$5K for 5 Trainees

What?

House of Pentacles (HOP) is a Film Training Program and Production House designed to launch Black trans youth (ages 18-35) into the film industry and tell stories woven at the intersection of being Black and Trans. We are raising $5000 to put 5 Cameras and equipment kits into the hands of Black trans youth in Durham. HOP trainees will use these cameras to learn the craft of storytelling, gain professional development, and build a portfolio to use in the future.


Why?

It is urgent that Black trans people’s stories are told and recorded now. At House of Pentacles, it is our greatest priority that stories about Black trans people are told with the input and direction from Black trans people. We know that the people who have access to resources like training, equipment, funding, and professional networks are the ones who get to tell their stories, live off of their work, and shape our culture. These people have historically been mostly white, cis-gender, and middle-upper class. We also know that Black trans people are both explicitly and implicitly discriminated against while applying for grants, schools, or trying to find employment. House of Pentacles has struggled to find grants that are accessible to an organization of Black trans youth, and we know our community can interrupt this cycle.  Black trans people will shift our culture, expand our world, and tell stories that are bigger, fuller, and more free-- but we as a community must put our resources together to support the next generation of Black trans storytellers and media makers who will know their inherent worth, the value of their work, and the importance of their leadership not just in filmmaking but as narrative builders and culture shifters.


How does this work?

House of Pentacles is guided by our commitment to trans justice and anti-oppression. We believe that this starts with investing in those at the margins of society. We are committed to a reparations based model and policy guided by our belief that Black trans people deserve to have the things that they need to survive. We engage in this commitment by providing accessible trainings to Black trans youth, hiring Black trans filmmakers as trainers, telling Black trans stories, and building an external network that provides opportunities for Black trans youth in the film industry.

There is no financial cost to the Black trans youth for the film training that they receive. This is an intentional act that is meant to add to the lives of Black trans people instead of further depleting their resources. We also highly respect the resource of time and value their time as an investment that trainees put into their own development.

We believe that our trainers (also black and trans) deserve to be compensated for their labor of training and curriculum building. Applying for additional funding is one of the ways that we plan to fund their investment in our trainees, this skill sharing model, and our mission of extending economic stability and autonomy to Black trans people.



Help us continue our work!

House of Pentacles just released a documentary that looks at how Black families are having conversations around gender. The Black family has been one of the few institutions that serve as a refuge for Black people from societal anti-blackness. However, many Black trans people who seek refuge in their birth families are met with transphobia instead. Mama, Can We Talk?, a House of Pentacles Production, follows a Black family in the Bronx as one trans family member shares their decision to start transitioning medically and socially. Audiences witness the ways in which this Black trans person shares parts of their gender with their family in language that is accessible and culturally relevant. This film also captures the family’s reaction to the news, questions that arise, as well as their own understanding and experiences with their assigned genders. HOP has given on set and training experience to 6 black trans people and has provided on-set film shooting in three separate states throughout the production of Mama, Can We Talk?. 

You can watch Mama, Can We Talk?  here or by visiting houseofpentacles.com.


Thank you so much for supporting us and our work! Please share our fundraiser profile and follow us @houseofpentacles on Instagram and Facebook to stay in the loop about House of Pentacles and the trainees you have supported!

In Love and Resistance,

House of Pentacles Crew!
(Joie, Courtney, Audria)