Working to create a Bristol LGBTQ+ Community Hub

“Bristol is the basically the only major city in the UK without an LGBT centre- a physical building to represent the LGBT communities.”

This is what led Mark Ferbache to devise Outspace, a new hub for LGBTQ+ Bristolians that will be situated in Old Market.

Plans for the centre include spaces for LGBTQ+ counselling and peer support, a library of queer literature, as well as a cafe space, which holds particular emotional significance for Mark.

“We want to create the community cafe as the first floor, the first thing that you go into because it’s something that like brings people together and it’s something that’s nourishing to people”

While many people have tried to set up a physical hub for Bristol’s sizeable and diverse queer community, Outspace is one of the most ambitious projects to date.

Over five years of constant planning and fundraising have gone into the project, and despite delays due to the pandemic, bureaucracy, and the tragic passing of one of the team, Mark and the Outspace team are determined to create a central, accessible, and sustainable home for queer Bristolians.

Hidayah is one of several charity organisations who could benefit from an LGBTQ+ hub in Bristol.

Mark has registered Outspace as a Community Interest Company (CIC), and is currently in negotiations to buy a building on Old Market from Bristol City Council, which he has nominated as an asset of community value. If successful, the building will be bought outright, and owned by the community.

The timeline for creating the space is uncertain, but Mark hopes Outspace could begin a phased opening between late 2021 and early 2022.

The importance of ensuring that the running of the space represents the diversity of Bristol’s queer community is paramount, and something that Mark takes very seriously.

“We’re having the whole project led by our community steering board, made up from as many different perspectives from the LGBT communities as we can. We would have lesbians, queer women, people of colour, disabled people, queer Muslims, and Irish travellers”

“Any perspective that can be represented, I feel like it should be represented and feed into the project and how it runs.”

Accessibility is a key factor in the development of Outspace. Image: Bristol Pride

Accessibility is also a major consideration for the centre. If Outspace is successful in buying the building, it will require an investment of £30,000 to £50,000 in order to make it fully accessible for disabled people.

Gathering this amount of money, plus the money needed to buy the building, is an immense task. Outspace is seeking funding to purchase the building, and has also set up a GoFundMe to cover other costs, including the set up of the cafe space.

A drag night fundraiser is also planned for the end of July, and Mark hopes to set up regular fundraising quizzes and other events.

A fundraiser is planned for the end of July.

The Outspace team are also on the lookout for people who can volunteer their time and skills to help set up the building.

“We’re just about to start collecting the list of volunteers. We’ll be looking for people to help decorate the building. We’ll be looking for people to help staff the cafe. We’ll be looking for some people to do a bit of gardening” says Mark.

“If anyone who has skills wants to donate time rather than money, they can do that.”

Mark also encourages anyone who wants to run a fundraising event for the space to get in touch.

“The whole point is getting people engaged with their communities; if people want to engage with their communities to help us then awesome”

Main Image: Outspace

Read More:‘I’m proud that Bristol’s LGBTQ+ community have, for generations, enriched the life of our city’