Since September 2022, we have been working with an artistic and activist project called Postmasc Choir (Chór Niemęski). It is an amateur music band, composed of LGBTQIA+ people, who will perform popular songs in choral arrangements for SATB voices.
We invite non-heteronormative men and women, transgender and non-binary people to participate in the project. Our team also has room for committed allies and non-singers who want to join the team and support it not only with their voice.
If you sing, you are looking for a place where you can realize yourself artistically and actively, and do things that are really needed for the LGBTQIA community, come and join us! In our team there will be a place for people who love Glee and Bach, for drag people and for those who need to find their place, their family and their voice – encourages Grzegorz Miecznikowski.
Our mission
Our project focuses on issues related to finding “one’s own voice” and overthrowing subsequent stereotypes or limitations, artificially created by others and ourselves. The mission will be implemented on two levels – internal and external.
For people who sing, play and participate in our band, the Postmasc Choir is to be:
- a safe space to discover and accept one’s identity through vocal classes, singing and performances as well as integration with people from the LGBTQIA community;
- a place to broaden your knowledge about different gender identities, sexual orientations and to exchange intercultural experiences;
- a haven where people experiencing any stigma will be able to realize themselves artistically and express their emotions in this space – fears, fears, but also joys and hopes.
The Postmasc Choir will also go out with its activities to actively support the LGBTQIA community. What is our goal?
- education about inclusivity;
- breaking stereotypes regarding sexual orientation and gender;
- fight against toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and enbyphobia;
- supporting body positivity;
- spreading awareness of the so-called straight privilage;
- fight for equal rights for LGBTQIA people;
- activation and inclusion of people who are doubly excluded (e.g. LGBTQIA seniors or people struggling with the stigma of HIV).
Male Choir and collective 4 Non Straights
Postmasc Choir is, after Voces Gaudia and Krakofonia, the third choir of non-heteronormative people operating in Poland. This is the first initiative of the 4 Non Straights collective. We will be active in various fields, also creating programs and activities that are to engage, integrate and help non-heteronormative seniors, transgender, non-binary people, or men living with the stigma of HIV and chemsex.
The 4 Non Straights collective also plans to set up an instrumental band composed of queer people, promote LGBTQIA art and culture, support and create artistic actions and happenings that will educate about inclusivity, equal rights, break stereotypes regarding sexual orientation and gender, fight against toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and enbyphobia.
But we don’t want to stop there. In 5 years, we would like to create a unique space, a real community center in Warsaw, where LGBTQIA people dealing with art will be able to present it to a wider audience, and even record music or have a safe space for creative work. Our goal is to create a community where everyone will find a place for themselves and audiences for their artistic activities. We also dream that the 4 Non Straights initiative will appear in other Polish cities. And we will work very actively on this.