Luki Massa tackled a tough truth: lesbians facing disability, neurodivergence, poverty, migration or fatphobia are routinely sidelined even within queer cultural spaces. Their project made intersectional accessibility a political priority in Bologna, directly supporting the EL*C Strengthening the Lesbian Movement program‘s goals of building stronger advocacy capacity, increasing political influence, and advancing lesbian rights across Europe.
Based in Bologna – home to their renowned Some Prefer Cake lesbian film festival – the project unfolded through three interconnected actions designed to shift both perceptions and practices around who gets to participate in cultural and public life.
In August-September 2025, they launched a striking street campaign with 300 posters declaring “More Space for Lesbians.” Created with feminist agency Comunicattive and Fotonica’s stereotype-free image bank, the visuals centred disabled, fat, migrant and neurodivergent lesbian bodies across Bologna’s central and peripheral neighbourhoods. Each poster carried a QR code linking to project details, and with municipal patronage, the campaign gained widespread visibility. Instagram posts about the campaign and upcoming conference reached over 16,000 accounts, generating hundreds of likes and reposts that amplified the message far beyond the streets.
This visibility fed into the project’s core event: the three-day conference “Facciamo spazio alle lesbiche” (Let’s make room for lesbians). Held in fully accessible municipal venues, it drew over 120 women and non-binary participants across four sessions. The program opened with accessibility training for cultural workers led by Al.Di.Qua Artists, followed by a panel uniting anti-racist, disability and fat activists with Bologna city councillors and regional officials to expose exclusionary patterns in cultural production. The final day brought together festival programmers, scholars and young lesbian filmmakers to discuss intersectional representation in cinema. Italian Sign Language interpreters and English translation ensured broad access, while networking aperitifs built concrete alliances between grassroots groups and institutional gatekeepers.
To ensure lasting impact, Luki Massa produced a bilingual Italian/English Vademecum – a practical guide summarising tools and best practices for inclusive cultural programming. Fully WCAG-accessible and published as downloadable PDFs on the association’s website, the guide was crafted by the Some Prefer Cake artistic team with input from accessibility experts. It now serves as a concrete resource for NGOs, festivals and cultural organisations across Europe seeking to monitor rights, advocate effectively, and design events where marginalised lesbians can fully participate.
The results were clear and far-reaching. The project boosted public visibility for the most excluded lesbian subjectivities, opened structured dialogue channels with local institutions, and equipped cultural workers with replicable tools for change. Luki Massa strengthened its intersectional approach, expanded its activist networks, and gained practical experience in managing complex accessibility work – all feeding back into future festival editions and broader advocacy efforts. The campaign visuals, conference recordings and Vademecum remain active resources, ensuring that the fight for intersectional lesbian access continues to shape European cultural and political spaces.
