How can we creatively approach governance as a shared, evolving practice to build a culture of trust, reciprocity and collective responsibility? 

Through this pillar we will explore how QUEERCIRCLE organises itself: how power is held, how responsibility is shared, and how care is embedded structurally.

At the heart of QUEERCIRCLE’s governance is a commitment to fair, sustainable, and caring employment practices. We are a London Living Wage employer, operate a four-day working week, have weekly collective check-ins and have implemented individual Wellness Actions Plans including access to a health and wellbeing fund. 

How can community knowledge support systemic change? 

This pillar explores how knowledge is produced, shared, and valued, and how lived experience might operate as a form of public expertise. It asks how research, learning, and evaluation can be led by and accountable to communities most affected by systemic inequities, rather than extractive institutional norms. Community Knowledge captures, develops, and mobilises learning generated through cultural participation — including impacts that are social, emotional, creative, or collective, rather than individually attributed. 

QUEERCIRCLE already undertakes community-led research, reflective practice, and creative dissemination across its programmes. Lived-experience is centred as a legitimate form of expertise, shaping both internal practice and external advocacy as demonstrated through citations of our Queering Creative Health Report in the Mayor of London’s strategy and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Creative Health. 

Knowledge is shared through accessible, creative formats and reflection is embedded into organisational rhythms, informing governance, programme development, and organisational learning.