I write a quarterly column on contemporary cinema for the new arts and culture online magazine Monsters and Dust. Check it out.
Chances organizers started this bi-annual micro-grant program for queer art in Chicago during the second half of 2008. Money generated from the bar sales at Chances and Off Chances are culled to provide two grants every 6 months: one for $500 and a second for $300. Chicago-based artists or collectives who identify themselves or their practice as queer are encouraged to apply. Go to chancesdances.org/projects to download the application.
I started Chances Dances in September 05 with Bruce Wiest and as our party and organizing body grew, we later began a sister monthly party, Off Chances. Both parties attempt "to bring together the varied LGBTIQ communities of Chicago." Chances is every 3rd Monday at the Subterranean on the 1st floor and Off Chances is every 2nd Tuesday at Danny's Tavern. The current organizing body for both parties is: Rita Bacon, Aay Preston-Myint, Mel Racho, Ethan White and myself. You can add Chances as a friend on Myspace, join our group on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter or email us: chances.dances[at]gmail[dot]com.
Chances at Pride '07 encouraged paradegoers to "summon a new queer reality" by following the example of revolutionary queers from the past and present. Chances dancers passed out masks of 27 different queers and allies that have all, in some way, made the world a brighter, safer, and more interesting place. The float decorations and costumes had a witch theme and incorporated the symbol of the phoenix, reinforcing the idea of looking to the past (and rejecting the present state of affairs) to conjure revolutionary and progressive ideas for the future.
*click here* to read an article on the Pride 07 project written by Megan Chapman on
chicago6corners.com
Ethan White and I curated this program of short experimental works that aimed to use the notions of haunting and conjuring as metaphors for issues surrounding contemporary queer identity. We screened the program in New York, Providence and Chicago in 2008, and then toured the program across most of the Midwestern and Western United States in January 2009. We were also very priveleged to be invited to participate in the 2009 BFI-sponsored London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Artists in the program include: Vanessa Renwick, Elliot Montague, Shana Moulton, Michael Robinson, EMR (Math Bass and Dylan Mira), Aay Preston-Myint, Jillian Peņa, and John Di Stefano. Check out full program notes, dispatches from our tour, and any future dates at the Channeling blog.
Channeling is now available for institutional rental and purchase at the Video Data Bank.
In late 2009, I was the Assistant Director for this wonderful Saturday program for Chicago teen artists.
I started working at Lula Cafe in Logan Square in the late spring of 09 and so far it's been an awesome experience.
This is an amazing non-profit in Chicago that helps disadvantaged groups create their own media and tell their stories. I was an intern in 2008, working on animation, DVD authoring and other fun dorky stuff, mostly for the sex-positive, youth-oriented educational video, HIV: Hey! It's Viral!
I worked full-time and then super part-time and then full time again at Planned Parenthood between 2003 and 2009 in a chicago area clinic that provides abortion services.