Upcoming events
Classic Black Queer Film Night
Patrik Ian-Polk’s Blackbird (2014) is based on Larry Duplechan’s 1986 novel of the same name. The film is set in Mississippi and depicts a young teenager relationship to religion and sexuality. CW: Anti-LGBT rhetoric. The film will be shown August 30th at 8pm EST (click here to add yourself to the calendar invite).
Blackbird Movie Poster
September’s Selection will be Stephen Winters’s Chocolate Babies (1996). Fill out this form to receive more information on future movie nights.
Da Black Queers Be Writing October’s Feedback Session
The fifth feedback session of the year will be held on Saturday, October 3rd. If you would like to receive feedback or support other writers at the feedback session fill out this form. You can also share this with any other Black and Queer writers even if they do not attend the co-work sessions.
Shout out to You!!!
Black Queer & Trans Artists Spotlight
Wriply M. Bennet (she/her)
Wriply looking into the camera with shoulder length twist in her hair.
Wriply M. Bennet is a painter and illustrator born in Ohio. She uses her art to uplift her sisters in the Black lives/ Black transgender lives movement. She works in ink, watercolor and other mediums, and her art comes from an untrained perspective. She never aspired to attend college to study art, and there are no degrees to speak of other than a high school diploma. Her art is proudly self-taught.
Her illustration work has been used in films like Major! and A New Creation Story. Her work has also been featured in many social justice campaigns for Black Lives Matter, Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, Forward Together and more.
If you are looking to work with an amazing Black Trans Illustrator, Wriply commissions are open! You can see more of her work on her site and make sure you follow her on Instagram. As a bonus check out the illustration she did of T. from 2017!
Wriply is here for Black Trans Liberation!!!
Got someone to nominate? Wanna share your work? No, really PLEASE nominate someone/ yourself.
HGVAC Announcements
Black August Book Exploration
HomeGrown Visions Arts Collaborative invites you to observe Black August with us. Black August is a time for to honor and pay tribute to the resilience, strength and perseverance of OUR community.
Over the course of August, HomeGrown Visions Arts Collaborative is hosting a weekly hybrid book club focused on A Black Queer History of the United States by C. Riley Snorton and Darius Bost.
Each week, the attendees at BLOOM: A Black Trans Gathering will collectively facilitate a hybrid book exploration focusing on two chapters. After each session we will send out a guide for Further Exploration. We invite Black Trans and Queer people around the world to join this weekly book exploration via Zoom. You can also participate in our readalong on Storygraph.
It is not too late to join! We meet every Monday in August at 6pm EST.
Reading Schedule:
August 3rd- Introduction, Chapter One: The Erotic Life of Colonialism and Slavery Session #1 Further Exploration Guide
August 10th- Chapter Two: By Any Other Name, Chapter Three: On the Outs
August 17th- Chapter Four: Werk!, Chapter Five: Coming Together
August 24th- Chapter Six: Survival is Not a Luxury, Conclusion: After We’ve Created Our Own History
Please fill out this form if you are interested.
Opportunities
Open Calls, Grants & Community Events
Transfix Magazine is a community-based quarterly publication exploring the many facets of transness. The magazine is available for free digital download on a pay-what-you-want basis.
The vision for this magazine is to create a collection of intersectional perspectives that allow readers (and those featured) to feel seen, heard, and validated – to find community. The collection consists of art, writing, photography, and more.
Submissions due August 8 at 11:59 EST
Danza Orgánica 14th Annual We Create Festival Fellowship 🆕
2027: Conjuring Our Power
We Create operates within a liberatory, antipatriarchal, antiracist, decolonial, and feminist framework. There will be 7 artists selected for the 2026-2027 season. Artists will receive a fully produced show of their work at no cost in Roxbury, MA, the weekend of March 26-27, 2027. Artists must make themselves available the week prior to the show (March 26-27) for technical rehearsals. Pieces should be no longer than 10 minutes.
Breaking into television is harder than ever — but there are programs designed to help emerging writers find their way. Join representatives from The Black List, Sundance Institute Episodic Program, SeriesFest, and ATX TV Festival for a candid conversation about the opportunities that exist for writers ready to take the next step in their careers.
This discussion will explore each program’s unique goals, what they look for in applicants, how writers can best prepare to apply, and what participants can expect to gain from the experience. Whether you’re developing your first pilot or refining your voice for the screen, this webinar will help you identify which program might be the right fit — and how to make your submission stand out.
