Saturday February 15, 2020 @ 8 pm. Billie Holiday Project at Occidental Center for the Arts. Evocative songstress Stella Heath skillfully interprets Lady Day as she fronts a stellar quintet of Bay Area musicians for a musical tribute to the life and art of the legendary singer for Valentine’s weekend and Black History Month at our acoustic sweet spot! $20 Advance/$25 at door. Advance tickets recommended. Fine refreshments. Wheelchair accessible. Art Exhibit open for viewing in Gallery. Event and ticket info at www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465. 707-874-9392
Saturday February 8 @ 7 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts presents ‘Climbing Up the Mountain’: Singing the History of Black America. Benjamin Mertz is a charismatic Bay Area performer, composer, song leader, writer, human rights activist, and the founder/director of Joyful Noise Gospel Singers. He has just released his first CD entitled ‘Climbing Up the Mountain’. Join Benjamin Mertz as he leads us on a song and spoken word journey through history, with the power and beauty of black traditional music. From work songs to spirituals, from gospel to blues and jazz, this inspiring presentation will celebrate the wisdom and courage of black music, and the indelible mark it has made on American culture. Singing along is encouraged! Also features vocalist Nancy Louise, with Brendan Buss on saxophone. $15 Adv. /$20 at the door. Fine refreshments. Wheelchair accessible. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465.
Sunday February 2 @ 2 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts. HERSTORY IN THE MAKING features four compelling female artists in a matinee performance of original monologues expressing the very heart of the feminine. In a world where women have limited stages, venues and audiences, performance artist Sherry Glaser presents a fascinating Sunday afternoon buffet of comedy, epiphanies and intimate drama by four unique and talented women Kym Trippsmith, Julie Drucker, Ricci Dedola and Sherry Glaser. Sherry is the author and star of award winning solo shows Family Secrets, Taking the High Road, and Oh My Goddess. $15 Adv./ $20 at the door. OCA is wheelchair accessible. Fine refreshments; Art Gallery open.www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct.Occidental, CA. 95465.
Sunday, January 26th 2-4 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts’ Literary Series presents Susan Swartz. Laughing in the Dark, her first novel, revolves around three old friends who together tackle infidelity, the latest in California dying styles and the inevitable absurdities of aging. A resident of Sebastopol and long-time columnist for the Press Democrat and other newspapers, Susan’s non-fiction includes Juicy Tomatoes: Plain Truths, Dumb Liesand Sisterly Advice After 50 and The Juicy Tomatoes Guide to Ripe Living After 50. Susan will be in conversation with fellow writer, Miriam Silver to talk about her new novel, with book sales and signing to follow. Admission is free, and all donations gratefully accepted. Refreshments, wine and beer will be available. OCA is located at 3850 Doris Murphy Way, in Occidental at the corner of Bohemian Hwy and Graton Rd. OCA’s facilities are accessible to people with disabilities. For more info: occidentalcenterforthearts.org or 707-874-9392.
Many acclaimed LGBTQ people and allies died in 2019. They include:
Carol Channing, the legendary Broadway actress, died on Jan. 15 at age 97 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. She was best know for her performances as Lorelei Lee in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and Dolly Gallagher Levi in “Hello Dolly!”
Mary Oliver, a lesbian poet, died on Jan. 17 at her Florida home at age 83. Her collection “American Primitive, won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize.
Harris Wofford, a Democratic senator and civil rights crusader, died on Jan. 21 at age 92. After his wife died, Wofford fell in love with Matthew Charlton. They married in 2018.
Barbra Siperstein, a transgender rights crusader died on Feb. 3 at age 76 from cancer at a New Brunswick, N.J. hospital. A New Jersey law bears her name. It permits people in New Jersey to change their gender on their birth certificates without having to prove they’ve had surgery.
Pioneering transgender activist Barbra ‘Babs’ Casbar Siperstein died at age 76. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Patricia Nell Warren, author of the 1974 novel “The Front Runner” died on Feb. 9 at age 82 in Santa Monica, Calif. from lung cancer. The iconic book was one of the first to feature an open same-sex male relationship.
