Joan Burnett has been a Trustee of Liverpool Pride since 2010 and is part of team that runs Pride at the Pictures as well as Trustee with responsibility for the Liverpool Pride volunteer team. Joan has worked in arts organisations for more than 25 years including the Everyman Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, TATE Liverpool, LIPA and, for the last 12Â years, FACT. She has a love affair with film, theatre and visual art. She firmly believes that these should be made accessible for as many people as possible.
Pride at the Pictures is all about participation! We want to make more people aware of the brilliant LGBT films that are out there and get as many people writing about them and coming to see them as possible. Anyone can write for us as long as they care about LGBT cinema – academic or not, humorous or not, our blog and database are there for everyone to get involved.
We also want to raise the profile of LGBT cinema with venues across our region and get LGBT cinema into as many mainstream venues as we can. We have support from two great cinemas already, Picturehouse@FACT in Liverpool and The Light in New Brighton and would like to see more venues join us.
ten million harrdbacks caught up with Joan in FACT Liverpool to discover her cultural passions.
What is your favourite piece of art?
I can’t choose just one artwork!
I love colour so probably something by one of the Scottish Colourists – I love the fact that these artists brought continental flare to early 20th century Edinburgh. They have been dismissed as merely decorative by some but I think that is to underestimate their power – I’m going to go with Cloud and Sky, Iona by S J Peploe as I love the Scottish islands and could dream away looking at this all day.
Alternatively, I would have one of Ben Youdan‘s fab artworks – I really love the ones he has made based on diagrams of human organs – they are strangely moving – they definitely have a heart beat and Ben’s work is always provocative.
Music to dance to?
Hercules and Love Affair – I got into them through Anthony Johnson as I love his voice and then realised they had far more going on. It’s quite chunky to dance to. And then, ABBA of course!
A piece of Architecture that pleases you?
My favourite modern architecture in Liverpool would have to be the Everyman Theatre – it’s a triumph. It works beautifully as a theatre space, its fun and functional and I love the Portrait Wall the frieze of local people – it’s a brilliant touch and reminds everyone that arts organisations are all about PEOPLE!
A book you cannot put down?
Anything by Marilynne Robinson who I think is the greatest living American novelist. My favourite is Home, which is about families and the compromises they make, the misunderstandings they have and our capacity to learn and adapt.
A website that you visit frequently?
BBC! I love the BBC which I think is one of the two greatest things the UK has ever produced, the other being the NHS. Obviously, the other one is Pride at the Pictures, our participatory project all about LGBT film.
Favourite films? You can pick three.
Only 3?
Desert Hearts
Distant Voices, Still Lives
TomboyAll films that have people’s inner experience of themselves and of change at the core and continue to move me even though I have seen them all many times.
Who do you admire?
Marie & Michael Causer Snr and Gee Walker for being so generous and open-hearted in the face of such heartbreak. To lose their sons in such horrible circumstances would crush most people, but they have risen above it and given a huge amount to people on Merseyside. They are a constant inspiration to me.
