Harvey Milk Day on May 22, will kick off West Hollywood’s One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival. It promises to be packed with 40 Days and nights of arts and cultural events through June 30. This year’s theme is ‘Love is Love’ and will Celebrate LGBTQ Equality as a Uniting Force.
Each year, the City of West Hollywood celebrates the artistic contributions of the LGBTQ community with its vibrant One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival. It all starts at 6:30 p.m. on Harvey Milk Day, Wednesday, May 22, 2019 with a reception and free staged reading of Patricia Loughrey’s play Dear Harvey, produced by Celebration Theatre, the world’s oldest continuously running LGBTQ theatre. The reading will be preceded by a kick-off reception for the festival, and include the first in a series of Everyone Deserves (A) Love (Poem) and Let Love Flourish poetry pop-ups, which will take place during the Festival. The event will be held at the City’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. RSVP is required at www.onecityonepridedearharvey2019.eventbrite.com.
Additional highlights of the 40-day One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts festival include:
1) I Do, the New Stages LGBTQ Seniors Theater Project will present an evening of stories and music with LGBTQ seniors celebrating marriage and relationships on Saturday, May 25, 2019 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Renberg Theatre at the L.A. LGBT Center’s Village at Ed Gould Plaza, located at 1125 N. McCadden Place in Hollywood. This performance is developed through a workshop process and incorporates the real-life stories of the participants. The event is free, but RSVP is requested at www.facebook.com/events/2123180824398210.
2) The first weekend in June brings music to the City. On Saturday, June 1, 2019 at 7 p.m. and Sunday June 2, 2019 at 2 p.m., the Metropolitan Master Chorale will present the oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard. Matthew Shepard’s story is one that resonates today and the music will leave an indelible mark on your heart. While the story could be viewed through the lens of hatred, misunderstanding, and divisiveness, this oratorio shimmers with the spirit of inclusiveness as it explores the light and darkness, loss and grace we all hold in common. The concert will be held at Plummer Park’s Fiesta Hall, located at 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard. For tickets and more information, please visit www.metrosings.com. On Sunday, June 2, 2019 at 3 p.m., Southern California’s premiere women’s choir, VOX Femina in collaboration with Trans Chorus LA, presents a preview of their upcoming concert, Hearts of Courage, a celebration of Pride and the LGBTQ community, and tribute to the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. The concert will be held at Congregation Kol Ami, located at 1200 N. La Brea Avenue. Admission is free but RSVP is requested at www.eventbrite.com/e/hearts-of-courage-weho-tickets-52384382097.
3) Pride Weekend events kick off on Friday, June 7, 2019 at 6 p.m. with the City of West Hollywood-organized Dyke March featuring speakers, entertainment, and a march/rally which marks the start of L.A. Pride in West Hollywood weekend. Pop-ups include a protest sign-making workshop by JP (all supplies included), and the One City One Pride interactive poetry pop-up Everyone Deserves (A) Love (Poem). From Friday, June 7, 2019 through Sunday June 9, 2019, the expanded L.A. Pride Festival in West Hollywood celebrates the vast diversity of the LGBTQ community with three days of events. A new Friday night program has been added to the festival on June 7 at West Hollywood Park. This free-to-the-public evening will feature an official Opening Ceremony, a WeHo Vogue Ball & Drag Show, dancing, music from local DJs, and special surprise guests. This year’s Pride Festival in West Hollywood will also debut Pride on the Boulevard, a free block party on Santa Monica Boulevard between San Vicente and Robertson Boulevards allowing guests to gather and watch local performers on both Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. The Pride Parade kicks off on Santa Monica Boulevard at 11 a.m. on Sunday, and is the oldest pride parade in the world, taking place in West Hollywood since before Cityhood. Friday night admission to the festival grounds at West Hollywood Park; Saturday and Sunday’s Pride on the Boulevard, and the Sunday Pride Parade are all free. Tickets for the main festival on Saturday and Sunday are $15-$50 and are available at www.lapride.org.
4) High tea and hilarity begin at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, 2019 at the City’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard when the City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian Speakers Series event, Tea Time with Stephanie Miller and Beth Lapides. Come prepared for an afternoon of hijinks as the tea is spilled on the state of politics, current events, and pop culture with nationally renowned progressive radio talk show host Stephanie Miller in conversation with UnCabaret’s High Priestess of Alternative Comedy Beth Lapides. High tea with drinks & dessert will follow the conversation. This event is free but is expected to reach capacity; RSVP is encouraged at https://stephanieandbeth.eventbrite.com. Free parking is available in the adjacent five-story structure with validation at the event.
