Introducing Quingo Starlequinn!
Quingo Starlequinn the National Drummer was co-designed by young people from Heart n Soul’s Do Your Own Thing and Emergency Exit Arts.
Quingo was a commission by artist Jeremy Deller and the National Gallery as part of The Triumph of Art.
Heart n Soul is an award-winning creative community and arts charity. We believe in the power and talents of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. We work together to make great art with imagination, love and trust.
Over the course of a year, young people from Do Your Own Thing with Emergency Exit Arts and the National Gallery co-designed a large scale puppet and DJ booth. It was to be part of a procession created by the young people up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. There it would become the focal point for a party led by the Do Your Own Thing DJs.
“We thought about what we wanted the puppet to be, what we wanted it to do, and what we wanted it to look like. We decided together it would be a drummer, that would have 4 faces with distinct looks and actions. Using designs drawn during the sessions the costume for Quingo was created, including Emmett’s ‘Good Chaos’ energy jacket and ‘Mary’s Horse’ trousers, based on the National Gallery’s Whistlejacket by George Stubbs"
Do Your Own Thing Participant
“We visited the Emergency Exit Arts workshop to see Quingo being built, to make badges for the drum/DJ Booth and Quingo’s hair. The name Quingo Starlequinn comes from us thinking they looked like a Harlequin and mixing that with famous Beatles drummer’s name Ringo Starr.”
Do Your Own Thing Participant
"Some of the Do Your Own Thing DJs took part in a test afternoon with Quingo in Deptford, but the first time we all got to experience Quingo properly was on 25 July 2025 at The Triumph of Art."
Do Your Own Thing Participant
For Freedom Festival in Hull, we teamed up with two brilliant local groups: TIC, a Tourette’s support group, and Sunflower Music, a disability music group.
Together with local facilitators and Tony Mason, who made the original Quingo puppet, they reinvented Quingo for Hull. TIC designed two bold new faces that show what living with Tourette’s really feels like. With Sunflower Music they recorded their own voices, which dropped in between the tracks so that everyone on the dancefloor heard their story.
Then Quingo hit the streets. With DJ Ash pumping out the music from the booth and TIC’s choreography leading the way, the city came alive as the procession made its way through. Hundreds of people joined in and copied Quingo’s every move. Strangers danced together and friends were made along the way.When Quingo arrived in Trinity Square, Sunflower Music was waiting with a beautiful live set. The crowd stayed to soak it up, blown away by the talent on their doorstep.
Quingo put people who are rarely seen at festivals right at the centre of one, and showed that Tourette’s, a condition so often met with stigma, can be the heart of a celebration
“The spectacular parade was created in collaboration with local disability groups, making it a brilliant celebration of creativity, music, inclusion, friendship and community. We danced together. We sang together. We connected with people we may never otherwise have met. And most importantly.. WE HAD FUN! A huge heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who took part and helped make this such a special and significant moment in history.”
Hull participant and Volunteer for Freedom Festival.
Quingo will be appearing at Activate Festival next September. We are hopeful to secure further funding to work with more Learning Disabled and Neurodiverse groups to make them central is shaping events in the Outdoor Arts sector.