Monday, August 10, 2026 1pm PT / 4PM ET
The Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship honors, celebrates, and supports Black storytellers representing the Appalachian counties (as designated by the Appalachian Regional Commission) of Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. This is a partnership between the National Association of Black Storytellers, Mid-Atlantic Arts, and South Arts. The Black Appalachian Storytellers Fellowship is administered by the National Association of Black Storytellers.
Applications are due Monday, August 10, 2026 11:59 PM.
Please join Building Transformative & Joyous Futures (BTJF) on Thursday, August 13th at @ 12pm PST / 3pm EST for a 2-hour training session on digital and physical safety fundamentals, tailored to keeping BIPOC trans and gender non-conforming people and their information safe. This session will be facilitated by Black Monday, a highly regarded movement defense training and strategizing group. Areas that will be covered in this session include protecting internal/external communication, safety planning, assessing risk and other areas involving storage protection for confidential information.
This session is ONLY offered to Black, Indigenous or People Of Color (BIPOC) trans & gender non-conforming individuals, organizations & groups. This training has limited space. Zoom link will be sent out prior to training.
The Queer|Art Design Grant is a new initiative supporting projects that explore queer histories, legacies, and futures. The program will award two $10,000 USD grants to emerging queer creatives across the design industry, making it the largest cash grant for LGBTQ+ designers in the country.
Applications Due August 14, 2026
The Sociological Initiatives Foundation (SIF) is dedicated to the belief that research and action are intrinsically inseparable. They invite concept proposals for community-academic partnerships that link an explicit research design to a concrete social action strategy. Projects should have specifically stated social change goals.
The Foundation prioritizes projects promoting racial justice and fairer and more equitable laws, policies, and practices.
Preference is given to applicants that are:
community-academic partnerships
advocacy or community groups that conduct research that can withstand challenges in academic and policy arenas
grassroots organizations that organize or link to a constituency through their research
Funding Amount $20-30k
Applications are due August 14th
The Block and Build Rapid Response and Defense Fund provides immediate, flexible resources to frontline organizations in the Southeast as they face rising authoritarian threats and incidents of hate or violence. This fund supports organizations in responding quickly to crises in ways that center the voices and leadership of directly impacted individuals. The fund prioritizes:
Centering impacted communities to address incidents of hate, violence, or regressive policies.
Fostering solidarity by strengthening community connections and collective action.
Efforts that center collective action and organizing as a primary strategy to build power.
The fund will offer small monthly grants of $500 – $3,000. The rolling deadline is the 15th of every month.
“Bringing the Gods Back to Life: Black Queer Cosmologies in Sculpture, Ritual, and Film” w/ Dr. Marquess Redd (Online) 🆕
What does it mean to revive ancient Egyptian cosmology as a living, embodied practice centered on Black queer life? In this online class, Dr. Marques Redd shares the vision behind Myth‑Science of the Gatekeepers, a project of the collective Rainbow Serpent (which advances Black LGBTQ culture through emerging tech, multimedia art, and traditional African knowledge systems). The project’s core is a set of sixteen life‑size glass busts of Black queer people, each cast in the form of a reimagined Egyptian deity – Amun, Khonsu, Ra, and others.
The Black Boy Writes & Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative, which launched at the start of 2021, is dedicated to supplying industry access and resources to preWGA Black screenwriters. This mentorship program is a year-long initiative that provides a pathway to eliminating barriers to entry. The program is international and you don’t have to live in Los Angeles to be considered.
Most of the programming is virtual, but out-of-town and international mentees will be flown in at the beginning of the year for the class kick-off and again for the end-of-year class retreat. The goal of the program is to position and equip Black writers with the resources and knowledge to acquire representation, a staffed writing position, and/or optioned content.
Applications are due August 15, 2026
For groups of 2 or more people working together towards a shared trans justice goal located in the United States or U.S. Territory. Groups should be run by and for trans people.
Cycle 1: January 23 – February 14, 2026Cycle 2: April 28 – May 16, 2026Cycle 3: July 28 – August 15, 2026 (Last round for the year)
Emergent Fund is a rolling, monthly rapid response and emergent organizing grant for movement and frontline communities responding to urgent and specific unanticipated crises or opportunities to build power.
GRANT DEADLINE: EVERY 3RD THURSDAY EACH MONTH (August 16th) AT 5:00 P.M. PST / 8:00 P.M. EST.
Over the next five years, The Literary Arts Fund will provide at least $50 million in support to independent U.S.-based literary arts nonprofits whose primary mission is directly serving adult writers of creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and hybrid works in making their artistic work and sharing it with readers.