If you haven’t read author PATRICIA NELL WARREN’s essential ‘The Front Runner,’ then your gay card is in jeopardy. (Blade photo by Karen Ocamb)
Hilde Zadek, a Vienna State Opera mainstay, died on Feb. 21 at 101 in Karlsruhe, Germany. She debuted in the title role of in Verdi’s “Aida” in 1947. She retired in 1971.
Jackie Shane, a black transgender soul singer who received a 2018 Grammy nomination for best historical album for her album “Any Other Way,” died at age 78 in Nashville. Her body was found at her home on Feb. 21.
Gillian Freeman, the British novelist who wrote the 1961 novel “The Leather Boys” died on Feb. 23 at age 89 in London. The book was one of the first to portray working-class gay characters.
Carrie Ann Lucas, a queer lawyer and disability rights advocate, died on Feb. 24 at age 47 in Loveland, Colo. She championed the rights of disabled parents.
John Richardson, an art historian renowned for his four-volume biography of Pablo Picasso, died at age 95 on March 12 at his Manhattan home.
Barbara Hammer, a lesbian filmmaker, died at age 79 from ovarian cancer at her partner Florrie Burke’s home in Manhattan on March 16. Hammer celebrated lesbian sexuality in “Dyketactics” and other films.
Dr. Richard Green, a psychiatrist, died at age 82 on April 6 at his London home. He was one of the first to critique the idea that being queer is a psychiatric disorder.
Michael Fesco, the nightclub owner who provided open spaces (Ice Palace, Flamingo and other venues) for gay men to dance when LGBTQ people couldn’t be out, died on April 12 at age 84 in Palm Springs, Calif.
Lyra McKee, a 29-year-old, queer Northern Ireland journalist, died on April 18. She was killed while covering violence in Londonderry.
Giuliano Bugialli, a gay culinary historian and three-time James Beard Award winner, died at age 88 on April 26 in Viareggio, Italy.
Doris Day, queer icon, actress and singer best known for her romantic comedies with Rock Hudson, died at age 97 on May 13 at her Carmel Valley, Calif. home from pneumonia.
Binyavanga Wainaina, a Kenyan author, founder of the magazine “Kwani?” and one of the first prominent African writers to come out as gay, died at age 48 on May 21 in a Nairobi hospital.
Charles A. Reich, author of the 1970 counter-culture manifesto “The Greening of America,” died on June 15 at age 91 in San Francisco.
Douglas Crimp, an art critic and AIDS activist, died on July 5 at age 74 at his Manhattan home from multiple myeloma. He wrote many articles for journals. Yet he also attended meetings of the AIDS group ACT UP.
Elka Gilmore, a queer chef known for her fusion cuisine, died at age 59 on July 6 in San Francisco. The New York Times Magazine called her “the enfant terrible of the modern California kitchen.”
George Hodgman, a gay editor, died on July 19 at age 60 at his Manhattan home. The cause was thought to be suicide. Hodgman’s memoir “Bettyville” is his story of staying in Paris, Mo. with his widowed mother who had dementia.
Lee Bennett Hopkins, a gay poet who wrote and edited many books for children, died on Aug. 8 at age 81 in Cape Coral, Fla. In 2018, he edited “World Make Way: New Poems Inspired by Art from The Metropolitan Museum.”
Sally Floyd, one of the inventors of Random Early Detection (RED), a widely used internet algorithm, died at age 69 on Aug. 25 at her Berkeley, Calif. home from cancer. She is survived by her wife Carole Leita.
Valerie Harper, the actress best known as Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” died on Aug. 30 at age 80 from cancer. Harper was D.C.’s 2009 Capital Pride Parade grand marshal.
Rip Taylor, a gay comedian known as The King of Confetti, died on Oct. 6 at age 88 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
John Giorno, a gay artist, died on Oct. 11 at his home in Manhattan at age 82. In 1969, he founded Dial-A-Poem, a communications system enabling people to hear Allen Ginsberg and other poets read their poems.
Gillian Jagger, an artist whose work (installations of animal carcasses and tree trunks) wasn’t aligned with any one movement, died on Oct. 21 in Ellenville, N.Y. at age 88. “I felt that nature held the truth I wanted,” she told the U.K’s Public Monuments and Sculpture Association magazine. She is survived by her wife Connie Mander.
