Established in 2009 by Birmingham LGBT, Shout is the West Midlands only combined festival of queer arts and culture. Bigger than ever in 2016 with an incredible array of events lined up over ten days including film, theatre, art, comedy, music and talks. In an ocean of sublime quality there are several stand out events. Tony Timberlake’s ‘Looking For John’ at the Rep which explores one man’s earnest obsession with the Nureyev of the ice, Olympic gold medalist John Curry is funny and moving. Kate O Donnell’s incredible sharp and emotional award winning piece of Trans Theatre ‘Big Girl’s Blouse’ makes its Midlands homecoming, see our full preview here. Grand Union at the Minerva Works will be transformed into Slope-tend-big, a queer social space with a changing installation of arts throughout the festival, look out for Derek Jarman’s ‘Will You Dance With Me?’ The mac will be screening several films, of which the pick for us is Andrew Steggall’s beautifully studied loss of innocence drama, ‘Departure‘.

See out Top 4 Shout Festival event picks here.

Thu 10 Nov to Sun 20 Nov at various venues www.shoutfestival.co.uk/