The online event "Funding Queerness/Queering Funding" critically explored the various issues and opportunities surrounding processes of funding queer art and activism.
Cover: courtesy of social activist, photographer, multidisciplinary artist, and 2021 Seed Awardee, DeLovie Kwagala.
Queer artists and activists applying for international funding are faced with navigating legibility, visibility, and safety, among other issues. This raises a number of urgent questions: in what ways are queer art and activist practices talked about and presented by both funders and those receiving funding? How do queer practitioners navigate the dynamics of visibility and risk within their work? And how can we collectively spark up new ways of queering funding?
"Funding Queerness/Queering Funding" reflected on these (and more) questions, in conversation with visual artist, activist, and founder of queer-feminist webzine My.Kali, Khalid Abdel-Hadi; performance artist, activist, and 2021 Seed Awardee, Elyla; storyteller, translator, social sculptor and 2022 Building Beyond Awardee, Mika’il, the Muezzin; and a Ugandan writer and visual artist, who joined us under a pseudonym Otherandelse for their own protection given the recent anti-LGBTQIA+ in their country.
Watch the event now
Together, we considered how queerness is perceived and treated by international arts funding, how queer practices are made legible to funders, and how artists in different contexts balance the needs of visibility and safety amidst different perceptions of queerness at home and abroad. The event also aimed to serve as a space to initiate novel ways of thinking about (and queering) funding. And so, we discussed how funding can be part of a wider network of queer solidarity, and why this is a matter of urgency.
"Funding Queerness/Queering Funding" is part of the ongoing event series "Seeing Like a Fund", through which the Prince Claus Fund brings together cultural changemakers from its network to critically examine vital issues shaping how culture is supported globally, sparking new ways of thinking about and doing funding.