Howard Cruse, a gay cartoonist whose comic strip “Wendel” ran in The Advocate for several years, died on Nov. 26 at age 75 in Pittsfield, Mass. from lymphoma. His graphic novel “Stuck Rubber Baby” and other work influenced other queer cartoonists. He is survived by his husband Ed Sedarbaum.
Michael Howard, a gay military historian and decorated combat veteran and pioneer of the “English school” of strategic studies, died on Nov. 30 in Swindon, England at age 97.
Shelley Morrison, who played Rosario on “Will and Grace” from 1999 to 2006, died on Dec. 1 in Los Angeles at age 83 from heart failure.
William Luce, who wrote the acclaimed plays “The Belle of Amherst” about Emily Dickinson and “Barrymore” about John Barrymore, died on Dec. 9 at a memory-care facility in Green Valley, Ariz. at age 88. Ray Lewis, his partner of 50 years, died in 2001.
Movies are multi-faceted to begin with; with queer auteurs, casts and crews, it gets even more complicated. Look in the Blade’s Jan. 3 edition for a full “year in review” roundup in film and many other categories, where I’ll recap more thoroughly the year’s LGBT cinematic highlights. This, however, is my official 2019 “top 10” list.
The number one movie of the year was undoubtedly the magnificent “Pain and Glory (Dolor y Gloria)” by queer auteur Pedro Almodóvar. In this deeply moving story based loosely on the filmmaker’s own life, long-time Almodóvar collaborator Antonio Banderas plays gay filmmaker Salvador Mallo whose physical and psychological ailments have kept him away from the camera. Banderas won the Best Actor prize at Cannes; Almodóvar veterans Penelope Cruz and Julieta Serrano turn and a great supporting cast turn in richly nuanced performances.
The rest of the Top 10 include (in alphabetical order):
“Downton Abbey.” Creator Julian Fellowes seamlessly moved his elegant television serial to the big screen without missing a beat. The sumptuous high-class soap opera included fun new characters (Imelda Staunton as the formidable Maud Bagshaw), delicious quips from the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) and a visit to a gay pub by butler Thomas Barrow (Robert James-Collier). A special mention goes to “The Chaperone,” a side project by Fellowes, “Downton” director Michael Engler and “Downton”star Elizabeth McGovern which offers a delightfully subversive look at Midwest American life in the 1920s.
“End of the Century.” With bold and exciting artistic choices, first-time director Lucio Castro creates a steamy mystery about two men who meet on the streets of Barcelona.
“Frankie.” In a transcendently luminescent performance, the brilliant Isabelle Huppert plays a dying French actress who has gathered her large complicated family together for one last holiday. Working with co-screenwriter Mauricio Zacharias, gay filmmaker Ira Sachs skillfully guides the large international cast through complex physical and emotional terrains building to a powerful final tableau. Marisa Tomei is great as Frankie’s best friend Ilene.
“Little Women.” Writer/director Greta Gerwig offers a fresh, dazzling and thoroughly contemporary take on the beloved classic by Louise May Alcott. Gerwig’s powerful queer adaptation focuses on the rivalry between Jo March (Saoirse Ronan) and her sister Amy (Florence Pugh). Gerwig writes with a confident flair and directs with a steady hand; the supporting performances are all wonderful.
“Marriage Story.” Writer/director Noah Baumbach’s incisive and insightful examination of a dissolving marriage features searing performances by Adam Drive and Scarlet Johansson (who also get to perform two numbers from “Company,” Stephen Sondheim’s musical about marriage).
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire.” This sumptuous French period drama tells the story of a young female artist who falls in love with her subject. The richly sensuous and thoughtful exploration of art and romance won the Queer Palm at Cannes where lesbian filmmaker Céline Sciamma also won the screenwriting award.
“Rocketman.” Using the pop superstar and gay icon’s own music, director Dexter Fletcher leads audiences on a fantastic journey through Elton John’s early life, including his childhood, his rise to international stardom, his coming out, his addictions and his decision to enter rehab. Taron Egerton is fantastic as Elton and the costumes by Julian Day are, of course, fabulous.
“Us.” Jordan Peele’s 2017 debut feature “Get Out” was a penetrating analysis of racism in America. His second feature is a devastating critique of the American Dream with indelible performances by Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Elisabeth Moss.
