROCESSION will be a carefully-considered chain of ideas stemming from the workshop, that looking back, will relate to sex and gender.
- Upstart Alley II @ CARNI (Saturday, 8pm-1:30am)
After the success of Upstart Alley opening night on Saturday April 7th featuring Sista She, Crazy Horse House Band, The Original Generics, and DJ Tokyo Love Kitten join us for Upstart Alley II Saturday June 9th 2007 at CARNI (60 High Street, South Preston) a night of camp sluttery, show offs and naughty antics. MC'd by Billi Lime and featuring performances by Astro, Gaylourdes (Syd), Wife and Domino (Syd) and more. With music from The Scowlers, DJ Lady Lamenta and DJ Linx. Doors open 8am. Shows 9pm sharp. $8/$12.
Upstart Alley is a not for profit crew that brings Melbourne events that express, create and mix it up through performance, spoken word, film, bands, DJs and visual art. As one of the late GenderSchmender's bastard love children we continue to cause trouble in all the right ways and provide sexy political spaces that welcomes all you misfits who punch and leak outta the boxes and beyond. At Upstart Alley freaks and queers lurk in the dark corners doing dirty beautiful things and all the gender fuckers are dancing on the pavement, making their own meanings and building their own communities. Our events are accessible-door charges are kept low, and we dig wheelchair accessible venues with gender free toilets. We're always looking for new folk who wanna be part of future Upstart Alley shows! For more info or if you are keen to perform/play/read/show off at a future event send us a message at upstartalley@yahoo.com.au or check out www.myspace.com/upstartalley
NB. Please note wheelchair accessible and gender neutral bathrooms to boot.
- The Amazing Melbourne Queer History Race, race marshalling @ Cloudcity (Sunday, 12:30pm)
Are you ready for the Amazing Queer History Race? Join a team and race through the streets of Melbourne collecting clues, completing challenges, and discovering queer tales from Melbourne’s history. Your team will receive a passport, a map and a metcard. Follow the directions and collect pass-stickers along the way - only available once you successfully complete a challenge. By the end of the race, you will have passed through 5 different stops and demonstrated your prowess in daring physical, mental and just plain ridiculous challenges. And you get to run running around the city with your team making a spectacle of yourself and becoming a queer history nerd in the process. The first team to step on the last pitstop mat will win a trophy! Cost $3. Race Marshalling @ 12:30pm Sunday Cloudcity - Race start at 12:45pm.
- Queens Birthday Picnic @ secret location (Saturday 1:30pm)
Following in the grand footsteps of our Melbourne queer forbearers, come join us as we revive and re-invent the Queen Birthday Picnic. Warm yourselves up with a cup of spicy mulled wine before tucking into some tasty BBQ treats. Witness the spectacle of the Queen’s Parade, and heckle a royal or two. Join in the fun and frivolity of a jam-packed afternoon of team sports, with traditional activities such as the ‘Skipping Girl’ race, KY tube relay, and the ‘Champagne Leg Opener’. Test the delights from a bunch of Melbourne’s most talented vegan bakers. Performances, Make-up, Fashion shows, Facials and More. Be at Irene at 1.30pm on Sunday to find out the top-secret location. It’ll be camp-tastic..
- Get Bent @ Bender Bar (Sunday, 6pm)
La Trobe University Queer Department Fundraiser for Queer Collaborations. Food : Band : Prizes : Drink. Voluntary gold coin donation. 635 High St, Thornbury.
- Sweaty Betty @ Crystal Ts (Sunday, 10pm-3am)
Betty gets Sweaty just thinkin bout sunday night, and she wants to share. Sound will be supplied by Mo Ichi, red light disco, Lego and the pits, guaranteed to get you moving bettylicious. Performance …. Jaigur Plushbox …… Polaroid Instamatic Dispose-able Wow featuring Jake and Anjelka.
And maybe you wanna share too? There will be poles at Sweaty Betty, and Betty thinks they would look good with you on them. Tell Betty now that you are up for it.
While poles are important, the sweat doesn’t stop there. You can also contribute your art. We want to cover the place with queer fuck so send us your files, and we will print them out (only black and white though - the queen’s coffers are metaphoric) - campbetty@gmail.com
- Hang-over Breakfast & Zine Fair @ Cloudcity (Monday, 11am-2pm)
Recover from the weekend in style at betty's market bonanza. Grab some greasy good breakfast, trade your wares and compare gossip. Bring zines, patches, badges, posters, jams, sex toys or whatever else you like to make and trade. A photocopier and cut 'n' paste tools will be available for impromptu zine making.
Donations to the new zine library would be very very welcome.
Performance opportunities too: if you play soothing music or have some kind of act that goes down well the morning after get in touch
Free entry, breakfast by donation.
For more info write to the camp betty email.
- Storytime @ Irene Warehouse (Friday 12:15pm, Saturday 12:30pm) & Cloudcity (Monday 12:30pm)
Over the Camp Betty weekend, there will be three Storytime slots. These will be helf over lunch on the Friday and Saturday, and over breakfast on the Monday. Come and listen for 15 minutes to a cool stories about queers. If you’d like to do your own storytime slot, let us know and we’ll fit you into the program.
Brushes with Lily Law - By Ken
12:15pm, Friday 8 June @ Irene
Come and hear about Ken’s brushes with the law, dating from 1952 through to 1979. All have been somewhat memorable if not always traumatic.
History of the Gay Solidarity Group’s Newsletter - By Ken
12:30pm, Saturday 9 June @ Irene
The GSG Newsletter is possibly the longest running lesbian/gay political group newsletter in Australia. It has always been an intermittent publication and this storytime talk covers its inception in 1979 until the present time.
My Mardi Gras - By Joseph
12pm, Monday 11 June @ Cloudcity
Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister of Australia and Neville Wran, premier of NSW. It was the year Robert Menzies and Johnny O’Keefe died. The Bee Gees’ Night Fever and Abba’s Take a Chance on Me were in the top 100 hits of the year. The early hours of the day saw smoke from bush and industrial fires. And a bunch of revolting gay men and lesbians took to the streets of Sydney ... and made history. 53 were arrested on the day. In total, there were 180 arrests between 24 June and August 1978. It was the 24 June 1978. Joseph Carmel Chetcuti, a 78-er, remembers the historic event.
- Big Betty Bike Library - throughout weekend
The Betty weekend is organised across a number of venues and will feature participants from all over. This sounded like an excellent excuse to organise the Biking Betty Massive aka Bikes for Bootylicious Betty Bums aka Big Betty Bike Library.
This is how it works: lovely people from Melbourne town have donated their older and unused bicycles which Betty bike mechanic and bike mechanic wannabe (Jess and Tallace) fixed and made beautiful.
We then make this bike posse available to betty-goers who need to get around between venues and events. You can sign up for a bike at the InfoCamp (at Irene) and we will give you a bike, contact details for the owner and the contact details for Tallace who is coordinating the posse (0421 357 882 for the record). Hopefully you will have brought your own lock and helmet but we will try and help if not.
From then on in, the bike is your responsibility and we want you to take the responsibility seriously cause if you don’t then the person who lent the bike will think you’re stupid and mean.
It’s fine if you want to lend the bike to other Betty participants but please just let Tallace know who’s got the bike, or who’s responsible for it. At the end of Betty, please arrange to give the bike back to Tallace or to the owner if that’s easier.
IN SHORT:
• Bring your own bike lock and helmet and lights if you own such things…
• Keep track of the bike once you’ve got it.
• Have fun.