Curious Festival 2019

@teamcuriousarts

@CuriousArts

An award-winning LGBTQ Arts Festival across the North East curiousarts.org.uk

@curious_arts

30th June 9th July 2019

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ELMER’S SPECIAL ‘DRAG’ STRUT Sunday 30th June­­,11:30am Seven Stories, Newcastle, NE1 2PJ

SPACE: A HERSTORY Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd July, 6:15pm Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP

LET’S GET CURIOUS! With Simon James Green Sunday 30th June , 1:30pm Seven Stories, Newcastle, NE1 2PJ

*GENDER NOT INCLUDED Tuesday 2nd July, 7:30pm and Saturday 13th July, 6:00pm Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP

LIVE THEATRE IS CURIOUS Sunday 30th June , 6:00pm Live Theatre, Broad Chare, Newcastle, NE1 3DQ

POST POPULAR Wednesday 3rd July, 7:30pm Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP

SPECTACULAR DRAG STORYTIME Wednesday 3rd–Saturday 20th July Various: See page 06 for location and times

QUENTIN CRISP: NAKED HOPE Wednesday 3rd July , 7:30pm Middlesbrough Theatre, Middlesbrough, TS5 6SA

HOUSE OF GHETTO: BLACK PRIDE Saturday 1st June–Sunday 21st July 10:00am –5:00pm Gillian Dickinson Gallery, Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH

ARC IS CURIOUS Thursday 4th July, 7:00pm ARC, Stockton, TS19 1LL

QUEERCASTLE - NOCTURNAL NOVOCASTRIANS Monday 1st –Thursday 11th July 12:00pm–6:00pm Praxis Gallery, Ampersand Inventions, Newcastle, NE1 6QE POP UP EXHIBITION: AMUSEMENTS Monday 1st July–Sunday 21st July Tyneside pop up gallery, Pilgrim Street Newcastle NE1 6QG TRUTH Monday 1st and Monday 8th July Various: see page 08 for location and times THE LONG TABLE. PRESENTED BY SLATE: BLACK. ARTS. WORLD Saturday 6th July, 5:00pm Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH HOW DO YOU MAKE EXPERIMENTAL ART PROJECTS THAT ARE INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE TO THE CORE? Wednesday 3rd July, 5:00pm Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP QUEER ARTS NORTH (QAN) NETWORK LAUNCH Tuesday 2nd July, 2pm–5pm Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH

SEX EDUCATION Friday 5th July, 8:00pm Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP SCRATCH AND LEMON Friday 5th July, 9:30pm Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP RENT PARTY Saturday 6th July, 7:15pm Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH CURIOUS VOGUE BALL Saturday 6th July, 9:00pm Dance City, Newcastle, NE1 4BR BALTIC IS CURIOUS Sunday 7th July, 7:00pm Baltic, Gateshead, NE8 3BA ROYAL NORTHERN SINFONIA IS CURIOUS Tuesday 9th July, 8:00pm Sage Gateshead, Gateshead, NE8 2JR BIRD LA BIRD’S TRAVELLING QUEER PEOPLE’S HISTORY SHOW Saturday 13th July, 8:00pm Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP NORTHERN PRIDE IS CURIOUS Saturday 20th 1:00­pm and Sunday 21st July 2:00pm The Community Village, Exhibition Park, Newcastle, NE2 4PZ

Curious Festival is an award-winning annual celebration of LGBTQ culture across the North East.

Founded in 2016, Curious Festival returns with its largest ever programme, exploring and celebrating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer culture through the arts. Increasing visibility, dialogue and understanding of the LGBTQ community across the North East.

As a not-for-profit organisation Curious Arts works in partnership with cultural and community organisations to improve the quality of life of LGBTQ communities, their friends and families.

In 2019 Curious Festival will be the largest Queer Arts Festival in The North taking place across Gateshead, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Stockton on Tees, Middlesbrough, Darlington, Sunderland and South Shields.

