What is Creating Queer Communities? 

Creating Queer Communities (CQC) is a professional development training program for queer and trans artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over 25 years, Queer Cultural Center has provided CQC members an opportunity to build their knowledge base around their artistic practice by providing small grants, free educational opportunities, and mentorship. QCC is offering this paid, structured learning and performance opportunity at two levels.

This open call is for the Level Two cohort of Creating Queer Communities. Queer Cultural Center will select 5 applicants for the CQC2 cohort. CQC2 cohort members will receive professional development workshops and will produce an individual cultural event as part of QCC’s 2026 National Queer Arts Festival.

The artistic theme for the 2026 National Queer Arts Festival is Magic Mirror:Everything is Everything, and will elevate works that explore representation, inner conversation, and being transported to new, more expansive planes of consciousness. Mirrors can offer clarity about what is, while incorporating magic expands the idea – to a means of communication, point of entry, and method of travel. As traditional societal systems appear bent on amplifying tired notions of division and suppression, QCC seeks work that represents worlds where otherworldly inclusiveness, unity, and collective creative expression are the norm.

This year’s Spring Festival will include works that explore questions like: What does it look like to explore creativity without arbitrary hierarchies or played-out notions of power? What happens when socially disparate creatives blend their crafts to create something new? What does affirmative world-building look like in a context where the larger society heavily markets images of dystopian futures?

DEADLINE TO APPLY ON FRIDAY JUNE 9TH, 2025

What is Queer Cultural Center all about?

Queer Cultural Center promotes social justice and the artistic and financial development of queer art and culture. We steward artists whose programs nourish, connect, and mobilize trans & queer communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. QCC’s services for artists include fiscal sponsorship and hands-on training with financial literacy, fundraising, and capacity building. Since our founding in 1993, QCC has served an estimated 125,000 LGBTQIA2S+ San Franciscans and the 350,000 LGBTQIA2S+ residents of the greater regional SF Bay Area. We’ve curated 26 consecutive month-long National Queer Arts Festivals featuring work from more than 2,500 LGBTQIA2S+ artists. QCC’s artist services has supported over 50 Bay Area LGBTQIA2S+ artists and arts organizations to secure over $10 million in programmatic and general operating funds.

Program Benefits

QTBIPOC artists selected for the 2025-26 CQC Level Two Artistic Project Development cohort will receive:

• Paid Learning Opportunities – hands-on workshops on topics including fundraising, financial literacy, technical aspects of production, marketing & promotion, accessibility, and project planning.
• A $5,000 artist commission to produce an event that will be part of QCC’s 2026 Spring Queer Art Festival. Commission award is contingent on successful completion of required workshops.
• Professional photo documentation of your event.
• Networking opportunities with fellow cohort members and other Bay Area QTIBIPOC arts leaders.

Important Dates

May 15, 2025	Information Session (optional)
June 9th, 2025	Applications due.
June 16-20, 2025	Finalist interviews
by June 27, 2025	QCC staff notifies accepted applicants by email.
July 17, 2025	Orientation for selected cohort members. This orientation is mandatory, so please mark your calendars!
August 2025	Monthly workshops, to be scheduled in alignment with cohort members’ availability provided at the beginning of the program. Some will be in-person in San Francisco and Oakland, some will be online. All are mandatory for selected cohort members.
May – June 2026	Performances / exhibitions as part of the 2026 Spring National Queer Arts Festival in-person in San Francisco and Oakland.

Applicant & Project Eligibility

You are eligible to apply if you meet ALL of the following criteria:

• Be at least 18 years old
• Identify as a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community
• Identify as Black, Indigenous, or another Person of Color
• Be willing to submit a W-9 for tax purposes
• Be an individual artist or arts group/collective based in the San Francisco Bay Area. NOTE: If you apply with a group/collective, please designate one primary person who will attend workshops on your behalf, to support continuity of learning.
• NOT currently be a fiscally sponsored project of QCC
• NOT have been a part of any CQC cohort within the past calendar year.
• Commit to attend mandatory workshops from July 2025 – May 2026 (some in person in San Francisco and Oakland, some virtual)
• Have 1-3 years of experience in event production or have produced more than one event in the past 2 years

Proposed projects / events must:

• Support QCC’s goal to nourish, connect, and mobilize queer and trans communities in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Align with this year’s theme Magic Mirror: Everything is Everything 
• Be able to be realistically implemented within a 10-month timeline 
• Fall clearly into one or more of the following disciplines:
  • Literary
  • Theater/Performance
  • Dance/Movement
  • Music
  • Visual Arts
  • Nightlife/Drag

Literary	Theater/ Performance	Dance/Movement	Music	Visual Arts	Nightlife/Drag
Poets, playwrights, songwriters, novelists, graphic novelists, storytellers, spoken word	Actors, performance artists, playwrights, directors	Dancers, movement artists, choreographers	Singers, musicians, DJs, music producers	Painters, Printmakers, Sculptors, Ceramicists/Potters, Photographers, Comics, multimedia	DJs, party planners, Lip sync event producers

Please note: video/film can be incorporated into your project, but CQC does not support projects that are primarily film (e.g., documentary or narrative films, either short form or feature length). If you are a filmmaker, we encourage you to reach out to our sister organizations QWOCMAP, Frameline, and the SF Transgender Film Festival.

