LGBTQ+ Festival is Facing Defunding, Turns to Fundraising
The grant through the National Endowment for the Arts that supported the Criminal Queerness Festival, which features the work of creatives from countries where homosexuality is criminalized, has been cut by the Trump administration. In order to continue on with the festival at NYC Pride this year, they’ve turned to public fundraising to support this necessary piece of queer culture.
The Criminal Queerness Festival mounts works from artists hailing from countries where queerness, and therefore queer art, is censored and/or criminalized. The pieces at this festival tend to highlight the experience of being LGBTQ+ within these countries, and this year, it’s set to feature three playwrights from Cuba (frikiNATION by Krystal Ortiz), Indonesia (What are You to Me by Dena Igusti), and Uganda (Tomorrow Never Came by Jedidiah Mugarura). It was created during WorldPride 2019 by the National Queer Theater, housed in Brooklyn, and has depended on a $20,000 grant from the NEA for funding.
The festival will kick off during NYC Pride and go from June 11 to June 28 at the HERE Art Center. frikiNATION, authored by Krystal Ortiz, delves into the lives of young punks in 1990s Cuba—purposefully injecting themselves with used needles in attempts to contract HIV, knowing their lives would be easier in sanitoriums than in Castro’s streets. What are You to Me, by playwright Dena Igusti, follows a lesbian love story in 1998 during the Jakarta riots. Tomorrow Never Came by Jedidiah Mugarura explores the life of a closeted gay man who is in a heterosexual marriage and having a queer love affair.
However, on May 9, the National Queer Theater was informed via email that the $20,000 grant had been “withdrawn by the agency” as the funding does not align with Trump’s policies or values. Jess Ducey, co-chair of the board for the National Queer Theater, described the loss as “devastating” due to the grant being “integral” to the funding and budgeting of the festival—It makes up about 20% of the entire budget for the festival.
All is not lost, however; the National Queer Theater has set up a GoFundMe looking to raise back that $20,000 that the government has denied them on the basis of being queer. As of right now, they’re only $9,000 away from their goal. The Criminal Queerness Festival can be supported via donation, or by buying a ticket to attend the festival.
Graphic courtesy of Nat’l Queer Theater
