Celebrating 50 years of Pride and community collaboration during COVID-19
Arts organizations remain resilient, cultivating space by and for LGBTQIA+ communities through unforgettable online programming and captivating art
The beginning of summer ordinarily signals the start of LGBTQIA+ Pride celebrations filled with thrilling parades, community resources, and exciting art in cities across the world. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced planning for 2020 Pride events to stop abruptly in early spring. With this year marking a special milestone in Pride history, the 50th anniversary of the first Pride parade in the U.S., California’s arts organizations have created inspiring opportunities for online community engagement throughout the season.
With millions unable to gather at large-scale events in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco to celebrate Pride’s golden anniversary, many arts organizations and artists have turned this unprecedented situation into a pivotal moment to collaborate with local groups and embrace diverse audiences across the state who otherwise may not have access to organizations, resources, and events for LGBTQIA+ communities in their regions.
The arts have an undeniable ability to bring communities together, providing opportunities to share unique experiences and learn authentically from others. Below, you will find a small selection of community engagement projects from California’s arts and culture sector, including current California Arts Council grantees.
CounterPulse (San Francisco)
CounterPulse, a performing arts theater providing space and resources for emerging artists and cultural innovators and serving as an incubator for the creation of socially relevant, community-based art and culture projects, partnered with the Transgender Cultural District, the first legally recognized transgender district in the world, to paint the “Black Trans Lives Matter” mural at the historic Turk and Taylor streets intersection in San Francisco. Community members and volunteers, supplied with masks, came together to create the dynamic piece and commemorate the 54th anniversary of the Compton’s Cafeteria Riots, the first documented uprising of transgender and queer people in U.S., which took place in the Tenderloin neighborhood in 1966. CounterPulse is a grantee of the California Arts Council.
Diversionary Theatre (San Diego)
Diversionary Theatre, a theater organization providing an inspiring and thought-provoking platform to explore complex and diverse LGBT stories which influence the larger cultural discussion, partnered with community members and local organizations to highlight members of the BIPOC community through narrative and performance. The organization’s new free storytelling series Open Flame provides a proverbial campfire for community members to gather around and share a five-minute story or spoken-word piece inspired by a unique theme. Following the cancellation of in-person events for San Diego Pride, the theater partnered with The Old Globe to live-stream new plays from diverse, local LGBTQ playwrights to bring the community together online after months of social distancing. Diversionary Theatre is a grantee of the California Arts Council.
Fresh Meat Productions (San Francisco)
Fresh Meat Productions, an arts organization investing in the creative expression and cultural leadership of transgender and gender-nonconforming communities, partnered with Bay Area LGBTQ+ organizations to produce #stayFRESHatHOME for community online. The free series offers short videos featuring guided movement, dance, meditation, and singing led by brilliant trans and queer artists. Each week, participants receive a new video in their inbox supporting their wellness, embodiment, breath, and connection during COVID-19. During June, the organization held the 19th annual Fresh Meat Festival of trans and queer performance, with more than 3,000 participants viewing the online event highlighting past performances from 31 artists performing jaw-dropping vogue, transgender opera, sizzling hip-hop, and queer bomba dance. Fresh Meat Productions is a grantee of the California Arts Council.
QWOCMAP (San Francisco)
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP) — an arts organization using film to shatter stereotypes and bias, reveal the lived truth of inequality, and build community around art and activism — hosted the 16th annual San Francisco International Queer Women of Color Film Festival premiering 31 brand new films in June. The focus of this year’s online event was “SafeSpace/NoPlace: LBTQ People of Color,” expanding on discussions about the meaning of safety for LBTQ+ people of color both outside on the streets and inside homes typically thought of as safe. Subtitles were available for all films, with live captioning offered for introductory remarks and interactive filmmaker Q&As. QWOCMAP is a grantee of the California Arts Council.
Los Angeles LGBT Center (Los Angeles)
Los Angeles LGBT Center, a community-resource organization committed to building a world where LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society, partnered with Plants and Animals LA to provide 70 free meals to senior community members. The organization also hosted a special Honor Our LGBT Elders Day virtual concert on May 16 to celebrate the lives of older LGBT adults and honor their contributions to history. The concert, comprised of both live and pre-recorded performances, marked the first time that many senior community members saw friends since the pandemic began. Los Angeles LGBT Center is a grantee of the California Arts Council.
Additional Community Projects
We featured only a small number in this story, but meaningful work from creative organizations is happening daily in communities across our state. Click the links below for a handful of other examples of how the arts are supporting California’s communities at this time.
Creative Uplift is a California Arts Council series celebrating California’s arts and culture community. We invite you to follow along on social media as we share the inspirational work of our creative communities far and wide, using the hashtag #CreativeUplift. And we welcome each of you to share your own experiences of art as a source of change, compassion, comfort, healing, and unity in your own communities using the same hashtag.
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