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Coming February 18-22, 2015, OUTsider is a multi-arts queer festival and conference based in Austin, TX that celebrates the bold originality and creative nonconformity of the LGBTQI and Ally communities through the presentation of provocative, overlooked and out-of-the-box film, theater, dance, music, writing, performance art, visual art and scholarship. Through its annual festival and conference, OUTsider will join together queer artists, audiences and scholars from around the globe to exchange ideas, ignite conversations, transcend boundaries and experience new pleasures through artistic discovery.

OUTsider breaks the traditional one-medium festival model through a mixed-up multi-arts experience that bridges disciplines in order to activate the full power and brilliance of LGBTQIA creation and community.

OUTsider rejects the common separation of artistic practice and appreciation through an intertwined festival and conference that encourages meaningful, galvanizing interactions between artists, scholars and the general public.

OUTsider believes in the power of new forms of art and community, and stands in solidarity with all outsiders everywhere.

Support our bold mission by donating today!

With love and gratitude,

The OUTsider Team

Our Track Record

OUTsider is a new festival, but we already have a number of successful events under our glitter belts and combat boots, including MayDayGayDay, a mixed-up night of springtime frolics that featured artists turned upside down and inside OUT, performing in totally new mediums for the very first time (filmmakers danced, punk rockers painted, installation artists sang, and so on down the joyously jumbled line).

This event was well-attended and highly-praised by folks of all stripes and predilections, and gave audiences a palpable sense of our cross-disciplinary ambitions, as well as a little taste of the artistic mischief that we have in store.

Our Team

OUTsider boasts a rock star team who bring a wealth of festival expertise and creative accomplishment to the OUTsider buffet.

Our Board of Directors includes:

Curran Nault (PhD, Former Artistic Director of the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival and the Austin Asian American Film Festival)

Scott Dinger (Founder of the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival)

Bobette Mathis (Festival Specialist)

Beth Schindler (Queerbomb Founder)

Annie Bush (Filmmaker, Former Educator)

Mirna Hariz (Entertainment Lawyer)

PJ Raval (Award-Winning Filmmaker, University of Texas Professor)

Paul Soileau (Award-Winning Performance Artist)

Our Advisory Board includes:

Eugene Alvarez (Company Manager, Ballet Austin)

Ron Berry (Founder/Artistic Director, Fusebox)

Nao Bustamante (Performance Artist & Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

Del Ray Cross (Poet & Editor, Shampoo Poetry)

Ann Cvetkovich (Professor of Women’s & Gender Studies/English, University of Texas at Austin)

Madge Darlington (Founder & Artistic Director, Rude Mechs Theater Collective)

Will Davis (Theater Director & Writer)

Heyd Fontenot (Visual Artist & Director, Central Trak)

Ernesto Foronda (Filmmaker & Programmer, Sundance Film Festival)

Silas Howard (Musician & Filmmaker)

Daniel Alexander Jones (Interdisciplinary Theatre Artist & Professor, Fordham University)

Jonesy (Multi-media Artist)

Peter Knegt (Senior Editor, Indiewire)

Marne Lucas (Visual Artist)

Sandra Martinez (Entrepreneur & Community Organizer)

Travis Matthews (Filmmaker)

Chale Nafus (Founder/Director of Programming, Austin Film Society)

Gary Newsom (Physician & Philanthropist)

Hoang Tan Nguyen (Experimental Artist  & Professor, Bryn Mawr)

Masashi Niwano (Festival Director, CAAMFest)

Gretchen Phillips (Musician)

Andee Scott (Choreographer, Dancer & Professor, University of South Florida)

What We Need & What You Get

$35,000 is the minimum we need to bring OUTsider  to  exquisite fruition.

This money will be used to:

o  Secure Venues

We will be taking over Manor Road in Austin, TX and transforming a uniquely-Austin street into a carnivalesque atmosphere of queer art and adventure! We already have several venues on board, including The Salvage Vanguard Theater, The Vortex, in.gredients, Mi Madre's, School House Pub and Windmill Bicycles as well as two satellite venues—The Contemporary Austin and Cheer Up Charlie’s. To guarantee these spaces and to collectively shape them into the spectacular queer wonderland of our imagining, we will need substantial funds.

o  Facilitate Artist Attendance

OUTsider is intended to be a space of active participation and exchange between artists, academics and the general public. Hosting programmed artists and academics present at the festival is, therefore, imperative to the excitement and vitality of the event. Travel expenses are costly, however, and the more money we raise, the more amazing artists we will be able to bring to OUTsider.

o Pay for Operations Costs

This includes everything from building performance stages to tenting to obtaining city permits to promotional costs in order to get the word out . . . you name it!

In return for your donation, we offer a number of fun and fabulous rewards, based on the amount of your contribution. These include:

o One-time-only perks, like a shout out on the Reverie & Randee Show, a 30-second sketch of historical OUTsiders from acclaimed artists Heyd Fontenot and Jonsey, or an original jingle written for you by famous musician Gretchen Phillips!

o  Severely discounted badges to the first annual OUTsider Festival, so you can enjoy this queer art extravaganza first-hand!

o OUTsider memberships up to the Platinum-level. These memberships come with a set of exclusive VIP benefits, such as access to restricted parties and events. See our website for more info on becoming a high-profile OUTsider  member through a substantial donation.

Risks & Challenges

Starting a new festival is always difficult. But, this is especially true of a festival like OUTsider, which marches to the beat of its own tambourine. Building an unprecedented festival from scratch, for which there is no precise mold, requires a considerable amount of courage and creative thinking, and an even greater amount of financial support.

As this is a new festival and a new concept, we realize that we are asking folks to take a leap of faith in supporting us. But, this is a leap of faith that will yield extraordinary returns. By lending us your support, you will provide the solid foundation for a bold new chapter in the evolution of queer art and community!

FAQs

Where did the idea for OUTsider come from?

OUTsider is the brainchild of a community of queer artists and seasoned festival organizers with a daringly original vision: Unsatisfied with a status quo that keeps (queer) art forms and audiences separate, and that offers limited arenas for audience interaction and engagement, the OUTsider team has envisioned a festival and conference that is decidedly multi-arts and defiantly out-of-the-box.

What do you mean by “multi-arts”?

Multi-arts means not only bringing together LGBTQI and ally artists of every stripe from around the globe, but creating a space in which art forms and audience members can actively intermingle and intertwine—a fun, inclusive space in which participants are encouraged to venture beyond their artistic comfort zones, whether collaborating with artists in other fields during the festival, or delving into freshly discovered artistic mediums as attendees.

Such a space will lead to uncommon artworks, captivating conversations, new types of community united across differences, and a magical “queer” experience that will provide inspiration and sustenance to artists, audiences and academics as they continue to impassion the world with their creations.

4. What do you mean by “OUTsider”?

Outsider is the overlooked, the undervalued, the marginalized, the oddball, the misfit. Outsider exists in tension with the banal and challenges the status quo. OUTsider (the festival) embraces the multiple meanings of the term “outsider,” and seeks to build upon notions of queer outsiderness to make connections to other forms of marginalization, including those related to race, ethnicity, class, gender, ability, size, nationality and generation.

4. Who is welcome at OUTsider?

If you are an art buff, if you support the LGBTQI and Ally communities, or if you simply appreciate wild new ideas, you are already part of the OUTsider community and we hope to see you at the festival. Welcome!

Other Ways You Can Help

If you are unable to help us financially, we still need your help! Please help us spread the word about our Indiegogo campaign by using the Indiegogo share tools to notify your friends and make some fierce noise about our campaign.

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