Programme information key Location

Audience

Duration

Booking information

BSL Interpretation All times are approximate and details correct at the time of printing Event bookings via host venue box office or eventbrite: goo.gl/CE7Nbu

#QUEERINGTHESPACE Look out for pop up activity, queering the space, at our festival venues. #CuriousFestival2019

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Northern Pride is CURIOUS ARTS STAGE AT NORTHERN PRIDE TOWN MOOR AND EXHIBITION PARK Saturday 20th July 1:00pm–5:00pm Sunday 21st July 2:00pm–5:00pm

Melody Sproates | Jamie Tansley Stevie Wonderful Spectacular Drag Storytime Honey L | Mutha T Neighbourhood Watch Stilts International | poke and more acts to be announced!

FEATURING POETRY, LIVE PERFORMANCE, STORYTELLING, MUSIC, POP UP OUTDOOR PERFORMANCE, SPOKEN WORD + MORE Full listings at northern-pride.com

ELMER’S SPECIAL ‘DRAG’ STRUT Sunday 30th June 11:30am It’s Elmer’s special day and everyone is invited!

What makes your family special? What do you like most about yourself? Wear what’s on the inside, outside, and show the world your true colours in this special story time and craft session featuring an appearance from drag characters, Ben and Gladys. Make your own head dress/mask all about you and your family, then proudly strut your stuff down the jungle cat walk. Supported by Anderson.

Seven Stories, Newcastle, NE1 2PJ 60mins All £3 (2yrs and under free) Book: sevenstories.org.uk

LET’S GET CURIOUS! With Simon James Green Sunday 30th June 1:30pm Enjoy a curious afternoon with nibbles, music and a chance to meet Simon James Green, author of Noah Can’t Even and Noah Could Never. Ask your curious questions and chat about their latest book Alex in Wonderland!

Get a chance to have an exclusive look at items from the Seven Stories archive, unlocking the untold stories behind LGBTQ+ publishing for young people. This event kick-starts Seven Stories’ month of Proud to Be Me celebrations.

Seven Stories, Newcastle, NE1 2PJ 120mins 14+ Free Book: sevenstories.org.uk

LIVE THEATRE IS CURIOUS Sunday 30th June 6:00pm An exciting showcase of work by young people at Live Theatre launches Curious Festival 2019. An evening of short performances and presentations exploring LGBTQ themes through the ideas and voices of 14 to 25 year olds, brought to life on stage by members of Live Theatre’s Youth Theatre and other groups.

New work shown includes pieces developed through the Curious Queer Creative Challenge, an initiative to develop LGBTQ work by Young People from across the North East.

Live Theatre, Broad Chare, Newcastle, NE1 3DQ 120mins 14+ (14-17 to be accompanied by an adult) £6 Book: live.org.uk

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HOUSE OF GHETTO: BLACK PRIDE Saturday 1st–Sunday 21st July 10:00am–5:00pm House of Ghetto: Black Pride is an exhibition comprised of portraits of the founding female members of The House of Ghetto; a Vogue House based in Manchester, UK. House of Ghetto (HOG) house mother and award-winning dancer and choreographer, Darren Pritchard, working with North-West photographer Cornel Simons from Fotocad, uses a black primer as backdrop and exaggerated flesh tone (not a colour itself, but the absorption of all colours), adding the spectrum of the LGBT Pride flag.

SPECTACULAR DRAG STORYTIME 3rd, 6th, 7th and 20th July Where everyone is welcome and every story is fabulous! Join Ben and their Grandma Gladys for a storytime like no other…

Forget traditional tales and enter a place where storybook adventures break the norms and imagination is unlimited.

50mins 3-7 plus families Various prices, booking required

CURIOUS CRAFT SESSIONS Get creative this pride season! Join artists after the storytime fun to decorate bunting for Gladys’ house and make your own badge to take away.

