CREATING QUEER COMMUNITIES

Queer Cultural Center is thrilled to relaunch Creating Queer Communities, our beloved professional development training program for queer and trans artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over 25 years, Creating Queer Communities has been an incredibly successful program that gives artists an opportunity to build their knowledge base around their artistic practice by providing small grants, free educational opportunities, and mentorship. Starting in 2024, QCC is offering this paid, structured learning and performance opportunity at two levels for the first time. 

Creating Queer Communities, our longtime artist professional development program and prep program for many NQAF lead artists, is back and better than ever. CQC will now run as a 12-month training program for emerging and established QTBIPOC SF Bay Area artists tailored for the needs of artists at those differing levels. CQC Level One artists will apply for a program cycle starting and ending in the Fall, while CQC Level Two artists and artist collectives/collaboratives will apply for a program cycle starting and ending in the Spring. (Confused? Remember it like this – Level One in the Fall, Level Two in the Spring).

In addition to showcasing the work of these peer training cohorts of CQC first- and second- level artists, QCC will round out programming for the Fall and Spring National Queer Arts Festivals by curating a smaller number of longer-term collaborative projects with seasoned QTBIPOC leaders. The main anchor for 2024 is the culmination of three years of collaboration between QCC and Tongva queer / two-spirit artist L. Frank Manriquez for the creation of the second ti’at (wood plank) canoe build in the last 200 years. Stay tuned for more information about this beautiful, life-affirming project.