THE last queerupnort was a frankly bizarre fundraiser at Canal Street's Taurus that involved a couple of very strange people, dinner, an, ahem, light show and the auctioning, among other prizes, of a coffee cup once drunk out of by David Beckham.

As a result, over '1,500 was raised on the night, all of which went into the coffers of the international gay and lesbian arts festival.

With the festival now just a matter of weeks away (May 6-29), it's time to step things up, according to the CEO of the festival, John Malpass.

"All the programming for the event has been done now," confirms John, "and the brochures are all out. What we're looking for now is people to join us for many of the events."

Flick through this year's brochure and there are many ways you can play your part in the festival, from the specific to the more general.

"I'm really looking for budding writers to come forward and help develop their skills," continues John. "We're running a couple of workshops, called Outspoken. One is being led by Chloe Poems (Manto, May 14), the other by Maya Chowdhry (Manchester Central Library, May 21).

"It's about developing your creative skills in order to bring out personal life experiences in print. We're hoping that the best works will reach a larger audience and we're looking to achieve that in a number of more subversive ways, such as projecting poetry on to the sides of buildings, publishing in magazines or perhaps giving work away under the guise of leaflets to people in the street.

"We're really looking to work with older groups, disability groups and younger people on this one; basically people who are less represented."

Out of all the events this year, the one that's getting people's attention is Pansy Day.

"I think this is fascinating," says John. "May 15 is Pansy Day in Manchester and it all ties in with an ongoing art installation by Paul Harfleet where he walks the streets of the city armed with pink pansies, planting them in places that are the location of homophobic incidents he's personally experienced over the years.

"Tomorrow I'm actually going to help pot over 3,000 pansies in anticipation of the response we're already getting to this," laughs John. "We're looking to people to do the same as Paul and me and go and plant the flowers at any places where they've suffered abuse.

"I love this project on many levels. Firstly it's such a subtle response to a vile act, and secondly, it's great to think they'll be people wandering around town in the morning wondering where on earth all these beautiful flowers have appeared.

"Homophobia has really slipped out of the limelight in the last few years," continues John. "It still exists, even in Manchester, which has become something of a gay mecca. Through this event we want people to focus on homophobia again as an issue but doing it in a more poetic way."

Finally, there is the Night of Light, which acts as the closing event for queerupnorth on Sunday, May 29, in Sackville Park and on Canal Street.

It's being organised by Walk The Plank and is expected to be `an extravaganza of illumination, music and fireworks' involving artists and hopefully many many members of the public via the workshops going on in advance. And once again, that's where you come in.

To find out more about the queerupnorth festival and getting involved, visit queerupnorth.com or call 0161 833 2288. To find more about Pansy Day, click on the website listed below.

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