Help us continue to provide resources, workshops, and events through 2022 to Queer and BIPOC Creatives.

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Recent studies have proven that intersectional identities often make it harder for creatives to break glass ceilings in their careers.

The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture 2019 Workforce Demographics Study revealed that though 18% of study respondents in arts and culture roles identified as Queer or LGBT (a statistic nearly four times higher than the 4.6% of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim Metro Area population that identifies as LGBTQ,) racial representation continues to lag.

The same LA County study found that 59% of the arts and culture workforce identifies as “White (non-Hispanic,)” despite the fact that the same group only makes up 26% of the LA county population. Meanwhile, 41% of the study’s respondents identified as non-White, even though non-White residents make up 74% of LA County’s population. When non-White individuals are able to break into film and advertising, they struggle to climb the ranks: The LA County study found that, among respondents, 68% of board members and 61% of employees in supervisory roles identify as White.

This dearth of racial representation is clear every time a commercial fetishizes non-White bodies, every time a film layers a sepia wash over scenes of lovers south of the American border, and every time a billboard packages cultural appropriation of queer Black culture as “trendy.” We recognize the importance of queer representation, yet we can’t help but ask one another: “Was there no one of color in the room?” Too often, the answer is “No.” 

In our effort to encourage a shift in film and advertising towards more QTBIPOC representation both in front of and behind the camera, Q26 calls on our community to offer their support through our Fall Fundraiser! Our goal of $150,000 will allow us to do the following:

• Fund our annual Filmmaker Club and our Publisher Club, geared toward entry-level QTBIPOC creatives. These two training/networking programs are free for our participants, and provides valuable guidance, portfolio building activities, networking opportunities, and internship placement.

• Hire the staff needed to provide full-time support to our Club participants and our community at large

• Increase our inventory of audio, visual, and digital tools. This inventory can be used by our Club members with need, and rented at low cost to the community at large

• Support short video and photo projects that allow for our Club cohorts to “learn by doing”, gaining valuable experience on set.

• Cover our overhead costs and allow us to start saving for a space of our own that can also be rented out to those with need

As an organization made up entirely of BIPOC and/or Queer creatives, we intimately understand the issues that face young QTBIPOC people in Los Angeles trying to get started in their career. Not only do we have a strong network within our communities, but we are able to authentically empathize with those that come to us for support.

Thank you for joining our mission by supporting on fundraiser! Together, we will help QTBIPOC Creatives that are uniquely qualified to tell our communities’ stories start their career, create their own projects, and climb up the ranks.

Here’s to the beginning of better stories!