SUPPORT CONNEK JA & JAMAICA'S LGBTQ COMMUNITY

Connek JA is raising funds to bring events for the LGBTQ+ community to life in Jamaica. The Connek JA mission is to make space where queer Jamaican artists, creatives, and our allies can feel safe in Jamaica.

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

Connek Ja is a not-for-profit project aiming to bring resources and opportunities to the queer community in Jamaica. The funds we raise will be used for the following:

Securing venues for the community to feel safe. There are no laws protecting queer people in Jamaica from harm or discrimination. When working to find spaces where queer people can gather in Jamaica, the options leave us with expensive venues in the hills of Kingston where the community can have privacy to celebrate.

Connek Ja hires local queer Jamaicans and allies to build the spaces from sound equipment; bar set up to the administration of the event development. The raised funds will also pay these people a fair wage in this 3rd world country.

UPLIFTING AND CENTERING BLACK QUEER JOY

Queer people of color are not taught to think about their future. We spend so much of our lives digging up our history and focusing on survival, especially during COVID. In this time of plague, climate and economic crisis, when making plans feels futile and overwhelming, we work as a coalition to remember this: Imagining queer futures, queer joy, and queer togetherness is a righteous act. During the 2022 Connek JA annual trip, we employ, celebrate, center and commission Jamaica-based queer talent, artists, small businesses and queer activists to be a part of the trip to showcase their work, celebrate and be in communion with us. There is a need to supply the queer people of Jamaica with resources while the Covid19 pandemic still wages hardship on the community, but we don’t want just to help the community survive. We want to assist the community in thriving! We want to encourage growth, celebration and dream-building. This is why for the 2022 calendar year, Connek is working with its Connek ambassadors and artists throughout the queer community in Jamaica to commission them for art projects and skill building. This work is a way to encourage the queer community to thrive indeed and imagine the future of possibilities as the queer liberation movement in Jamaica grows.

WHO WE ARE

Connek Ja is dedicated to spotlighting the fantastic queer talent in Jamaica who is rewriting the story of Jamaica’s relationship to queerness. With the power of travel and in-person gatherings, Connek Ja works to build community by hosting inclusive events in Jamaica throughout the year.

In 2018, RAGGA NYC and Jamsterdam joined forces to launch CONNEK, a travel project and platform dedicated to connecting queer folks and our allies across country borders through online media, storytelling and events, specifically in Jamaica. Our main event is the CONNEK annual extended weekend, with exclusive excursions, dinners and social gatherings.

Connek Ja is a small start-up project made of young queer artists with big dreams to make a change in Jamaica. Connek Ja is dedicated to working with allies in Kingston, Jamaica and small businesses who believe in the Connek Ja mission. For this trip, our small and humble business partners are dedicated to queer safe spaces and building a Jamaica free of bigotry.