A Certain Type of Brilliance
Donation protected
UPDATE: We had a great first run in Gay City Arts' 5th season; we're back in Season 6 for EIGHT more shows! Your contribution will enable us to pay 64 femme artists, the majority of whom experience overlapping oppression –trans & nonbinary, POC, sick & disabled femmes, and other femmes who experience intersectional oppression
(e.g. working class, fat, aging femmes) will comprise the majority of the cast .
________________________
Femmes are astonishing, resilient, inventive. We are lovers, care takers, daydreamers. We create something out of nothing over and over again. Femmes are everywhere, at the intersections of every overlapping system of oppression – trans, POC, sick and disabled femmes have always been critical to queer movements – and femmes accomplish everything that we do having first pushed through the noise of misogyny to be heard & seen. There are as many things to say about femmes as there are unique ways of being femme; one thing that is true about femmes as a whole is that we possess a certain type of brilliance – an alchemy that can’t be quantified, but which draws us together and enables us to be bold, ingenious, and capable of a magic that fortifies our own hearts and the soul of the community around us.
The Show
A Certain Type of Brilliance is a celebration of femmes’ ability to pull amazing things out of thin air, to create on a dime, to use our vulnerability and creativity as our greatest assets in resistance to oppression.
A Certain Type of Brilliance is part of Gay City Arts' 6th season, and will feature eight femme performers per show (2/7-10, 2/14-17), with a unique cast each night. These performers will each create a new piece of work in the 24 hours prior to the show in response to one of a series of prompts, drawing on themes of resistance, resilience, femme identity & power. (Example: Create a piece that tells your story of generational healing.) Performances will be multi-genre; the call for performers will be open to all disciplines, and will include an opportunity for visual artists to contribute work that can be displayed in a slide show before the show and during intermission.
Why 24 hours? Creating on such a short timeframe allows us to build fire from a spark quickly, without the work of refining and polishing. Putting this work on stage gives us an opportunity to celebrate the raw power that femmes bring to our art, and our willingness to share our vulnerability with our community.
A Note on Femme Identity and Intersectionality
'Femme' means a lot of different things to different people; this is part of the beauty of femme identity. For many of us, femme is a queering of femininity, a politicized expression of gender, a space to transgress expectations. For the purpose of this project, 'femme' includes anyone who identifies with the word, inclusive of all genders, bodies and expressions. In the Season 5 show, 60% (16 of 27) performers identified as trans, genderqueer or nonbinary; 40% (11) identified as POC and 40% identified as disabled and/or living with chronic mental and/or physical health issues. It is more important than ever to amplify intersectional femme voices; your contribution will directly support these artists in creating their work.
Fundraising Goals
Here's a breakdown of how I'll use crowdsourced funds for this project:
- $1600 to pay performers ($25/performer, will be matched with funds from ticket sales to raise performer pay to $50)
- $200 to pay four femmes who are gathering as an ad hoc committee to create equity in the casting process
- Up to $800 to pay for ASL interpreters for four shows (total amount will be based on final access requests)
- Any remaining funds will be used for future iterations of the project (performances, workshops, etc)
I know that there are many endeavours and individuals in our community that need financial support; any amount that you are inspired to contribute to support femmes in this critical creative work will be so deeply appreciated.
Read more about the project and how you can participate here: https://sites.google.com/view/certainbrilliance
(e.g. working class, fat, aging femmes) will comprise the majority of the cast .
________________________
Femmes are astonishing, resilient, inventive. We are lovers, care takers, daydreamers. We create something out of nothing over and over again. Femmes are everywhere, at the intersections of every overlapping system of oppression – trans, POC, sick and disabled femmes have always been critical to queer movements – and femmes accomplish everything that we do having first pushed through the noise of misogyny to be heard & seen. There are as many things to say about femmes as there are unique ways of being femme; one thing that is true about femmes as a whole is that we possess a certain type of brilliance – an alchemy that can’t be quantified, but which draws us together and enables us to be bold, ingenious, and capable of a magic that fortifies our own hearts and the soul of the community around us.
The Show
A Certain Type of Brilliance is a celebration of femmes’ ability to pull amazing things out of thin air, to create on a dime, to use our vulnerability and creativity as our greatest assets in resistance to oppression.
A Certain Type of Brilliance is part of Gay City Arts' 6th season, and will feature eight femme performers per show (2/7-10, 2/14-17), with a unique cast each night. These performers will each create a new piece of work in the 24 hours prior to the show in response to one of a series of prompts, drawing on themes of resistance, resilience, femme identity & power. (Example: Create a piece that tells your story of generational healing.) Performances will be multi-genre; the call for performers will be open to all disciplines, and will include an opportunity for visual artists to contribute work that can be displayed in a slide show before the show and during intermission.
Why 24 hours? Creating on such a short timeframe allows us to build fire from a spark quickly, without the work of refining and polishing. Putting this work on stage gives us an opportunity to celebrate the raw power that femmes bring to our art, and our willingness to share our vulnerability with our community.
A Note on Femme Identity and Intersectionality
'Femme' means a lot of different things to different people; this is part of the beauty of femme identity. For many of us, femme is a queering of femininity, a politicized expression of gender, a space to transgress expectations. For the purpose of this project, 'femme' includes anyone who identifies with the word, inclusive of all genders, bodies and expressions. In the Season 5 show, 60% (16 of 27) performers identified as trans, genderqueer or nonbinary; 40% (11) identified as POC and 40% identified as disabled and/or living with chronic mental and/or physical health issues. It is more important than ever to amplify intersectional femme voices; your contribution will directly support these artists in creating their work.
Fundraising Goals
Here's a breakdown of how I'll use crowdsourced funds for this project:
- $1600 to pay performers ($25/performer, will be matched with funds from ticket sales to raise performer pay to $50)
- $200 to pay four femmes who are gathering as an ad hoc committee to create equity in the casting process
- Up to $800 to pay for ASL interpreters for four shows (total amount will be based on final access requests)
- Any remaining funds will be used for future iterations of the project (performances, workshops, etc)
I know that there are many endeavours and individuals in our community that need financial support; any amount that you are inspired to contribute to support femmes in this critical creative work will be so deeply appreciated.
Read more about the project and how you can participate here: https://sites.google.com/view/certainbrilliance
Organizer
Liz Cruz
Organizer
Seattle, WA
