Downtown Pompey is a queer-led theatre and heritage company based in Portsmouth, UK. Founded in 2020, the organisation uses performance, storytelling, and creative practice to celebrate local voices and explore queer identity, history, and community.

With a mission to make the arts accessible, inclusive, and community-driven, Downtown Pompey operates across four strands — Community, Heritage, Youth and Professional Theatre. Their work invites people of all backgrounds to connect through shared creativity, empowering those often excluded from traditional arts spaces to see themselves reflected and celebrated.

Downtown Pompey’s projects range from cabaret and film to interactive heritage workshops and mapping initiatives. Highlights include Knees Up! — a joyful cabaret showcasing Portsmouth’s vibrant drag and performance scene; Queer Mapping of Portsmouth — a living archive of LGBTQ+ safe(r) spaces; and Interactive Histories in partnership with Portsmouth Museums, where participants bring local stories to life through performance.

At the heart of Downtown Pompey’s approach are six guiding values: Connectivity, Creativity, Collaboration, Challenge, Choice, and Courage. These principles shape everything they do, from inclusive project design to how they hold space for participants’ stories.

Working closely with community members, local councils, schools, and heritage organisations, Downtown Pompey champions intersectionality, political queerness, and collective care — building a city where everyone has a voice and a place to be heard.

Downtown Pompey

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Downtown Pompey

Org chart

Teams

Offices

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