“Where’s My Roy Cohn?” In this excellent documentary, long-form journalist turned documentary filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer profiles Roy Cohn, the closeted gay lawyer who was the mastermind the Lavender Scare of the 1950s and who served as a mentor to Donald Trump.
Honorable Mentions go to “1917,” Sam Mendes’ technically dazzling and emotionally devastating World War I tale; “And Then We Danced,” a deeply political story about the romantic relationship and artistic rivalry between two male dancers; “Ask Dr. Ruth” a thoughtful and clever documentary about the Holocaust survivor and pioneering sex therapist who became a fierce LGBT ally; “Booksmart,” Olivia Wilde’s funny and sensitive story about two high school best friends, one lesbian and one straight; and, “By the Grace of God” a clear-eyed and piercing denunciation of clerical abuse in the French Catholic Church by queer auteur François Ozon.
The list of honorable mentions continues with “Harriet” featuring a riveting by Cynthia Erivo as freedom fighter Harriet Tubman; “Knives Out,” the clever all-star whodunit helmed by Rian Johnson; “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho’s visually stunning and searing satire on class warfare in South Korea; “The Two Popes” with splendid scenery and memorable performances by Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins as Pope Frances and emeritus Pope Benedict; and “Waves” a visceral exploration of an affluent African American family in crisis by Trey Edward Shults.
The (Not So) Guilty Pleasure of the Year was the thoroughly enjoyable “Charlie’s Angels.” Camp goddess and queer icon Elizabeth Banks (who served as producer, director, writer and star) provided a stylish, suspenseful and clever reboot of the ’70s TV series. The movie had a delightfully queer and feminist sensibility (with Kristen Stewart as a pansexual Angel) with strong central female performances, a great supporting cast and delicious cameos by Laverne Cox, Danica Patrick, Ronda Rousey and Jaclyn Smith, one of the original Angels.
Finally, a word on the passing of a cinematic era. With the release of “Star Wars” (now called “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope”) in 1977, creator George Lucas changed the way movies are filmed, scored, marketed and merchandised. Since then, the Skywalker sage has gone through some significant ups and downs, but it has remained an inescapable cultural milestone. With the release of “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker,” the big-screen cinematic franchise will come to an end, even though the theme park attractions will go on forever.
Tony Award-winning composer Jerry Herman, who wrote the cheerful, good-natured music and lyrics for such classic shows as “Mame,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “La Cage aux Folles,” died Thursday. He was 88.
His goddaughter Jane Dorian confirmed his death to The Associated Press early Friday. He died of pulmonary complications in Miami, where he had been living with his partner, real estate broker Terry Marler.
The creator of 10 Broadway shows and contributor to several more, Herman won two Tony Awards for best musical: “Hello, Dolly!” in 1964 and “La Cage aux Folles” in 1983. He also won two Grammys — for the “Mame” cast album and “Hello, Dolly!” as song of the year — and was a Kennedy Center honoree.
Herman wrote in the Rodgers and Hammerstein tradition, an optimistic composer at a time when others in his profession were exploring darker feelings and material. Just a few of his song titles revealed his depth of hope: “I’ll Be Here Tomorrow,” “The Best of Times,” “Tap Your Troubles Away,” “It’s Today,” “We Need a Little Christmas” and “Before the Parade Passes By.” Even the title song to “Hello, Dolly!” is an advertisement to enjoy life.
Herman also had a direct, simple sense of melody and his lyrics had a natural, unforced quality. Over the years, he told the AP in 1995, “critics have sort of tossed me off as the popular and not the cerebral writer, and that was fine with me. That was exactly what I aimed at.”
In accepting the Tony in 1984 for “La Cage Aux Folles,” Herman said, “This award forever shatters a myth about the musical theater. There’s been a rumor around for a couple of years that the simple, hummable show tune was no longer welcome on Broadway. Well, it’s alive and well at the Palace” Theatre.
Some saw that phrase — “the simple, hummable show tune” — as a subtle dig at Stephen Sondheim, known for challenging and complex songs and whose “Sunday in the Park with George” Herman had just bested. But Herman rejected any tension between the two musical theater giants.
