My name is King Confuza and I'm the creative director of Cryptid Queers.

Cryptid Queers began as a tiny basement show in 2021 to an audience of 40 or so people and with the support of the alt drag community we have helped to build in Sheffield it's grown to be the UK's largest celebration of drag monsters and alt drag. We have produced over 15 events since then including our flagship event Cryptid Queers at FORGE Warehouse, and our showcases for graduates of our not-for-profit arts initiative Camp Cryptid, as well as some memorable collabs such as our appearance at Celluloid Screams in 2025. This summer we are going all out and producing the world's first ever drag monster festival right here in Sheffield and we need your help to make it accessible to all.

Throughout the years of running Cryptid Queers it has always had the goal of building and nurturing an alt drag community in Sheffield and has always been ran not for profit even though we have never had access to funding it just felt correct to run it that way. I do mean that quite literally as well as I haven't taken a wage from it ever. In addition to throwing all the funds I've saved for the past 4.5 years of producing Cryptid I have also donated all of my earnings from my freelance appearances as King Confuza for the past few years. In addition to this we threw a fundraiser in May which has helped with costs some. We have attempted to secure corporate sponsorship and also explored other funding avenues but have so far been unsuccessful which is why we are reaching out now.

I don't want anyone reading this to panic and think the festival isn't going ahead - we have made contingencies for it to make a loss or at best break even as this is common for a first time festival which is entirely self funded. But the costs to produce this event - which in all sincerity is my love letter to the alt drag community, are considerable and one of my concerns is that we can't afford to make it financially accessible to a lot of our regulars.

Some of you are aware we always offer at least 50 concession tickets for our regular events, these have not increased in price in line with our event costs as the regular ticket types have. We usually release these when we are feeling more confident we can at least break even, but with this event it's highly likely that will not happen and this means potentially many of our regulars will not be able to attend due to lack of funds. We think it's really important to make this event accessible to everyone from the community who has shown up to support us over the years and not exclude them or make them feel like they're not welcome at this event which includes some of the most exciting headliners we have ever been able to feature.

In addition to financial accessibility we also want to make the event physically accessible to as many people as possible.

Cryptid Queers is run by disabled people. Many of us have spent years navigating events that weren’t built with us in mind. We know what it feels like to be excluded, to be told “we didn’t think about that”, or to be invited into a space that isn’t actually accessible. We’ve lived through those barriers, we’ve felt that disappointment and we absolutely refuse to recreate it.

Our goal is to build a festival where disabled queer people are a central part of the celebration because accessibility should never be something to be tacked on at the end and should be something weaved into every part of the festival, from the stage to the seating to the way people move through the space.

To make this possible, we’re raising £5,000 to fund essential accessibility measures, including:

Live captioning for performances and shows - we include captions in our drag acts as standard but it would be amazing for the hosts and the competitions to also to have captions so no one is missing out on any aspect of the entertainment

Accessible seating - we always have benches at the venue but they don't offer back support so we would love to hire chairs for our disabled patrons

Concession tickets for disabled attendees and those facing financial barriers - including free tickets if we receive enough funding.

These vital services will allow those on low incomes and queer people with disabilities to attend safely, comfortably, and joyfully. They make it possible for our audience to show up fully, without having to fight for the right to be included.

The reality is that accessibility is expensive. As an independent queer‑run event, we rely on community support to make these commitments sustainable. Every donation whether it’s £3 or £30 will directly help us remove barriers and create a space where disabled queer joy is protected.

If you can donate, share, or spread the word, you’re helping us build a festival where every single body and mind can celebrate the joy of monster drag with us.

Thank you for supporting Cryptid Queers Fest!