Queer artists, this ASEAN fest wants to feature your work

Pride isn’t just a month-long event—it’s a year-long thing. 

Beyond marches and rainbow flags, a Southeast Asian network is hosting a queer cultural festival, and it’s now on the lookout for the works of LGBTQ+ artists on this side of Asia.

Organized by regional network and LGBTQ+ advocacy group ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, the 2021 virtual edition of the Southeast Asian Queer Cultural Festival is looking for potential participants and their creative work. Dubbed “Be/Longings,” next year’s fest aims to cultivate the collective memory of Southeast Asian queer people and their ever-evolving shared identity.

In light of some repressive laws across the region, Be/Longings wants to assert the place of LGBTQ+ individuals in the Southeast Asian story. 

To join the fest, ASEAN SOGIE Caucus is looking for queer artists (including musicians, visual artists, drag performers, writers, filmmakers and photographers), alongside cultural workers, academics and activists. Those interested can send a concept note of the event or a creative work—just as long as it can be posted and shared online.

Check out the criteria below:

• Cultural work must be accessible through online space however, exceptions may be made for projects that feature regional issues but intended for audiences with limited access to the internet or to the English language;
• Theme or content of the material must articulate the following elements: a) local queer narratives or culture, b) local queer history or memory, c) challenges conservative Southeast Asian norms, d) imagines an inclusive and transformative Southeast Asia, e) promotes regional solidarity;
• Entertaining yet sends a clear political message: disrupting and challenging dominant norms that being LGBTIQ is not part of ASEAN culture or ASEAN values;
• Locally informed yet sends a regional message, has a potential for regional impact;
• May be a pre-recorded, audio-visual material (e.g. film, documentary or performance), a live event (e.g. a concert, a poetry jam, a creative performance), digitally curated visual art, a digital archive of historical queer materials, or some original literary pieces;
• Creative materials must be open source, or the artist or groups must own the copyright;
• Individuals involved or featured in the cultural materials (e.g. films, documentaries, photographs or live performances) must have given their consent.

The cultural fest is happening online from Feb. 13 to Mar. 13, 2021. Support for artists and collectives can also be provided—just indicate an estimated budget on the application. For individual projects, expect support of up to $500, while collectives and orgs can get up to $1,500.

Ready for it? Head over to their site to register.

Read more:

Meet the musicians leading the new wave of local queer rep

Express yourself: Three young queer creatives on style and identity

“Queer art is not just a trend or a fad,” says this visual artist

Photo by daniel james on Unsplash