Join us after Storytime at: Customs House, Fans Museum, Northern Stage, ARC and The Hullabaloo. Spaces are limited.

Wednesday 3rd July, 10:00am Customs House, South Shields 0191 427 8197 Book: theculturalspring.org.uk Wednesday 3rd July, 2:00pm Fans Museum, Sunderland, 0191 427 8197 Book: theculturalspring.org.uk Saturday 6th July, 10:30am Northern Stage, Newcastle BSL interpretation.

Book: northernstage.co.uk Saturday 6th July, 2:30pm ARC, Stockton. BSL interpretation.

Book: arconline.co.uk Sunday 7th July, 11:00am and 1:00pm The Hullabaloo, Darlington Book: theatrehullabaloo.org.uk Saturday 20th July, 11:30am Seven Stories, Newcastle Book: sevenstories.org.uk Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st July, 3:00pm Curious Arts Stage, Northern Pride Book: northern-pride.com

The distinctive hairstyles incorporate African diaspora hair weaves with the LGBT flag’s colour palette, celebrating black gay culture and allowing HOG members to be narrators of their own stories: a reflection of HOG’s unique flair and combined strength.

Gillian Dickinson Gallery, Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH All ages Free, no booking required

QUEERCASTLE – NOCTURNAL NOVOCASTRIANS

By Urban and Eastern Productions (Preview Opening Monday 1st 5:00pm–8:00pm), Tuesday 2nd– Thursday 11th July 12:00pm–6:00pm Between 2007-2017 Newcastle labels: Urban and Eastern, Sounds of Seductions and Divine Trash - held various club nights throughout the North-East. These trashy and trailblazing events all shared an open door policy for all things queer, be it a costume, an attitude or just being who you truly are, rather than who you were born as. We dug deep into our archives and brought out to daylight some of the highlights of these legendary nights. Photos are by Davy Ellis, Kit Haig and Lea Killen, photographers who all reside in the North-East.

Praxis Gallery, Ampersand Inventions, Newcastle, NE1 6QE 14+ (14-17 to be accompanied by an adult Free entry

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TRUTH Curated by Bobby Tiwana Supported by Gem Arts.

Monday 1st and Monday 8th July

HOW DO YOU MAKE EXPERIMENTAL ART PROJECTS THAT ARE INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE TO THE CORE? Wednesday 3rd July 5:00pm

Seeing and being in a world, feeling different from those around

Post-screening discussion with industry contributors.

How we love, support, ignore and withdraw, from our nearest and dearest

ARC Stockton features Live responses from local artists; supported by Live Cinema.

Navigating the tumultuous road, to find our truth

Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, NE1 6QG Monday 1st July 6:00pm. 120mins 15+ £7.25–£10.75 Book: Tynesidecinema.co.uk

Confronted by resistant ideas, of femininity and masculinity A programme of compelling shorts from around the world comprising narrative and dramatised personal testimony with reference to historical, political and cultural ideas on gender, sexuality and survival. Countries include Mexico, Greece, Russia, USA, the UK and more.

ARC, Stockton, TS18 1LL Monday 8th July 7:00pm. 120mins 15+ Pay what you decide Book: arconline.co.uk

Join Wunderbar’s Ilana Mitchell and Karl Taylor from Glasgow’s Buzzcut in a conversation hailing the launch of It’s Time - a collection of case studies from Live Art UK. This new book demonstrates that through creative resistance – of patriarchy, of white supremacy, of ableism, of corporate interest and austerity – Live Art can determine its own future, and that of the world around it.

Come and have a drink and get your own copy at a special discount price. wunderbar.org.uk Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP 14+ (14–17 to be accompanied by an adult) 60mins Free, no booking required

THE LONG TABLE Presented by Slate: Black. Arts.

World Saturday 6th July 5:00pm After last year’s sold out event, Slate returns with an artist-led discussion that invites inspirational Black LGBTQ artists based in the North to share their artistic practice, discuss the barriers that exist around creating new work and offer some solutions. The Long Table is an open panel format where audience members can 'take a seat at the table' and join the debate.

