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Black Queer Utopia Fest aims to promote social justice education and inclusivity on Northwestern’s Evanston campus by creating a platform for black queer artists and activists to share their personal vision of a utopia for black queer people. The festival will be free and open to all Northwestern students and the Evanston/Chicago community.
We aspire to change perspectives around the LGBTQIA+ experience at Northwestern and to create a comfortable space for black queer people to voice concerns about issues impacting their communities by amplifying voices that are usually silenced. We plan to bring together a variety of visions and methods of artistic expression to portray the diverse perspectives of the black queer community. To do this, we will host various Chicago activists and artists for an arts festival centered on depicting a perfect future for black queer folks.
We will also bridge the divide between the Northwestern community and Chicago by granting students access to speakers and artists they would usually have to venture to Chicago to see. Bridging this divide will show students a side of Northwestern they have never experienced before, and will encourage them to see the queer community from a different perspective as we provide space for the most marginalized peoples within the queer community.
Black Queer Utopia Fest will be a sensory experience where participants will walk into a utopia for black queer people and immediately be introduced to a radical imagining of a perfect place for black queer folk. Attendees will be engaged on all levels through taste, touch, hearing, sight, and smell. In addition to the performances, we will have a variety of booths set up around the room that will involve black queer artistry such as face painting, makeup, and tarot card reading. The walls will be decorated with visual art from local black queer artists juxtaposed with historical images of black queerness to illustrate how far black queerness has come. An artist will be live painting portraits of black queer people in the space to be presented at the end of the festival. Throughout the event, speakers and artists of all types will express their vision of a black queer utopia. Performers for the night include Chicago activists Chef Fresh and Lasaia Wade of the Trans Liberation Collective, Chicago Ballroom Legends and Icons, as well as student dancers and poets. The Northwestern community has never seen an event like this before, and it is up to you to help make it all happen!
We are committed to creating a space accessible to bodies of all abilities, so we will have sign language interpreters and narrators throughout the entire event.
To make this event free and open to all Northwestern students and the Evanston/Chicago community, we need your help to raise $8,000.
We want to make inspiring and impactful art accessible to everyone, no matter their financial situation. Your donation is completely tax deductible and will directly impact the Northwestern community, as it will change perspectives and allow the community to witness talent they would not otherwise have the opportunity to see.
Please consider making your gift today!
Support artists of all kinds, including poets. Your gift at this level will help us secure a host of black, queer artists whose work will nourish our souls.
We invite all seniors to honor your graduation year with a contribution of $20.17. This gift can also be a way for anyone to honor our senior class and their legacy with this contribution.
A gift at this level will help us secure advocates for black, queer issues such as food justice or trans detention rates.
Your gift at this level will allow us to secure an on-campus location that will be highly accessible to Northwestern students.
Gifts at this level will contribute directly to ensuring this event will be inclusive to people of all abilities
In order to put on this event, we need speakers, LOUD speakers and other audio-visual equipment. Your gift at this level will ensure that we can all hear the amazing artists, speakers and their visions loud and clear.
Your gift at our highest level is most important because it will allow us to fly in and lodge our special guest artist performing at the end of our program. Help them come!