To be eligible to apply, an interested applicant must be an independent nonprofit (or fiscally sponsored) literary arts organization, press, or publication based in the U.S. whose primary mission directly supports adult creative writers in making artistic work and sharing it with readers in at least one of the following ways:
Applications are due August 17th 11:59 EDT
Stop avoiding the spreadsheets. Build your systems, organize your income, and actually get it done—with a community by your side. This summer series is for Creatives and Organizers. Every topic is split into a two-part framework designed to get you organized, unstuck, and moving forward. Part 1: The Workshop –Break down the concepts, demystify the jargon, and hand over the exact templates and resources you need. Part 2: The Co-Working Session – Bring your numbers! We’ll roll up our sleeves and work together to build, update, and polish your financial systems with live facilitator support.
All sessions run from 6:30 PM – 8:00 PM EST via Google Hangouts
Aug 19 Workshop Income Planning 101:
Project your revenue and plan for dry spells.Aug 26 Co-Work Income Planning Support Session:
Plug in your own targets and templates.Sept 23 Workshop Bookkeeping 101:
Learn how to track expenses without the headache.Sept 30 Co-Work Bookkeeping Club!: Set up your accounts and clean up your books.
Quick and easy application to provide a little extra support women-identified folk. August’s microgrants:
$1,000 Tech Fund-Whether you're headed back to campus, sending a kid off to school, or leveling up professionally the right tools and tech make a difference. Let us help you refresh your stack.
$500 Teacher Wishlist- So much of what sets kids up for success in the classroom comes out of teachers' own pockets. Let us help you stock the classroom your students need this year.
$100 School Lunch Fund-Planning and packing school lunches can be a a juggle when school is getting back in session. Let’s make sure our kiddos stay healthy and fed.
Applications close on August 22nd.
BTJF is teaming up with BEAM to provide more wellness offerings and transformative programming for Black trans and gender non-conforming community members. Relationships are key when it comes to collective wellness and building out the liberated world we dream of. BEAM is excited to hold a Heart Space Healing Circle focused on strengthening the ways we care for ourselves and each other. Rooted in our ancestral practices, they will explore building healing and accountability wheels, and uplifting practices that can strengthen our communities' wellness. This August Heart Space Healing Circle will be held on August 26th @ 3pm PST /6pm EST.
This is an annual program established in 2021 which provides financial support for emerging and established artists to further advance their careers. Artist must identify as BIPOC, Identify as Deaf, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, or Hard of Hearing.
For 2026, Deaf Spotlight will award $1,000 each to 5 recipients. At least one recipient will reside in the Pacific Northwest (Washington, Oregon, or Idaho), at least one recipient will reside in California, and at least one recipient will be a National selection outside of the Pacific Northwest region.
Applicants must work in the following art forms or disciplines: Literary, Media, Performing, Tactile and Visual.
Applications are due Friday, August 28, 2026
This Micro-Grant awards $1000 micro-grants to artivists to support the creation of new, narrative-based artivism that responds to issues related to systemic racism and/or mass incarceration on a local, national, or global level. The grant is designed to support individuals and collectives to create rapid response artivism projects that can be conceived, executed, and launched within a 2-month timeline.
Per Broadway Advocacy Coalition’s definition of artivism, qualifying projects should be narrative-based, change-oriented, include a clear call to action, and involve, if not conceived with, people who are directly affected by the issue in the development process.
Applications are due August, 28, 2026
They have three 2026-27 Play Development Programs for BIPoC and/or female identifying writers 2026-27. All programs will be conducted via Zoom and are available free of charge.
American Woman (AW) is a solo show development and presentation program that centralizes Female-identifying writers living in the United States. It is led by Raquel Almazan.
Classics in Color (CiC) is a new play development and presentation program that centralizes BIPoC playwrights with early drafts of plays which combine the BIPoC lived experience with narratives from the Global Canon. It is led by Caridad Svich.
PlayTime (PT) is a new play development and presentation program that centralizes Female-identifying or BIPoC playwrights with early drafts of plays. It is led by Carmen Rivera.
All submissions are due Monday, August 31, 2026.
Point of Pride’s Thrive Fund offers small grants to trans folks who can’t afford gender-affirming care and wellness services not covered by their other programs. It is designed to support needs that are one-time or time-limited, though we also welcome applications for ongoing care. We give priority to requests that fill gaps in existing support systems—especially if the service or item is a prerequisite or closely connected to other gender-affirming care. Applicants may request up to $2,500.
