On November 15, 2012 the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division was born at Strange Loop Gallery on Orchard Street. The Bureau’s come a long way, baby! We will be 2 years old on Saturday, November 15th, and we hope that you’ll come celebrate with us in our new home at The LBGT Community Center! Drae Campbell will host an evening of festivities featuring Lady Quesa’Dilla, Joseph Whitt, Tommy Pico, and DJ Shomi Noise.

 $10 suggested donation to pay our performers (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Drae Campbell is a writer, actor, director, story teller, dancer, and nightlife emcee. Besides winning the 2011 Miss LEZ title, Drae has been featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien and on stages all over NYC. Drae’s directing work has appeared in Iceland, NYC, Budapest and in the San Francisco Fringe Festival. The short film Drae wrote and starred in, YOU MOVE ME won the Audience Award for Outstanding Narrative Short at OUTFEST 2010 and has been shown in fesivals globally. Drae was dubbed “the next lezzie comedian on the block” by AfterEllen.com for her comedic stylings on the interwebs. Campbell throws a monthly party in Brooklyn called PRIME and a night of queer storytelling called TELL at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division. Campbell just won the grand prize at the first annual San Miguel De Allende Storytelling Festival in Mexico. Check her out online and around town. www.draecampbell.com

Shomi Noise is a writer, musician, DJ, storyteller, dreamer, and tinkerer with an established reputation in the Brooklyn underground scene. Her work explores narratives of intersectionality, vulnerability, and resilience. She uses music to share empowering messages with the world through a creative mix of stories and sounds.

Shomi has DJed nationally and internationally with sets that include a clever mix of genres ranging from Latin dance music, hip-hop, electrohouse, reggae, pop, punk rock etc. Her ability to read crowds and create catchy and original song mashups on the spot makes her DJ work interesting and refreshing. She currently produces three parties in Brooklyn: Riot Chica,Telenovela, and Wretched. Riot Chica is a queercore/riot grrrl party that celebrates feminism and DIY culture by sharing empowering underground music made by ladies and queers,Telenovela is a new party for Spanish oldies and Wretched is a fun 90s party.

As a writer, performer, and musician, Shomi is working on original singer/songwriter material and other musical projects with friends. She is the author of “Building Up Emotional Muscles,” a coming of age story that incorporates music and storytelling to depict the struggles and triumphs she experienced growing up as a young queer immigrant woman of color in the US. It addresses her experience with the intersectionality of culture, race, class, sexuality and punk rock, and is based on a series of zines sharing the same title. She’s had the opportunity to share this original work as part of Heels on Wheels, an organization of radical queer femme performance artists that tours across the US and Canada. She is currently working on the 4th and last volume of the series and hopes to one day make a movie or play about it. Shomi’s work is best described as unique, sassy, musically eclectic, and fun. She is deeply committed to spreading messages of self-love, empowerment, social justice, and community building.

To find out more about Shomi visit:
www.shominoise.com
https://soundcloud.com/shominoise

https://www.facebook.com/djshominoise

Tommy “Teebs” Pico is the author of absentMINDR (VERBALVISUAL, 2014)—the first chapbook APP published for iOS mobile/tablet devices—was a Queer/Art/Mentors inaugural fellow, 2013 Lambda Literary fellow in poetry, and has poems in BOMB, Guernica, and [PANK]. Originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, he now lives in Brooklyn.

Alejandro Rodríguez AKA Lady Quesa’Dilla  — Alejandro is a native Tejan@ from the El Paso and Ciudad Juárez border. Their work is at the intersection of cultural identity, drag, and community. “The Brown Queen,” an autobiographical solo performance about growing up queer in the southwest, premiered at HERE Arts Center in the spring of 2010. Most recent solo performances include “My Tia Lupe” and “The Faggot in the Pink House”. Alejandro has performed in New York City, El Paso, Texas, Chiapas, Mexico, and Montreal, Canada. Alejandro is a member of The  House of Bushwig, as Lady Quesa’Dilla, duties include Volunteer Coordinator for the annual Bushwig Festival.

    Alejandro can also be found as an Information and Referral Specialist at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center in Manhattan; and as a Teaching Artist in The Bronx and Brooklyn.

    Alejandro holds a BA in Theater from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, and a MA in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and is an alum of The Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics.

    Resides in Brooklyn.

    Lady Quesa’Dilla is the reigning Miss Coney Island Queen of Drag.