“Only a small group of ‘showbiz gossips’ have constantly tried to create a feud between Mr. Sondheim and myself. I am as much of a Sondheim fan as you and everybody else in the world, and I believe that my comments upon winning the Tony for ‘La Cage’ clearly came from my delight with the show business community’s endorsement of the simple melodic showtune which had been criticized by a few hard-nosed critics as being old fashioned,” he said in a 2004 Q&A session with readers of Broadway.com.
Herman was born in New York in 1931 and raised in Jersey City. His parents ran a children’s summer camp in the Catskills and he taught himself the piano. He noted that when he was born, his mother had a view of Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre marquee from her hospital bed.
Herman dated his intention to write musicals to the time his parents took him to “Annie Get Your Gun” and he went home and played five of Irving Berlin’s songs on the piano.
“I thought what a gift this man has given a stranger. I wanted to give that gift to other people. That was my great inspiration, that night,” he told The Associated Press in 1996.
After graduating from the University of Miami, Herman headed back to New York, writing and playing piano in a jazz club. He made his Broadway debut in 1960 contributing songs to the review “From A to Z” — alongside material by Fred Ebb and Woody Allen — and the next year tackled the entire score to a musical about the founding of the state of Israel, “Milk and Honey.” It earned him his first Tony nomination.
“Hello, Dolly!” starring Carol Channing opened in 1964 and ran for 2,844 performances, becoming Broadway’s longest-running musical at the time. It won 10 Tonys and has been revived many times, most recently in 2017 with Bette Midler in the title role, a 19th-century widowed matchmaker who learns to live again.
“Mame” followed in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury, and went on to run for over 1,500 performances. She handed him his Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2009, saying he created songs like him: “bouncy, buoyant and optimistic.”
In 1983 he had another hit with “La Cage aux Folles,” a sweetly radical musical of its age, decades before the fight for marriage equality. It was a lavish adaptation of the successful French film about two gay men who own a splashy, drag nightclub on the Riviera. It contained the gay anthem “I Am What I Am” and ran for some 1,760 performances. Three of his shows, “Dear World,” “The Grand Tour” and “Mack and Mabel,” failed on Broadway.
Many of his songs have outlasted their vehicles: British ice skaters Torvill and Dean used the overture from “Mack and Mabel” to accompany a gold medal-winning routine in 1982. Writer-director Andrew Stanton used the Herman tunes “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes a Moment” to express the psyche of a love-starved, trash-compacting robot in the film “WALL-E.”
Later in life, Herman composed a song for “Barney’s Great Adventure,” contributed the score for the 1996 made-for-TV movie “Mrs. Santa Claus” — earning Herman an Emmy nomination — and wrote his autobiography, “Showtune,” published by Donald I. Fine.
The Rio de Janeiro H.Q. of Porta dos Fundos, the Brazilian comedy troupe behind the Netflix gay Jesus Christmas Special sparking outrage in Brazil, was hit by a Molotov cocktail attack in the early hours of Dec. 24.
Two petrol bombs were thrown at the building. causing a fire, which was put out by one of the office’s security guards, according to one report,.
No one was hurt in the attack which, however, “endangered several innocent lives in the company and on the street,” Porta dos Fundos said in a press statement. Porta dos Fundos has given security cam footage of the attack to authorities.
The group‘s Christmas special, “The First Temptation of Christ,” a 46-minute comedy that portrays Jesus bringing home his presumed boyfriend Orlando to meet the Holy Family, prompted around two million people to sign a petition calling on the streaming service to remove the show because it offended Christians.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has described himself as a “proud” homophobe, once told an interviewer he would rather have a dead son than a gay son. His son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, recently called Porta dos Funds’ Christmas special “garbage” on his Twitter account, saying the filmmakers “do not represent Brazilian society.”
A video on social media in Brazil shows three masked people claiming they carried out a gasoline bomb attack to protest a Christmas program on Netflix that some critics have described as blasphemous.
A man in the video, whose voice is digitally altered, says the Christmas Eve attack on a video production house in Rio de Janeiro targeted Brazilian humorist group Porta dos Fundos for its Portuguese-language program.
The man claims to speak for a group he calls the Command of Popular National Insurgence. The video, which was circulating on Thursday, also shows three people throwing gasoline bombs into the building.
Saint Joseph’s Arts Society and Ken Fulk, the design impresario behind the revitalization and reimagination of the historic former church, now exhibition space and arts club, announces a CELEBRATION OF TRANS FILMMAKERS at its upcoming Provincetown Film Society’s COMING OUT 2020 Party in SAN FRANCISCO to fund a new mentorship and scholarship program for emerging Trans Actors.