5) Come check out the nearly complete City of West Hollywood-funded L.A.: A Queer History documentary film showcasing the LGBTQ history of Los Angeles by Gregorio Davila. Many consider the New York City Stonewall Riots of 1969 to be the birth of the LGBTQ civil rights movement. But there have been activists, artists, and innovators in Los Angeles working toward equality since the turn of the 20th century. The documentary is an educational, exciting, and emotional saga spanning nearly a century featuring artists, scholars and first-hand accounts from LGBTQ elders who lived it. The screening will be held on Wednesday, June 26, 2019 at 7 p.m. the City’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The event is free but RSVP is requested at https://la-queer-history-film.eventbrite.com.
6) Closing out the One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival on Sunday, June 30, 2019 is the full-day One City One Pride Day of Art event from 1:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the City’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The day kicks off at 1:30 p.m. with the Let Love Flourish and Everyone Deserves (A) Love (Poem) Queer Poetry Pop-Ups, followed at 2:30 p.m. with the launch of Crush: First Love, New Talent an LGBTQ comic anthology about first (queer) love from Prism Comics presented as part of the City’s WeHo Reads program. There will be readings from the book and a book-signing. At 3:30 p.m., QueerWise, a writing collective and spoken word performance group led by Michael Kearns, performs. At 5 p.m., see powerful images from award-winning photographer Robin Hammond’s project documenting images and stories from people in 70 countries where being LGBTQ is still illegal at the Where Love Is Illegal panel discussion. Hear trans leader Rikki Nathanson’s stories of courage and activism in Zimbabwe, and learn about OutRight Action International’s work for human rights and LGBTQ freedom, safety, equality and dignity everywhere. The day of programming concludes at 7 p.m. with the first public screening of Dan Guerrero’s touching, provocative, and hilarious new film, ¡Gaytino! Made in America. From mariachi to Merman, Sondheim to Cesar Chavez, decades of Mexican-American/Chicano and LGBTQ history intersect from a personal perspective in story and song in this film of Guerrero’s critically-acclaimed solo play. Admission to Day of Art is free, but seating is first-come, first-served. RSVP is requested at https://ocop-day-of-art.eventbrite.com.
Throughout the One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival 40 days of events, the City of West Hollywood will transform into a literary salon of love, with a series of two different queer poetry of pop ups. Find a diverse group of queer poets on typewriters helping residents convert their unique love stories into poetry at Everyone Deserves (A) Love (Poem). A diverse group of queer poets on typewriters will help residents convert their unique love stories into poetry. Anyone may commission and take home a love poem from this interactive art project organized by Brian Sonia-Wallace (aka RENT Poet). This project is a testament to the idea that love is love, and every love story is worth a poem. Let Love Flourish: Queer Poetry Pop-up is a spoken word celebration of historic LGTBQ poets created by performance artist Jason Jenn who Jenn brings their passionate words to spirited life for the public to enjoy in the streets of West Hollywood. Queer love has emerged in writing in various ways, from veiled allusions during oppressive eras to all-out profusions of sensuous splendor in contemporary times. Jenn employs elaborately styled costumes and various theatrical techniques, while illuminating audiences about the authors’ lives and their historical conditions. Art direction for Let Love Flourish is by Vojislav Radovanovic.
Everyone Deserves (A) Love (Poem):
May 22, 6:30 p.m., at the One City One Pride kickoff
June 7, 6 p.m., at the Dyke March
June 8 and 9, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the One City One Pride booth at “Pride on the Boulevard”
June 30 at the One City One Pride Day of Art
Let Love Flourish: Queer Poetry Pop-up
May 22, 6:30 p.m., at the One City One Pride kickoff
June 9 at the One City One Pride booth at “Pride on the Boulevard”
June 30 at the One City One Pride Day of Art
Simply being a member of the LGBTQ community is illegal in 70 countries and the queer community faces discrimination, persecution, and violence around the world. Award-winning photographer Robin Hammond’s Where Love is Illegal project has documented the stories and images of many individuals from these countries. He has dedicated his career to documenting human rights and development issues through long-term photographic projects and has won numerous awards for his work, including four Amnesty International Awards and several other prestigious prizes. The photo exhibit will be on view at the West Hollywood Library, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard, from May 24, 2019 through October 11, 2019 during regular library hours (Monday –Thursday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and, Sunday, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.). The library is closed holidays and from June 9-11, 2019.
The One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival is organized by the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division with the participation of the City’s Lesbian & Gay Advisory Board, Transgender Advisory Board, Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, and community partners.
For additional details about the One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, including a full calendar of events and downloadable brochure with times and locations, please visit www.weho.org/pride.
For more information, please contact Mike Che, the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Coordinator, at (323) 848-6377 or at mche@weho.org.
