LGBTQ Arts Organizations Come Together

Businesses to Form Atlanta Queer Arts Alliance

Six LGBTQ performing arts organizations in Atlanta have come together to form the Atlanta Queer Arts Alliance (AQAA) after a snub from an Atlanta City Council council member.

Voices of Note, OurSong, the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chorus, the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra, Atlanta Freedom Bands, Out Front Theatre Company, Atlanta’s LGBTQ theater company, and Out On Film have joined forces to promote awareness and visibility of LGBTQ arts in the community through AQAA.

The group came to fruition after Atlanta

City Council’s Councilman Antonio Brown recognized 25 LGBTQ people and organizations from Atlanta as Game Changers but failed to include any LGBTQ performing arts organizations.

“The arts play a significant role in the Atlanta economy and the Atlanta LGBTQ community,” Jim Farmer, the festival director of Out on Film, said. “For an elected official and member of the local LGBTQ community to exclude us – especially during a Stonewall Month when many of us held multiple events – is sad. It may seem like a harmless omission, but it is a noticeable slight- and it sends us a message. We all hope that the creation of this new group will bolster the work we do as well as the importance of arts culture in our society.”

The AQAA held their first meeting in July to increase efforts to enhance their own and each other’s work, to promote the value of cultural experiences and find additional ways to collaborate with each other and create spaces for LGBTQ artists.

Moving forward, the AQAA will create opportunities to come together by hosting joint events and fundraisers.