BGSQDBureau of General Services—Queer Division
BGSQD
Join the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division to celebrate our 5th birthday!
MOMENTUM: 5 Years and Counting! will begin at 6 PM with an hour-long reception followed by a variety show MC’d by actor, entertainer, and former Miss LEZ Drae Campbell, and featuring author/blogger Jeremiah Moss (Vanishing New York: How A Great City Lost Its Soul); poet, writer, and performer Pamela Sneed; comedian, activist, and instructor Elsa Waithe; drag performer Lady Quesa’Dilla; and burlesque performer and porn star Chris Harder. DJ Viva Ruiz will bring guests to the dance floor for the final hour and a half!
Raffle prizes! Food! Drink! Dancing! Performances! Fun!
Tickets are only $25.
Flyer Design: Paul Moreno
Big thanks to our donors!
Raffle prizes include:
T-shirts and other goodies from Tom of Finland Store
1 pair of tickets to Sasha Velour’s Nightgowns on New Year’s Eve!
2 pairs of tickets to Chris Harder’s Porn to Be a STAR!
Performers and Readers:
Drae Campbell is an actor, storyteller, curator and all around entertainer. She received a BFA in Theater from the University of The Arts in Philadelphia. She’s been spotted on IFC.Com, Conan. Refinery29 and in numerous films. Some theater credits include: Only You Can Prevent Wildfires, Ricochet Collective, Non-Consensual Relationships With Ghosts, La Mama, My Old Man, Dixon Place, Oph3lia at HERE. She appeared as a radical lesbian in Taylor Mac’s 24 Decade History Of Popular Music at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Drae once reigned as Miss LEZ and she hosts and curates a live monthly storytelling show called TELL at BGSQD.
Viva Ruiz is a queer big mouth.
thankgodforabortion.com
Jeremiah Moss, creator of the award-winning blog Vanishing New York, and author of Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul, is the pen name of Griffin Hansbury. His writing on the city has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Daily News, and online for The New Yorker and The Paris Review. As Hansbury, he is the author of The Nostalgist, a novel, and works as a psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City.
Pamela Sneed is a New York-based poet, writer and performer. She is author of Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom Than Slavery, KONG and Other Works and a chaplet, Gift by Belladonna. She has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Time Out, Bomb, VIBE, and on the cover of New York Magazine. She has appeared in Art Forum, The Huffington Post and Hyperallergic. In 2017, She was a Visiting Critic at Yale and Columbia University. She is a Visiting Professor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts for 2017/18. She is online faculty at Chicago’s School of the Art Institute teaching Human Rights and Writing Art and has also been a Visiting Artist at SAIC in the MFA summer low-res program. She has performed at the Whitney Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Poetry Project, NYU and Pratt Universities, Smack Mellon Gallery, The High Line, and was an artist- in- residence at Pratt University, Denniston Hill and Poet-Linc, Lincoln Center Education. She directed a final showcase at Lincoln Center Atrium. Her collage work appeared in Avram Finklestein’s FOUND at The Leslie Lohman Museum in 2017. Her work appears in Nikki Giovanni’s, “The 100 Best African American Poets.” Her forthcoming chapbook, Sweet Dreams, will be published by Belladonna in February 2018.
Elsa Waithe is a comedian, activist, and instructor from Norfolk, VA. Now residing in Brooklyn, NY, Elsa’s comedy is a mix of lighthearted but critical jabs at attitudes and issues around homosexuality and race, but her 2 favorite topics are weed and herself.
She’s been featured on NPR’s This American Life, hosted the monthly comedy show “Affirmative Laughter” at The Experiment Comedy Gallery, and now teaches stand-up comedy to teen girls with Gold Comedy #ComedyForGirls.
Lady Quesa’Dilla
Chris Harder is a New York male burlesque performer, writer, and porn star. Known as “The Raunchy Romeo of Burlesque,” Harder has toured his solo burlesque performances throughout the US as well as Europe including shows in London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and Stockholm. Harder was named “Best of the Naked City” by the Village Voice (2011) and also crowned “Best International Male Performer” at the 2011 World Burlesque Games, London. Recently, Chris Harder was one of the American Headliners for the 2017 Helsinki Burlesque Festival and also a featured burlesque performer at the 2017 World Buskers Festival, New Zealand. Harder is also the writer and producer of the Nasty Drew and That Harder Boy series, New York. Find out more and #getHarder at www.HarderBurlesque.com and @HarderBurlesque on Instagram and Twitter.
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Why donate to the Bureau?
The Bureau is a vital, unique queer space in New York City. Visitors find themselves surrounded by LGBTQ books and publications by and about our community, whether they are new or treasured classics, well-known or obscure and difficult to find. From Audre Lorde and James Baldwin to Michelle Tea and Brontez Purnell, from the latest books on transgender youth and intersex activism to contemporary gay manga and fantastical polygender coloring books, visitors encounter an array of LGBTQ books and publications that they will not find anywhere else. With new work that we receive directly from zine makers and small independent presses, visitors always discover new friends.
The Bureau hosts over 200 events every year, many of which would not otherwise find a venue. These are both community-driven events such as book-discussion groups, activist strategizing meetings, and writing workshops, as well as book launches by both well-known and emerging authors and poets. Additionally, the Bureau hosts at least 5 exhibitions yearly: both solo and group exhibitions of art works as well as activist materials. The Bureau has collaborated with organizations such as Visual AIDS and Fire Island Artist Residency, as well as with veterans of The Lesbian Avengers activist group and activists fighting police violence against people of color to bring you provocative and inspiring exhibitions year round.
At 5 years and counting, we want to improve and enhance the experience of visiting the Bureau and attending our events and exhibitions. The Bureau needs new, sturdier bookshelves, new audio-visual equipment, cushioned seating, and office equipment that will facilitate our work for the community. The members of our community who share their work in our space and our guests deserve a high-functioning and comfortable venue.
Please donate to the Bureau to help us improve your experience of our space, our events, and our exhibitions so that we can serve you as we’ve always envisioned. As always, thank you for your support!
CLICK HERE to set-up a recurring monthly donation or to make a one-time donation.
One of the best ways to support the Bureau is by setting up a recurring monthly donation of any amount. This enables us to have a stable and reliable source of funds to cover operating costs, keep our inventory fresh, and address the needs of the project as they arise. Thank you for your support!