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HeART & Soul: 10 Years of Arts Merging and Hearts Emerging

Posted on March 28, 2019
A photo of HeART & Soul founder Kevin Anderson.

Imagine an artistic experience that instantly evokes a feeling of community. Imagine a stage on which no subject is too taboo, where no performer hides behind insecurities. Imagine an event that encourages true genuineness—free of shame, judgement, or expectation. Imagine a space where there are no demands to conform artistically, socially, or sexually; performers are fully allowed to own their individual truths. Yet, this space is not a figment of our imagination—it existed for 10 years as a monthly performance…

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OUTsider Fest to ‘Unlock the Cabinet of QUEERIOSITIES’ in Austin

Posted on February 15, 2019
A photo of Felix and the Future at OUTsider Fest.

Given the current state of our country, it is more important than ever that we embrace our queerness with ferocity. We must continue to challenge conformity and be as visible as possible. On February 20–24, OUTsider Fest, Austin’s annual queer transmedia festival, returns with this motive in mind. This year’s festival is appropriately themed “Unlock the Cabinet of QUEERIOSITIES,” and promises to be “a queer take on the cabinet of curiosities and its peculiar oddities.” Through this lens, OUTsider calls on…

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Acts of Rebellion: Experimental Action Centers Queer Performance Artists

Posted on February 13, 2019
A photo of Antonius Bui at Experimental Action.

If you truly know Houston, you know there’s no denying our ranking as a national contender in the competitive visual arts dominion. The city is continuously abuzz with new and up-and-coming gallery openings, exhibitions, and alternative art collectives. What often gets left out of the picture, however, is the avant-garde, activist-inspired, trailblazing, and authentic performance art scene. This repertoire is the city’s best-kept secret—one that deserves to be exposed and given some long-overdue recognition. At the heart of this scene is…

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Growing Up Black and Queer: The Catastrophic Theatre Presents Robert O’Hara’s ‘Bootycandy’

Posted on February 5, 2019
A photo from Bootycandy.

Recent years have seen a rise in mainstream discussions centered on queer Black masculinity. Frank Ocean’s lyrics hinted at his queerness before the rapper opened up about the subject. Actress and writer Issa Rae’s Insecure questioned how women view Black men who have had sexual experiences with other men. Jaden Smith disrupted traditional notions of masculinity by playing with gender presentation before ultimately coming out as queer in 2018. And, perhaps the most landmark cultural production about the subject, director…

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Figures in the Shadows: Finding Queer Representation in Film Noir with Artist Jade Yumang

Posted on January 24, 2019
A photo of queer artist Jade Yumang.

Jade Yumang grew up as free a spirit as they come. Bouncing around his mother’s beauty salon in the Philippines while his father worked overseas, Yumang was allowed to be as openly himself as he wanted. The majority of his mother’s friends and salon coworkers were queer and, for a young boy and budding artist discovering himself, this environment was more than favorable for his personal growth.…

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I AM LIFE: The T.R.U.T.H. Project Centers Female Voices for World AIDS Day

Posted on November 26, 2018
A photo from The T.R.U.T.H. Project's I AM LIFE.

As a young artist, Kevin Anderson regularly poured out his soul in the spoken word scene. He soon realized, however, that the vulnerability and lived truth he was sharing with the artistic community was not being returned. When at the mic, poets would often code-switch, changing the pronouns of their same-sex lovers to that of the opposite sex—until one day, a colleague didn’t. Rather than offering support, the poet who followed the act used his platform to belittle this fellow…

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Cell Lust: Emilý Æyer and Traci Lavois Thiebaud Explore Transience of Nonbinary Identity

Posted on November 13, 2018
A photo of Cell Lust.

“You can call me ‘she’ today. Ask me again tomorrow.” This is the concluding line of Cell Lust | a body |, a one-hour performance art piece exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH). Cell Lust, in its transitory existence, shares enlightenment on the topics of our cosmic bodies (and their requests for relational discourse between sex, gender, and nonbinary identities) through an intense, invasive experience. Its two creators, Houston-based artists Emilý Æyer and Traci Lavois Thiebaud, compacted narrated…

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Let’s Get Kinky, Houston: Halloween Magic’s Queer Political Satire Returns

Posted on October 17, 2018
A photo of Halloween Magic 2018.

It was 1988 and the AIDS crisis had not yet peaked. The future was uncertain and frankly, terrifying. While some might freeze when faced with such unimaginable adversity, others organize. Houston owes it to the minds of those like Tori Williams, who, in 1988, helped conceptualize Halloween Magic. What began as a dinner party in the late 1980s would grow into a large theatrical production in the early 1990s—an endeavor that has since raised over $1 million toward fighting HIV/AIDS…

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