Come along, have a bite to eat, join the conversation and put the arts world to rights.

Led by Eclipse, Slate is a three-year movement supporting Black artists in the North to work on a local, national and international level.

Featured artists to be announced. For further information contact: degna@eclipsetheatre.org.uk Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH 14+ (14–17 to be accompanied by an adult)

Free but booking required eclipsetheatre.org.uk

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*GENDER NOT INCLUDED

By Melody Sproates Tuesday 2nd July 7:30pm and Saturday 13th July 6:00pm SPACE: A HERSTORY By dandysocpic Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd July 6:15pm Have you ever fallen in love on the dancefloor? Have you ever fallen in love with a room full of strangers all at once?

SPACE: A Herstory is about queer spaces; the clubs, squats, cruising areas, support groups, the protests, the vigils. It’s about places that have gone before us, the memories that live in these places that no longer exist. What would queer spaces look like if our history was rewritten?

A story created from personal memories, remembered stories told by other people; a mixture of theatre, live-art and sound installation. It seeks to document a history which is at risk of being erased. It’s a place for you; it’s a space for us to play, clown, drag and celebrate. It’ll be a place to come together.

BSL interpretation on Wednesday.

Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP 50mins plus post show discussion (Tuesday) 14+ (14-17 to be accompanied by an adult) £8 | £12 ticket deal when booked with *gender not included (Tues 2nd) Book: alphabettitheatre.co.uk

Supported artist.

This one person non-binary cabaret performance explores gender identity, selfdiscovery and acceptance, using the personal experiences of writer and performer Melody Sproates. They use the power of lip-sync to tell their story, meeting sound clips from The Prodigy and Piers Morgan along the way.

Melody makes challenging and sometimes daft work to help represent the underrepresented, break binaries and to just have a bit of a dance to some bops. *gender not included is Melody’s first full-length work, and is supported by public funds from Arts Council England.

Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP 60mins plus post show discussion (Tuesday) 14+ £8 | £12 ticket deal when booked with SPACE: A Herstory (Tues 2nd) Book: alphabettitheatre.co.uk

Supported artist.

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QUENTIN CRISP: NAKED HOPE

By Mark Farrelly Wednesday 3rd July 7:30pm

POST POPULAR

By Lucy McCormick Wednesday 3rd July 7:30pm Following her genre-defying smash-hit, Triple Threat, Lucy McCormick is back to crawl through the annals of history in this enthusiastically humiliating exploration of power and purpose. With help from her girl squad Sam Kennedy and Ted Rodgers, Lucy is back with her trademark concoction of dance, song, absurdest art and minor breakdowns.

Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP 60mins 18+ £8 Book: alphabettitheatre.co.uk

Naked Hope is a gloriously uplifting salute to a genuine one-off, and an urgent reminder to live every day as your true self…no matter what they say.

This much-acclaimed solo play, fresh from its recent Off-Broadway debut, shows Quentin in his beloved Chelsea flat in the 1960s, and in his final years in his adopted New York.

From a conventional upbringing to global notoriety via The Naked Civil Servant, Quentin Crisp was an extraordinary raconteur and wit. Openly gay as early as the 1930s, Quentin spent decades being beaten up on London’s streets for his refusal to be anything less than himself. His courage, and the powerful philosophy that evolved from those experiences, inspire to the present day.

Middlesbrough Theatre, Middlesbrough, TS5 6SA 75mins plus post show discussion 16+ (16-17 to be accompanied by an adult) £15.50 Book: middlesbroughtheatre.co.uk

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ARC IS CURIOUS Thursday 4th July Film Screening 7:00pm, Cabaret 7:30pm An evening of live performance, comedy and cabaret. Expect a colourful, energetic and varied night, exploring and celebrating LGBTQ culture. Featuring performances by Lucy McCormick, Melody Sproates, Jamie Tansley and a screening of STEALTH, a short film by Saffron Mee, exploring the diversity of gender non-conformity.

