LSAD Runway to Drag 2023 set to slay at Wickham Way

LSAD Runway to Drag 2023 returns to Wickham Way this February 9. LSAD Runway to Drag 2022 raised funds for ROSA and All Out Ukraine.

This year’s Runway to Drag event will raise funds for TENI and GOSHH

By I Love Limerick correspondent Cian Reinhardt

LSAD Runway to Drag 2023 show will return to Wickham Way this Thursday, February 9, and will see the return of the amazing Candy Warhol in hosting the event.

Now entering its fifth year, the charity event returns off the back of last year’s event which raised €2000 for Rosa Limerick and All Out Ukraine, and is noted as one of the biggest charity events run by students in Ireland, with 500 people attending the 2022 event.

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Queer LSAD is happy to announce the 2023 Runway to Drag show will consist of a fashion show, displaying the works of fashion made by students from Limerick School of Art and Design (LSAD), a drag competition with 5 contestants, and an exhibition of works by fine art students will be installed at the venue.

The proceeds of the 2023 Runway to Drag event will be donated to TENI (Transgender Equality Network Ireland) which works to advance the rights and equality and improve the lives of trans people and their families, and GOSHH (Gender Orientation Sexual Health HIV) whose vision is to create an environment where the mental, emotional, physical and social well-being of everyone is promoted and sexual rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.

The charities for this year’s event were chosen at the Queer LSAD society meetups when members were asked which charities they would like to see supported.

Chair of Queer LSAD, Nicole Clifford said it meant a lot choosing this year’s charities as they wanted to “bring TENI and GOSHH to the front”.

She said, “Choosing a charity is very important for us, we choose either through votes on social media or through our queer soc meets.”

“This year we chose at our society meets, it’s important because we are running an event around supporting queer artists, pushing queer people to the front, all designers, models, artists and everyone hired are queer. We wanted to bring TENI and GOSHH to the front because they can be forgotten even though they do so much work for the community.”

Host of the event is Candy Warhol, who also hosts Comedy Central UK’s ‘Dragony Aunts’ and the Friends of Dorothy podcast and is “mutha of tha haus” at Mockie Ah, Ireland’s leading drag house. Candy Warhol has previously hosted events for major international brands such as Viacom, MTV, Comedy Central, eBay, Facebook, Google, Primark along with dozens of national Pride festivals.

Nicole, who helped organise the event alongside co-chair Javier Tapier, said Runway to Drag is “so important” for the college:

“This is so important to our college, it’s running 5 years now, it’s important to the queer community to learn about and celebrate queer balls, and how it all started.

“The event is inspired by Paris is Burning, it’s important for the younger generation of queer people to experience this new form of ball too.”

The fashion and drag show takes place on Thursday, February 9 at 6:30pm, tickets for the show are €20 and tickets for the Amber Nightclub afterparty at 9:30pm are €5 and are available at LSAD and this Saturday Wickham Way between 10am to 12pm. There will also be limited tickets available on the door.

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Find out more about Candy Warhol.