Part of our mission is to hold space for marginalized voices through innovative and representational programming, which in turn lets our queer artists and audience members know that YOU BELONG. While we celebrate Pride in June, we are dedicated to showcasing queer talent and providing a platform for queer art and expression throughout the year.
Here’s what’s coming up!
THU MAY 11 | A Kind of Death Book Release
Josh Aterovis has been writing award-winning queer fiction for twenty years. He fell in love with mystery novels in the fourth grade when he discovered the Nancy Drew series in his school library. He soon moved on to Agatha Christie and other titans of the genre, which led to a lifelong love affair with whodunits. His books have won multiple awards from the StoneWall Society, and he is a former Lambda Literary Award finalist for Gay Mystery. Aterovis lives in one of the quirkiest cities in America — Baltimore, Maryland — with his two birds, Edgar and Virginia Poe (Eddy and Ginny for short), where, besides writing, he is also a visual artist and immersive theater maker.
THU MAY 11 & JUN 8 | Dr. Sketchy’s Anti Art School: Baltimore
A livelier life drawing event, Dr. Sketchy’s is where artists of all levels draw fabulous burlesque and variety performers! Dr. Sketchy’s often highlights queer performers, including the amazing talents of Fox Martin, Betty O’Hellno, and Dorian Bae. May and June will be no exception!
MAY 12 – JUN 17 | Cyber Strays: Seung Jun Lee Exhibition | Exhibition Opening FRI MAY 12
Cyber Strays concerns our digitally polluted lifestyles, using industrialized silkworm moths as an analogy to ponder the future evolution of humans—as we were bred to lose the ability to fly. Curated by queer solo exhibition curator, Joyce Liang, who completed her B.F.A. in Art History and Curatorial Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art. Her practice focuses on immersive performances and digital art research.
MAY 19–20 | Hot Bits Queer XXX Film Fest 2023Hot Bits is a queer porn film festival curated and organized by a majority QTIBIPoC (queer, trans, intersex, Black, Indigenous, People of Color) all-volunteer collective who design sex-positive experiences centering QTIBIPoC self-determined desire, joy, and pleasure. We operate under a DIT (do-it-together) ethos of care for ourselves, each other, and community. We seek to highlight underrepresented bodies as a means to celebrate anti-oppressive queer/trans porn tailored towards experiences, acts, and stories often deemed marginal by mainstream society.
THU JUN 1 | Glitter, Gefilte, Guilt, and Guts: Stories by People Who are Jewish, Queer, and Here!
The Stoop Storytelling Series, in partnership with the Queer Jewish Arts Festival, presents Glitter, Gefilte, Guilt, and Guts: Stories By People Who are Jewish, Queer, and Here! Got a story for this show? Submit it here! For the show, we are seeking individuals who identify as queer and Jewish to share a 7-minute true, personal tale. Stories can be about anything related to identifying as queer and Jewish—how you met your partner, your bubbie ally, how your chosen family is your tribe—we want to hear them all!
FRI JUN 16 | ESSENTIAL TEASE: A Burlesque Student Showcase
Essential Tease is a burlesque teaching collective run by three queer performers/instructors dedicated to helping students explore and find their true selves through burlesque performance. The June student showcase features Essential Tease instructors Jacqueline Boxx, Tempete La Coeur, and Ruby Rockafella as well as a a bevy of brand new performers and is hosted by queer, award-winning nerdlesque superstar, Maki Roll.
