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For the last ISLINGTON MILL AND... podcast of 2025 I am joined by returning guest miqx of the Radical Faeries to discuss charity and community, and because the conversation went on for so long (and is so good!) I have decided to split it into two parts. Here is part 2, where we talk about charity and how it should work, both ideally and practically, including the Islington Mill Charity Board and its place within the larger Islington Mill community.

For the last ISLINGTON MILL AND... podcast of 2025 I am joined by returning guest miqx of the Radical Faeries to discuss charity and community, and because the conversation went on for so long (and is so good!) I have decided to split it into two parts. Here is part 1, where we discuss creating and maintaining community, at Islington Mill and further afield, as well as miqx's long history of radical queer activism.  You can find out more about miqx's story on our previous podcast interview here: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-isxg3-12b155b and part 2 of our recent conversation (focussing on charity) will be coming out tomorrow. Enjoy!

For the October 2025 edition of the Islington Mill podcast, I am joined by the queer author Sam Jenks to talk about his just-published novel "Homoland" and his queer writing/publishing project dif that is best summed up by its slogan "misfit gay lit and other queer shit" You can visit the dif website at: bedif.org Other authors mentioned on this episode are: Jon Ransom Nuril Basri Andrea Lawlor Thomas Moore and you can find out more about Sam's novel "Homoland" here.

After brewing at the Mill for many years, the peer-led learning community I.M.A.A. (ISLINGTON MILL ART ACADEMY) is now in full swing! For this month's edition of the podcast I am joined by I.M.A.A.'s Sam, Sophie and Russell to talk about what exactly this project entails, where/when it happens and how you, yes YOU dear listener, can get involved. This podcast is filled with lots of valuable information but if you'd like to know more, you can visit the I.M.A.A. Instagram page or go straight to the I.M.A.A. Linktree to see the handbook and the calendar and meet some of those involved.

Thanks to Manchester Pride, August has been a very busy month, and so after a slight delay here is the August edition of Islington Mill And...!  The guests for this month's pod are the drag performers/musicians/Berlin club promoters THE DAMES and BLEACH. THE DAMES are a trans cabaret musical act made up of Nancy and Eve and BLEACH is Nancy's partner, a promoter, performer and a force of punk nature. The Dames were recently in residency at the Mill developing a show that was premiered at Feel Good Club over Pride, so I grabbed the opportunity to interview them all while they were in town.  However due to technical difficulties what you hear here is the third attempt at an interview, after two previous failed attempts. So I will admit that this interview is a bit more chaotic and less linear than my usual style, but you know what, that's actually pretty fitting for this lot! We still got to talk about queerness, music, politics, clubbing, life in Berlin and a whole lot more.  To find out more, and keep up with THE DAMES & BLEACH, visit the website https://bmerch.live/

For this month's episode The Niallist visits Studio 304 to speak to Art With Heart's RACHEL MOORHOUSE about the Salford-based multimedia arts company and their strong social engagement ethos, their various project in and around Salford and how to become a "producer" in the arts sector.  You can find out more about Art With Heart by visiting their website: artwithheart.org.uk

For the June edition of "ISLINGTON MILL And..." Niall is joined by photographer and multi-media artist SIMON BUCKLEY to discuss his Not Quite Light project, an ongoing photography series documenting Manchester's changing city scape over the last 10 years. This fascinating conversation also touches on history, geography, energy and how Simon has survived for almost four decades as a freelance artist, making it essential listening for anyone who works at Islington Mill (and even beyond!) You can view Simon's work at: https://notquitelight.com/salford/ and on the YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@NotQuiteLight

After a prolonged hiatus, we are back! As we find ourselves in a period of transition and reallignment (both globally and locally) I have invited onto the podcast long time meditator, qigong teacher and coach OSKAR MARCHOCK to talk about his upcoming six week course on "Grounding & Centering". At this time of heightened anxiety and insecurity all over the world, I believe a centering and grounding practice could be of benefit to many in the Islington Mill community and also many beyond! You can find out more about Oskar's practice at www.wanderingtaichi.co.uk and if you are interested in signing up to his course you can do so at: https://forms.gle/pP71gRkzzqsGXJ1W8

For this episode of ISLINGTON MILL And..., we meet the team behind DEAD AIR, the Mill's weekly livestream and queer music community project with DJs Niallist, Klitbait, Meatmarket and Year Of The Rat. Visit the DEAD AIR website for links to the Instagram and YouTube profiles, where you can watch live every Wednesday and check out previous sets and streams.  CONTENT WARNING: listener discretion is advised as the following podcast contains music that is TOTALLY BANGING. If you, or anyone you know, can't take the heat of these ABSOLUTE BELTERS, then you are strongly advised to remove yourself from the kitchen. Thanks!  The previous episodes of "ISLINGTON MILL And..." mentioned in this podcast are:  ISLINGTON MILL And... #12 : Studio 409 and ISLINGTON MILL And... #22 COLLYN MIZRAHI

In the follow up to this month's earlier podcast about the HomoMill project I speak to Rebecca Power who has been employed to run Islington Mill's club space, as well as reminiscing on BUMMER CAMP, the legendary queer summer party that has made its return to the Mill this Pride. Note: this episode was due to drop before Bummer Camp but my schedule has been crazy so I didn't get it up on time - but here it is!

After a summer hiatus the Islington Mill community podcast is back!  This episode I speak to the Mill's Bill Campbell and HomoBloc's Sophie Bee & Rod Connolly about the "HomoMill" project that is going to be making use of Islington Mill's club space after the recent departure of the Partisan Collective.

This month’s podcast is epic! At the behest of Tranuary’s Liv McCafferty, the microphone is being turned on (spoiler warning) me to give me a chance to talk about my history in ballroom/vogue culture in the run up to Manchester’s first Kiki Ball on June 15th, and my party CVNTY at Derby Brewery Arms this Friday (May 3rd). I hope this knowledge might be useful to any qtipoc listeners out there or anyone interested in learning (or learning more) about voguing and ballroom culture, and if you'd like to attend either of the events mentioned you can find the ticket links here: CVNTY and The Bee Kiki Ball

In January of this year I sat down with the Scottish performance artist Daemon Clelland -aka Shrek666, then the current artist in residence at Islington Mill - to do an interview that was ostensibly about the Tranuary event (also previously covered on this podcast). But our chat quickly escalated into an epic interview about life as a queer person living in various cities including Manchester, London, Berlin and Daemon's hometown of Glasgow, where once upon a time I also used to live! You can find out more about Daemon/Shrek666 at: instagram.com/shrek666

In this month's episode, I speak to VENN SMYTH; queer synth pop singer/saxophonist, composer, performer and the current artist in resident at Islington Mill (you can find their music on Spotify and Bandcamp). Venn recently travelled to San Marino to audition for Eurovision and we had a great chat talking about what happened there, as well as the politics of Eurovision in general. This is a very fun episode, enjoy!

This past Saturday saw the second annual instalment of the trans-centered festival TRANUARY at Manchester's Soup venue. I caught up with the festival's director & producer Liv McCafferty, as well as some of the performers and hosts of this year's event (Shanika Sunrise, DJ Luvable & Violet Blonde) to talk about what Tranuary means to them.