Happening: No Rainbows, But Lots of Pride
With love from our team.
This roundup was originally shared in our Happening newsletter, a weekly mix of new projects, buzzworthy stories, and other things our team is excited about. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Tuesday (and sometimes, Saturday).
Happy Pride, friends! If you’re looking for the rainbow plastered across our logo, you’re out of luck (and touch, sugar!). But if you woke up this morning with a burning desire to celebrate Pride by hearing from Team Kickstarter’s thotty queer nephew™ (and recruiter), read on.
Queer artists have been pooling their resources to create communal housing on the very Brooklyn waterfront that houses Kickstarter HQ since the 1940s (and likely earlier). The trans community has been crowdfunding gender confirmation surgeries and other acts of survival since before the internet existed. Regional queer newspapers have a long-standing practice of combining national advertising bookings to promote collective success. In short, queer and trans communities have been about this crowdfunding life.
Queer crowdfunding is an embodiment of our community’s legacy of self-reliance. It’s a practice that allowed me to make music that didn’t hide behind veiled pronouns or hazy metaphors for the first time. It’s critical in our continued fight for representation, safety, autonomy, and change.
As such, in celebration of Pride month, I’m thrilled to draw your attention to the Kickstarter campaigns below. My queer colleagues have identified these projects, creators, and resources as personally meaningful. If you’re looking to celebrate with a bit of substance, you know what to do.
xx
Russell Elliot
Member of Kickstarter’s People team
Past and future Kickstarter Music creator
Live projects we love
Soulfire: Book One of the Soulfire Chronicles
By Chaz Harris
“LGBTQ+ kids and teens so rarely get to see themselves in books, especially as the hero. This middle-grade adventure story featuring a queer protagonist who teams up with a crew of talented artists to fight against a great evil seems destined to become an instant classic.”
— Margot Atwell, Senior Director of Publishing
All Together Now!
By Molly Allis
“You can’t be what you can’t see! In All Together Now, Molly Allis creates a world of kindness and inclusivity that’s inhabited by people with different gender identities, family structures, and cultural backgrounds that just about anyone will be able to identify with.”
— Elise McCave, Director of Narrative Film
LYAN SS20
By Leeyiyang Lyan
“Lyan blends queer culture with traditional Chinese design to challenge perceptions of gender and spark conversation in a country where these issues can be difficult to raise. He takes both personal and creative risks by speaking up and not letting anyone or anything stop him from expressing himself. My personal favorite in the collection is the silver 女 earring!”
— Joris Lam, Design & Technology Outreach, Asia
Divine Spark, or Young Man Move Over Here
By Nick Martin
“I love this project because it challenges what society has adopted as the law of the land when it comes to spirituality, religion, and faith. And what better way to challenge societal norms than through the collaborative art form of the people, theater?”
— Lauren Renner, Associate Art Director
Crush: First Love, New Talent
By Tara Avery
“First loves are as intoxicating and all-consuming as they are awkward and adorable. But as a young queer girl, I didn’t have access to enough romance that centered on folks like me. This project fills that void, and what makes it extra great is that it includes queer artists from around the world, which just demonstrates how strong and beautiful solidarity is.”
— Camilla Zhang, Comics Outreach
Acordes (Chords)
By Antonio de la Torre
“This short film deals with queerness among the elderly, a subject that is not often discussed when speaking about the LGBTQ+ community. I find this story refreshing, and it makes me think of my grandmother. Not everybody is proud of their sexuality from a young age, but it’s never too late.”
— Célia Vermicelli, México Outreach
Past creators who make us proud
Fatventure Mag
By Alice Lesperance and Samantha Puc
“Fatventure Mag unabashedly spreads the message that fat bodies deserve to take up space. Our world constantly tells fat bodies that we are limited; that we can’t do things that others do and feel happiness the same way that others feel — and Fatventure Mag actively seeks to combat these toxic narratives. I love supporting queer creators who help enable folx to feel joy!”
—Cait Charniga, Senior Product Designer
We’re Still Here: An All-Trans Comics Anthology
By Tara Avery
“I found this anthology in the library of the Kickstarter office last fall and brought it home so I could read it and cry in the comfort of my own room (and eventually purchased a copy of my own). Projects like this remind me how powerful it is for QTPOC creators to have access to resources for their creative projects. It’s so cool to see stories like mine in print.”
—RV Dougherty, Trust & Safety Analyst
This Might Hurt Tarot Deck
By Isabella Rotman
“I’m excited to hone my tarot chops with a beautiful deck in which ‘queerness is lovingly acknowledged,’ and to use those readings to build a stronger practice of daily loving acknowledgement and celebration of queerness.”
—Alex Kennedy, Trust & Safety Analyst
Sketchbook by Fyodor Pavlov
By The Royal Baritarian Players
“Sketchbooks are such private, personal things, full of almost-ideas and sketches of thoughts and the early phases of a creative notion taking shape. Getting to see the roots of ideas is incredibly inspirational to me, and Fyodor Pavlov’s sketchbook is so full of magic that all it takes is a flip through it for me to feel the tug to create something of my own. His work is often erotic, sometimes dark, decidedly queer, and always breathtakingly beautiful.”
—MH McFerren, Lead Trust & Safety Analyst
And if you’re in NYC …
On Saturday, June 22, Housing Works Bookstore Cafe and Kickstarter Music are honoring Pride and the 50th anniversary of Stonewall with a fundraising festival that celebrates the range and diversity of queer performance. All ticket, merchandise, and bar revenue will support Housing Works’ lifesaving services and advocacy work for people living with homelessness and HIV/AIDS in New York City. RSVP here.