Selection Process

• The selection committee for this cohort consists of QCC’s full-time staff members.
• Finalists will be selected based on this rubric
• Initial review: we will review applications as a group and determine which projects best meet these criteria:
• Applicant and project meet all eligibility criteria
• Project alignment with QCC’s objective to nourish, connect, and mobilize queer and trans communities in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Project alignment with festival theme, “Magic Mirror: Everything is Everything”
• How well the project complements other selected projects to form a cohesive, connected festival together
• Final review: We will invite finalists to interview via zoom, to be held from June 16-20, 2025.
• We will notify applicants selected for the CQC2 2026 cohort by July 1, 2025.

Tips for making your application as strong as possible

• DON’T wait until the last minute to start. Rushed work is obvious and demonstrates a lack of planning.
• DON’T rely on prior relationships with QCC staff or board members as a guaranteed “in”
• DO attend the information session on May 15, or watch the recording and review the slides if you’re not able to attend live.
• DO review the video recording and budget template from our event budgets workshop when preparing your project budget
• DO make sure your project description clearly connects to the 2026 Spring National Queer Arts Festival theme, “Magic Mirror”
• DO connect with people you’d like to collaborate with. Group shows / events that feature the work of multiple artists are more likely to be selected than solo shows/exhibitions.
• DO ask colleagues to read through your materials to see if what makes sense in your head also makes sense to someone not intimately familiar with your project.
• DO read your application OUT LOUD before submitting so you can catch any wording or phrasing errors, incomplete sentences, etc. 
• DO write out your answers to the application questions in a separate document before filling out the application form.

How To Apply

Before applying, please read this document thoroughly. You can download/make a copy of the application questions here before filling out the form (highly recommended!). Here is the template for your project budget. When you’re ready, click here to access our application.

Frequently asked questions

Don’t see your question listed? Please email any questions or comments to QCC’s Program Manager Djérae Lucas: [email protected].

Q: I want to be in the National Queer Arts Festival. Does the CQC program connect me to that?

A: Yes! Successful completion of workshop activities and homework is a prerequisite for receiving a new works commission in the 2026 Spring Queer Arts Festival.

Q: Will not having a work sample reflect negatively on my application?

A: Having a work sample is mandatory for level two applicants.

Q: How many hours is each workshop?

A: Each workshop varies. Some will be on the shorter side, about 90 minutes, and the longest will be an all-day in-person workshop for the mock grant panel review. Most workshops will last 2-3 hours.

Q: Are all the workshops required?

A: Yes. In order to participate fully and get the most out of the CQC program, workshops are required. If you are unable to attend live, we can arrange for you to make up the material for one or two workshops. 

Q: Can I apply with a collaborator?

A: Yes! The CQC Level Two cohort, which launches in summer 2025, is open to collaborative acts / arts collectives. 

Q: Are San Jose City and Contra Costa County considered SF/Bay Area?

A: Yes! QCC considers the Bay Area to include the 9 counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties. Please note that some activities will be in person in Oakland and San Francisco.

Q: Do I have to report the new work commission and workshop honorarium on my taxes?

A: Since the total amount QCC will pay out is greater than $600, we are legally required to report the income on an IRS form 1099-NEC for all artists. We offer a Taxes for Artists workshop to our CQC1 and CQC2 cohort where you can learn more about how to manage your income and leverage expenses against your individual tax liability. 

Q: How many people will be selected for the 2025 CQC Level One artist cohort?

A: Our budget allows us to select 5 applicants as members of the Creating Queer Communities Level Two cohort.

Q: What if I don’t get selected for this cohort?

A: You will not receive a commission to present your work in the 2026 Spring National Queer Arts Festival. However, many of our artist development workshops are open to the public for a nominal fee (no one turned away for lack of funds). You’ll need to register ahead of time and there will be a cap on attendance at all in-person workshops.

Q: Am I required to attend the information session before submitting my application?

A: We highly encourage all prospective applicants to attend the information session or review the materials if you can’t make it live, prior to submitting your application. The information session is designed to help applicants put together the strongest possible application. It is to your advantage to attend live on May 15 at 6:30pm PST. Please register here.

Q: How do I get paid?

A: If you are selected for the CQC2 Cohort, QCC staff will provide payment process information during orientation. We currently make payments using Gusto direct deposit or paper checks.