You may recognise him from a cheeky bit of Strictly, but Strictly Come Dancing star Johannes Radebe is a huge advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and has recently collaborated with Made.com to completely transform The Outside Project, an LGBTQ+ community centre in London. We’ve just seen the before and after shots and they are iconic.
The Outside Project is run primarily by and for trans people and people experiencing homelessness, designed for people ‘who maybe haven’t had a home before’. As ‘one of the first charities to focus on trans and gender non-conforming people’, The Outside Project is such an important space and organisation for so many. The charity also advocates for LGBTQ+ right, provide both professional and ‘knowledge by experience’ advice, and develop relationships with support services.
‘Home isn’t always a safe environment for LGBTQ+ people’
The transformation is absolutely astonishing, but don’t just take our word for it, the before and after shots speak for themselves!
Not only does the space appear more domestic and welcoming, but the pops of colour and creativity bring such a positive energy to truly highlight the amazing work The Outside Project are doing.
Unfortunately, it’s clear that spaces like these are now needed more than ever as research shows that 30% of homeless youth in the UK are LGBTQ+, so The Outside Project is invaluable within the community. Not only that, but they are using their online platform to reach even more people in need. With an Instagram following of over 20 thousand people, they share resources as well as all the other events/groups they have running- which all sound amaze btw.
For example, they hold sessions called Queer Youth Art Collective which is an online and in-person group for queer people between the ages of 18 and 26. On top of that, they have Cafe Queero (award for best queer cafe name goes to…..) which is a welcoming queer sober space for LGBTQ+ people in need. Be sure to check out all of The Outside Project’s socials to see all of the fabulous things they run and are involved in.
You can learn more about the transformation and also donate to The Outside Project here.
If you want to read more about incredible people and groups making a positive impact on our community, check out our huge page of interviews!
Team Nonchalant x
Last Updated on 21st December 2022 by Nonchalant Magazine
Robyn is a nerd currently studying Creative Writing in Bournemouth and figuring out ways to always bring cats into conversations. She can usually be found stuffing too many books into a fraying tote bag and asking for alternative milk in her hot chocolates.
