Ben Walters
(aka Dr Duckie), Badge Cafe

Ben Walters (aka Dr Duckie) runs Badge Cafe, a project that helps people relax, create and connect by making badges out of old books and magazines. It’s inspired by his academic research on/with queer performance collective Duckie and their community-facing participatory creative projects - or “homemade mutant hope machines”, as Ben calls them. These “hope machines” support individuals and groups in imagining how better worlds might look, feel and work, and beginning to bring them into existence, one small step at a time.

The Posh Club is a glamorous performance and social club for older people held regularly in five locations across London and the South East. It is a glamorous weekly event held in the heart of the community in elegantly transformed church halls and other grass roots spaces and emphasises dressing up, regular access to live performance, social connectivity and intergenerational volunteering.

Find out more at duckie.co.uk/drduckie and badgecafe.com.