Applications are due August 31st
The Janisha R. Gabriel Movement Protection Fund (MPF) flanks frontline movement organizations and leaders facing a wide range of threats — including state repression, vigilante violence and institutional retaliation — as a direct result of their organizing work. MPF moves resources securely, while also investing in longer-term safety infrastructure. MPF affirms that holistic security and collective care are fundamental to sustaining the people and communities leading social justice movements
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
The next MPF info sessions will be:
August 18, 2026, 11 am PT / 2 pm ET
October 14, 2026, 11 am PT / 2 pm ET
The Black Trans Short Film Festival is an annual event produced by Comfrey Films and dedicated to showcasing the stories and creativity of Black Trans/Gender Non-Conforming/Intersex (TGNCI) filmmakers. It's a space where the unique experiences, struggles, and joys of Black TGNCI lives are told on screen, giving visibility to voices that often get overlooked in mainstream media. 1) Film must be less than 20 minutes in length. 2) Final Submission Deadline is November 3rd, 2026. 3) Film must be directed, produced or written by a Trans/Gender Non-Conforming/Intersex (TGNCI) person of African descent and/or who otherwise identifies as Black, and must also feature TGNCI persons of African descent, or tell a story of Black TGNCI experiences.
Jury Prize Award includes a $2,500 cash prize, film gear, trophies, connections to filmmaking professionals, and a distribution offer.
People's Choice Award includes a $1,250 cash prize, film gear, trophies, and connections to filmmaking professionals.
Priority/Early Application Deadline September 3, 2026
Regular Deadline October 3, 2026
Late Submission Deadline November 3, 2026
The Mobilize Power Fund is a rapid response fund that resources gender justice organizations to adapt or pivot their work when met with unanticipated, time-sensitive opportunities or threats to their movement building work and organizing conditions. Apply by written application, video, or phone!
The Mobilize Power Fund prioritizes organizations that are responding to specific incidents or changes of circumstances that have occurred in the last six months. This can include rapid response mobilizations, healing justice work, conflict resolution/conflict transformation, community accountability, mutual aid, direct actions, emergency safety, security, and defense needs, and more. This fund prioritizes groups and organizations who are experiencing an unanticipated incident.
September Cycle Applications are due September 8, 2026 5pm PDT/ 8pm EDT.
The Obsidian Theatre Festival is looking for new work (plays, musical and choreography) by emerging Black artists for their 7th annual festival. The festival will be held June 24-27, 2027.
Submitted pieces will be eligible and considered for production on one of three Obsidian Stages.
The Obsidian Main Stage presents fully produced works for a minimum of 2 performances. Each play or musical will receive a minimum of two (2) performances during the festival week.
The Obsidian Showcase presents readings, staged readings, and workshops of new and developing work. Each play or musical will receive 1-2 performances during the festival week.
The Obsidian Dance Theatre presents various pieces of original choreography.
Selected writers will be paid a licensing fee as compensation for live production. $750 USD Main Stage, $500 USD Showcase, $500 USD Choreography 10-20 min, $300 Choreography 5-10 min.
Applications close September 13, 2026 11:59PM
Write birthdays card to queer and trans people currently incarcerated in California. All birthday cards submitted through Power Blossoms online system will be printed and mailed by hand in a timely manner so that our LGBTQ family feel celebrated on their birthdays. Power Blossoms covers all costs related to printing and postage.
A space for rest, creative practice, and socializing. For pro-mask, immunocompromised, and disabled adults.
Every other Wednesday Lampblack will select a Black poet, storyteller, or essayist in need, $100. Selections are made on an anonymous, random basis.
Torch Magazine is open to submissions from Black women writers. They are looking for Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, or Scripts (plays or screenplays).
Selected submissions will receive $150 and be showcased as a Friday Feature. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis year-round—no deadline!
Put it on your Schedule
“Da Black Queers Be Writing” Fall Sessions
We host free weekly co-working sessions. Each session is two hours. This is a tool to strengthen your writing practice with community. Folks are encouraged to come when they can for however long they can. There is no commitment to joining every session.
Fall Sessions will be held September 15th -December 15th.
Times will be determined based on responses/interest. Please complete this form by September 3rd to share your interest and preference for time. We are also looking for hosts for Fall writing co-working sessions.
Please share the link with Black Queer and/or Trans Writers in search of a writing community.
That’s it!
I will leave you with four things that are bringing me joy and one media recommendation.
1. Aretha. Everything about her and every song she ever made.
2. Connecting with old friends.
3. Caring for Black Trans Folk at Bloom: A Black Trans Gathering
4. Reading and discussing Black Queer History with Community this Black August.
Watch the first episode of HomeGrown Web Series directed by January Miller and written by Kennedy Salters.
Make time for joy, and maybe just maybe love is the answer.
Questions, comments, concerns? [email protected]