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OutBeat: A Queer Jazz Festival

William Way LGBT Community Center
Patricia Barber at the Cape Town Jazz Festival.
Patricia Barber at the Cape Town Jazz Festival.
Bill Stewart.
Bill Stewart.

The first-ever queer jazz festival in the United States, OutBeat will take place over three days in September 2014, addressing intersections amongst sexual orientation, gender identity, and jazz music. The festival will kick off with a panel discussion helmed by noted queer jazz musicians Fred Hersch, Patricia Barber, Drew Paralic, and Jennifer Leitham. They will discuss the role that sexuality does or does not play in their music, as well as perceptions of homosexuality in the jazz world. American jazz drummer Bill Stewart will perform music at a symposium the next day, telling tales of jazz history and recounting his experiences as an out musician. The festival will culminate in a daylong concert at Union Transfer, featuring over a dozen celebrated LGBTQ jazz artists, as well as local and emerging queer jazz musicians. This mix of musicians from a wide range of backgrounds, including upstarts and veterans, will create an open environment in which participating artists may learn from each other and engage in open dialogue.

uestions of ractice
Bill Stewart, in performance with the Bill Stewart Quartet at Painted Bride Art Center for OutBeat: America's First Queer Jazz Festival. Photo by Sammy Munsch.
Interview

That There Might Be Queer Sound by Ashon Crawley

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Recipient
William Way LGBT Community Center

William Way LGBT Community Center

The William Way LGBT Community Center (WWCC) is a nonprofit organization serving sexual and gender minority populations of Philadelphia and its nearby communities. WWCC’s holdings include a large archive of local and regional LGBT documents and artifacts, and it offers programs in peer counseling, senior services, education, and arts and culture. In 2013, WWCC received a Center Project grant to present the first queer jazz festival in the United States, OutBeat, which took place over three days in September 2014, addressing intersections among sexual orientation, gender identity, and jazz music and featuring over a dozen celebrated LGBTQ jazz artists. In 2019, WWCC received a Center Project grant to commission new artworks and collect oral histories for Remembrance, a multidisciplinary memorial to Philadelphians who died during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s.

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