BSL interpretation.

ARC, Stockton, TS18 1LL 90mins 16+ (16 –17 to be accompanied by an adult) Pay what you decide Book: arconline.co.uk

SEX EDUCATION

By Harry Clayton Wright Friday 5th July 8:00pm One parent refuses to talk about sex - the other buys their child gay porn DVDs. Sex Education blends startling performance, moving storytelling and a no-holds-barred interview with Harry’s mum and some good old-fashioned gay porn that his dad bought when he was 14. A show for anyone who’s wondered why they want what they want.

Winner of the LGBTQ Brighton Fringe Award (2017). *Please note this performance contains sexual scenes and a description of sexual violence.

Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP 60mins 18+ £10 Book: alphabettitheatre.co.uk

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RENT PARTY Saturday 6th July 7:15pm Being Broke Never Looked So Fierce.

We’re inviting you to a party, we’re going to entertain you with all our friends – dancers, singers and musicians – we’re going to vogue, we’re going to party and we’re going to create a kaleidoscopic picture of what it means to be young, gifted, black…and poor, and gay.

Rent Party is an immersive show about 21st-Century Austerity Britain, created by an extraordinary group of artists inspired by the poetry of Langston Hughes and the Rent Parties of the 1920’s Harlem Renaissance.

SCRATCH AND LEMON Friday 5th July 9:30pm A platform of experimental and entertaining queer performance hosted and featuring a performance by Ginny Lemon. Showcasing works in development from Curious Arts Development Bursary recipients exploring and celebrating LGBTQ themes.

Ticket price includes entry to after party until late with DJ Ginny Lemon.

Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP 60mins 18+ £6 Book: alphabettitheatre.co.uk

Once the performance stops, the party continues with Curious Vogue Ball at Dance City.

Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH 75mins 14+ (14–17 accompanied by an adult) From £10 Book: northernstage.co.uk

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MORE SHOWS TO BE CURIOUS ABOUT AT NORTHERN STAGE

CURIOUS VOGUE BALL Saturday 6th July 9:00pm Our annual Curious Vogue Ball is back and this year the party comes to Dance City!

The Vogue Ball is an ultimate celebration of North East LGBTQ and Vogue Culture, an evening of Vogue from community participants and professional Vogue Houses from across the North.

Voguing is a highly stylized, modern house dance developed in the 1980’s by LGBTQ people of colour to create and own their own space, becoming a celebration of their culture.

Gary Clarke Company presents

Ursula Martinez’s

WASTELAND

MY STORIES, YOUR EMAILS

Wed 25 - Thu 26 Sep, 7.30pm

Wed 23 Oct, 8pm

Watch in awe or get involved and perform at the Vogue Ball - register as a house or individual by contacting hello@curiousarts.org.uk or join Curious Voguing workshops during Curious Festival 2019 to be part of pop-up Vogue House, House of Curious. Hosted by Jonathan Mayor and Poke.

Dance City, Newcastle, NE1 4BR 140mins 18+ £13.50 | Students £8 | Concessions £11 Book: dancecity.co.uk

POP UP EXHIBITION: AMUSEMENTS

By Stuart Langley Monday 1st July–Sunday 21st July Suggested viewing time 9pm onwards

FRISKY AND MANNISH: POPLAB Fri 25 Oct, 7.30pm

Hackney Showroom presents

TRAVIS ALABANZA’S BURGERZ Mon 11 Nov, 7.45pm

TICKETS FROM £10 BOOK NOW: 0191 230 5151 NORTHERNSTAGE.CO.UK

A carnivalesque sign dazzles with the promise of enjoyment and leisure yet reveals hidden words and phrases with a contradictory feel to encourage viewers to consider the underlying, often capitalist, intentions of signage cloaked with hypnotic light and colour. ‘Amusements’ is an illuminated text work born from a collaboration between Stuart Langley and Dave O’Donnell.