At the event, we will recognize the work of POSE executive producer, writer and director Silas Howard and showcase the work of up-and-coming talents Zach Barack from Spiderman: Far From Home and The Transparent Musical Finale and Zoey Luna of 15: A Quinceañera Story, The T Word, the television series Pose, and the upcoming reboot of The Craft where she plays Lourdes a trans teen. Russell Boast, President of the Casting Society of America, will also present the Persistence of Vision Award to Ann Thomas, Principal and Founder of Transgender Talent, LLC, the only talent management company dedicated to casting trans talent.
The two celebrations will be held on Thursday, January 9 and Friday January 10 in San Francisco, both at Saint Joseph’s Arts Society Club 1401 Howard Street.
Friday, January 10: COMMUNITY FORUM 10 – 5 pm; public is invited to attend a community forum titled CHANGING THE CULTURAL NARRATIVE: TRANS STORIES IN U.S. ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA Free with advance registration at http://www.provincetownfilmsociety.org
Thanks to high profile shows such as Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-winning series POSE, opportunities for trans actors have deepened. Yet, the economic, educational, and social disadvantages caused by discrimination that transgender and nonbinary people experience throughout their lives, makes it especially challenging for emerging trans actors to access the basic tools needed to secure auditions, let alone jobs.
To tackle some of the disparities in the industry, a portion of the proceeds from the event will support a year-round scholarship and mentorship program for emerging trans actors, including a financial stipend, hands-on professional training, industry meetings and exclusive access to PFS’s year-round programs, held in Provincetown, MA, America’s oldest arts colony and a mecca for LGBTQ diversity and inclusion.
Provincetown Film Society CEO, Christine Walker said, “It is no coincidence that we are launching a game-changing program for transgender artists in a city that represents a beacon of hope and light for the LBGTQ community around the world. While we are geographically positioned quite literally at opposite ends of this vast country, we share a common belief in supporting equality and creativity in all of its forms.”
Honoree Ann Thomas said, “It’s been nearly five years since I started Transgender Talent. Back then, the biggest complaint I heard was about a desperate need for new transgender faces. If trans people had easy access to fulfill their dreams of becoming a trained actor, we’d have no shortage today. But with the systematic repression we’ve faced, the growth has been extremely slow. Only those with some measure of family support have been able to succeed. With the kickoff of the transgender scholarship and mentorship program, we can begin to see young trans people have hope for the future!”
In addition to Silas Howard, Zach Barack, Zoey Luna, and Ann Thomas, other panelists include: Russel Boast, President of the Casting Society of America and the head of its Inclusion and Diversity programs; San-Francisco-based Producers Marc Smolowitz of 13th Gen Company and Stefano Gonzalez, Transfinite producer; and many others.
Providing opportunities for artists to experience Provincetown, as so many of the great artists of the last century from Robert Motherwell to John Waters have been able to do, is a passion shared by the Provincetown Film Society and Ken Fulk, whose team of designers have restored many of the town’s historic structures and are working to preserve America’s artistic heritage. His most recent project is the Mary Heaton Vorse House which will be made available for artists residencies from a variety of disciplines.
Ken Fulk said, “Despite of its diminutive size and remote location, Provincetown has played an outsized role in cinema history for more than a century. The Provincetown Film Society has continued this tradition by creating and supporting inspirational films and filmmakers for the past two decades. We at Saint Joseph’s Arts Society are thrilled to welcome them to San Francisco for ‘Coming Out 2020.’ We invite all our supporters and friends to join us for the spectacular party to benefit trans filmmakers as well as the ground-breaking symposium we’re hosting that will offer professional development to trans actors, filmmakers, producers and writers. I am honored to share this incredible organization from my beloved Provincetown with our Saint Joseph’s community.”
The event is also co-presented by SFFILM — along with the Bay Area’s The Representation Project, partners with PFS on its fourth annual Women’s Media Summit for Gender Equity in U.S. Entertainment Media.
