CO The Creative Couples Project is about contemporary couples who refuse to be pinned down to accepted roles and defy preconceived gender, career or relationship stereotypes to live truly creative lives.

CO_The Creative Couples Project will feature eclectic, creative couples living in Australia. Couples who define what it means to live creatively and push the boundaries…. these duos typify what creative teams do; inspire and support each other. They are mutual muses, creative co-pilots, and a force to be reckoned with.

Cecile and Belinda are proud to include several gay and lesbian creative couples in this book as featured couples and project team members. Phyllis Papps is an editor, a professional in her field over many decades who brings experience and professionalism to the table, and Michelle Dunn is our photographer and a creative couple alongside her partner Alison Shirley.

Phyllis and her partner of 42 years, Francesca Curtis, are icons of our community. They were founding members of the Australian branch of Daughters of Bilitis, and we are proud to be offering a piece of history as part of our Pozible crowdfunding campaign.

In 1970, Francesca made history by appearing on television as the first woman to publicly declare her homosexuality in this forum. That she stated, “I was born this way” decades before this became a catch cry for a new generation is only part of what makes this special.

Cecile and Belinda want to highlight that this project will particularly interest an LGBTI historian or collector. We are bringing this to your attention in the hopes that your readers and supporters may be interested to know more about this book as well as to have the chance to own the audio and transcript of that recorded interview which we can offer thanks to ALGA (Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives). An LGBTI historian or collector would be most interested in the ALGA Audio DVD.”