Tyneside Pop Up Gallery, Pilgrim Street Newcastle, NE1 6QG 16+ Free, no need to book

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Sunday 7th July 7:00pm This lively evening explores gender through queer performance and screenings by celebrated local and national artists.

BALTIC is Curious’ triple bill includes: DRAG SYNDROME The starting point is the art. Before Down’s Syndrome, before extra chromosome, before disability, before anything. We are Drag Syndrome! Freshly fierced! The world’s first Drag troupe featuring highly addictive drag queens and kings with Down’s Syndrome.

TOMBO(Y)LA

By Amy Bell A conversation with a dancer dancing in conversation with their gender. A rolling archive of tomboyhood. A drop-in durtational installation. Give it a spin.

What is a tomboy? How does that word live in the body and why would anybody want to grow out of it? How does the gene pool lottery connect with learned patterns of movement to shape our felt sense of body, gender, self and belonging?

ROYAL NORTHERN SINFONIA IS CURIOUS Tuesday 9th July 8:00pm Compered by legendary performer and (wo)man Marlene Dietrich, Curious Arts and Sage Gateshead present RNS is Curious!

TOMBO(Y)LA dances in that space between language and embodiment and opens up the gaps between names, nouns, declarations and the affects, emotions and potentials of embodiment.

DANCE ME TO THE END OF LOVE

By Lazlo Pearlman A 10 minute cabaret/boylesque performance that explores intimacy, love, partnering and the transgender body.

Includes frontal nudity.

A concert celebrating classical chamber music by LGBTQ composers throughout the ages, including Tchaikovsky, Britten and Bernstein, the performance will close Curious Festival 2019 in unforgettable style.

BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, NE8 3BA 16+ (16–17 accompanied by an adult) £12 / £8 concessions / £10 before 30 June BSL interpretation.

Sage Gateshead, Gateshead, NE8 2JR 120mins all ages £14.50 Book: sagegateshead.com

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BIRD LA BIRD’S TRAVELLING QUEER PEOPLE’S HISTORY SHOW

Extra special event added

Saturday 13th July 8:00pm A spoof lecture which takes a DIY punk approach to history. This is history for the Netflix generation squashing a boxset worth of true queer stories into a show. Beginning in the vast prison that once stood on the site of today’s Tate Britain, and lovingly traces the lives of queer prisoners across centuries and continents.

One of the most remarkable stories in the show is the life of Alonzo Johnson who may be one of the first genderqueer people in Newcastle’s history.

Flinging the doors of the queer past open she lays bare the interlocking histories of the British Empire, class exploitation and homophobia and links this to contemporary issues of global LGBTQI refugees.

Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle, NE1 4HP 75mins 18+ Pay what you decide Book: alphabettitheatre.co.uk

For access information please contact hello@curiousarts.co.uk

QUEER ARTS NORTH (QAN) NETWORK LAUNCH Tuesday 2nd July 2:00pm–5:00pm Calling all LGBTQ artists and creatives across the North. Join us for the launch of a pilot LGBTQ Arts Network for the North. This sector focused event includes a panel discussion, the launch of QAN seed commissions and artist travel bursaries. The afternoon will close with a LGBTQ focused ’Meet the producers/ programmers’ pitch and network event. For more information please see curiousarts.org.uk/ queer-arts-north Northern Stage, Newcastle, NE1 7RH Free, book via Eventbrite

QAN network members Curious Arts (Newcastle /Gateshead) Contact Theatre (Manchester) Cake Tin Foundation/Mother’s Ruin (Manchester) Transcreative (Manchester) Black Gold Arts (Manchester) Homotopia (Liverpool) Yorkshire Dance (Yorkshire) Northern Stage (Newcastle)

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