At press time, event sponsors include: PRESENTER: Stephanie Dillon & Fleur de Junk
SUPPORTER: DKR Films, East End Books MEDIA: Larsen Associates Film PR & Corey Tong
Community Co-Presenters: The Representation Project SFFILM
For Calendar Editors: COMING OUT PARTY 2020: A CELEBRATION OF TRANS FILM MAKERS Thursday, January 9 7 pm – 11 pm Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, 1401 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 Tickets are $250 and available at http://www.provincetownfilmsociety.org
COMMUNITY FORUM: CHANGING THE CULTURAL NARRATIVE: TRANS STORIES IN U.S. ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA Friday, January 10 10 am – 5 pm Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, 1401 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 FREE with registration at http://www.provincetownfilmsociety.org
###
About Ken Fulk: Ken Fulk is a designer and creative director of Ken Fulk, Inc, and renowned for his layered interiors and over-the-top parties. With a team of 50 “magic makers” to help bring his ideas to life, Fulk leads a team of architects, designers, branding and event specialists in both San Francisco and New York.
The Virginia-born designer has spent the last 20 years developing a business from turning his clients’ dreams into reality. Fulk has become the curator of lifestyles, not only designing homes, restaurants and hotels but also choreographing unforgettable weddings, parties and family getaways.
In recent years, Ken Fulk has expanded his impact around the globe. In addition to current residential work from Mexico to Miami and Provence to Provincetown, Ken Fulk is making his mark in New York with a new concept for rental residences on West 38th Street in New York, slated to open this spring. Designed like a boutique hotel with a lobby restaurant and rooftop lounge, the 224-unit building will offer residents a taste of Fulk’s extraordinary experiences, from interior design and party planning to weekly floral market and guest performances.
About Saint Joseph’s Arts Society: The St. Joseph’s Art Society is a new membership club created to inspire dialogue on the arts, fashion, food, craftsmanship, design and tech. Based out of a National Historic Landmark in San Francisco, the 1913 Saint Joseph's Church has been revitalized as a haven, a forum and a source of inspiration for artists, patrons and the public.
About Provincetown Film Society: The Provincetown Film Society (PFS) is an advocate for diverse representation in film, providing year-round programming and platforms that allow voices of all kinds to be heard via film. Locally, PFS’ work positively impacts the cultural and economic vitality of Provincetown. Nationally, its work helps shape industry discussions around parity in film. Through PFS’ work, we have an ability to better understand and appreciate human struggles and triumphs, showcasing our similarities and differences in today’s diverse culture.
Now in its 22nd year, PFS began as a yearly film festival serving 12,000+ attendees with its signature Filmmaker On the Edge(®) presentations with such luminaries as Darren Aronofsky, Patricia Clarkson, Sofia Coppola, Ang Lee, Jane Lynch, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Quentin Tarantino, John Waters, Debra Winger and others. In 2015, under the leadership of CEO Christine Walker, PFS has expanded to a year-round institute serving emerging and established filmmakers and co-founding the first women’s media summit in the country to address equity in U.S. Entertainment media. This year, PFS will announce a new partnership with The Representation Project to expand the program to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
About The Representation Project: Using film and media as catalysts for cultural transformation, The Representation Project inspires individuals and communities to challenge limiting gender stereotypes and shift norms. Jennifer Siebel Newsom founded The Representation Project, a 501(c)(3), in 2011 in response to the overwhelming public demand for ongoing education and social action in support of her first film, Miss Representation. Since then, The Representation Project released Newsom’s second film, The Mask You Live In, and third film, The Great American Lie. The organization has become well known for creating popular social media activism campaigns such as #NotBuyingIt, #AskHerMore, and #RepresentHer.
Sunday January 12 @ 3 pm. ‘Words and Music’: Laurie Lewis, Don Henry, Claudia Russell with Nina Gerber. Occidental Center for the Arts. Please join us for a memorable afternoon performance of outstanding music as three award-winning songwriters trade songs in a Nashville-style song circle. Prepare to be moved as Grammy-winning songwriter Don Henry, beloved bluegrass musician/educator Laurie Lewis, and outstanding singer/songwriter Claudia Russell perform some of their favorite tunes, accompanied by virtuoso guitarist Nina Gerber. You won’t want to miss this unique sharing of stellar talents in our intimate acoustic space! $22 Adv/$25 at the door. Fine refreshments; Art Gallery. Wheelchair accessible. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465.
