joevarisco

"Our greatest hope? What's going to get us there? Me. I'm going to say it cause I can hold it. I can hold that responsibility and I think that's the kind of attitude I want to inspire in other people because if we don't have that attitude than we are never going to get there." Joe Varisco of JRV MAJESTY Productions recently sat down with Mister Wallace in an interview to discuss his work with the Banjee Report, future independent work in performance art and deconstructing spaces. Mister Wallace is a Black American homosexual male whose music invokes a global perspective from a marginalized character point of view. What they look like and where they were born have been both profitable as well as problematic. Being both privileged and a victim of prejudice they live in constant duality and their art is representative of this fact. "My body is my canvas. Collaborating with and referencing other(s) art I allow myself to be a vessel for ideas. My specialty is the performance of these shared ideas to create new ideas. My goal isn't to innovate the new. My goal is to re-remember the past into a better present and in turn future." Stay tuned for Mister Wallace's new mixtape and future sound love Spring 2014! https://www.facebook.com/misterwallaceii http://www.iammisterwallace.tumblr.com http://www.banjeereport.tumblr.com

"Something I've been thinking about a lot lately is having to create our own spaces because there is a lack or because we don't fit into these other institutions, even mainstream gay or lesbian institutions, and so some of my dreams right now are to open a queer arts space or queer art gallery where we can have workshops and resources and a space to show ourselves." JRV MAJESTY Productions recently sat down with author H. Melt to discuss their works as a poet and upcoming projects as well as how they use their work as a device to challenge the policy and behavior of systems and institutions. H. Melt is the author of SIRvival in the Second City: Transqueer Chicago Poems, a teaching artist with Young Chicago Authors and a writer for Original Plumbing. For more information on H. Melt's work please visit: http://www.hmelt.tumblr.com NOTE: Since this interview both SAIC and Lambda Literary have engaged in dialogue with H. Melt to cooperate in developing comprehensive solutions. This work is ongoing. This interview is part of the QUEER LEXICON oral history series that attempts to explore and document the lives of queer Chicago culture makers, innovators and luminaries. QUEER LEXICON is an original JRV MAJESTY Production. For more information or to support this project please contact us at jrvmajesty@gmail.com StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. storycorps.org/

"I want to be very clear that within queer community the people that we should be focusing on and bringing to the center of community is queer and trans* people of color and our street-based youth. Without question, we can all see regardless of level of education, regardless of what your ethnic background is we can all understand that those intersections of being queer trans* and a person of color or being youth and being homeless those are the people that need the most support, that need the benefit of our resources if we are not going to make the same mistakes." JRV MAJESTY Productions recently sat down with community organizer and queer majesty Jackie Boyd to record a conversation at Storycorps Chicago. We discussed her role in establishing organized events for Queer & Trans* People of Color (QTPOC) and the establishment of Project Fierce Chicago (PFC) a grassroots organization dedicated to securing housing for queer youth experiencing homelessness throughout Chicago. For more information on Jackie Boyd's work with Project Fierce Chicago please visit: projectfiercechicago.org/‎ This interview is part of the QUEER LEXICON oral history series that attempts to explore and document the lives of queer Chicago culture makers, innovators and luminaries. QUEER LEXICON is an original JRV MAJESTY Production. For more information or to support this project please contact us at jrvmajesty@gmail.com StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. storycorps.org/

"I want to be very clear that within queer community the people that we should be focusing on and bringing to the center of community is queer and trans* people of color and our street-based youth. Without question, we can all see regardless of level of education, regardless of what your ethnic background is we can all understand that those intersections of being queer trans* and a person of color or being youth and being homeless those are the people that need the most support, that need the benefit of our resources if we are not going to make the same mistakes." JRV MAJESTY Productions recently sat down with community organizer and queer majesty Jackie Boyd to record a conversation at Storycorps Chicago. We discussed her role in establishing organized events for Queer & Trans* People of Color (QTPOC) and the establishment of Project Fierce Chicago (PFC) a grassroots organization dedicated to securing housing for queer youth experiencing homelessness throughout Chicago. For more information on Jackie Boyd's work with Project Fierce Chicago please visit: projectfiercechicago.org/‎ This interview is part of the QUEER LEXICON oral history series that attempts to explore and document the lives of queer Chicago culture makers, innovators and luminaries. QUEER LEXICON is an original JRV MAJESTY Production. For more information or to support this project please contact us at jrvmajesty@gmail.com StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives. http://storycorps.org/

"I think it is really important to check ourselves and to realize that yeah we can theorize all we want, but that's not going to put a roof over someones head, that's not going to get someone a meal. In some ways, how is that really important? I think it is great to mobilize thought and then mobilize as humans, but I think there is this very important time where we need to realize that our pretentious discussions here in this expensive school aren't really doing anything for people out on the streets. I don't know too much about how to bridge that gap, but I have been thinking a lot about it." Joe Varisco recently sat down with Gnat Brilmyer to discuss their epic work as fashion designer and recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Covering a wealth of topics from working with world renowned designers to the unsurprising conflicts appearing on FOX News to building accessible community to queer youth and the barriers of academic privilege. To keep up with Gnat's work, upcoming collaborations and purchase some cute delicious playful bondage gear you visit her here: http://glittergnat.tumblr.com/ http://www.etsy.com/shop/GnatBrilmyer --- This interview is part of the QUEER LEXICON oral history series that attempts to explore and document the lives of queer Chicago culture makers, innovators and luminaries. QUEER LEXICON is an original JRV MAJESTY Production. For more information or to support this project please contact us at jrvmajesty@gmail.com

Jen Richards on the importance of discussing race in the trans community: "A lot of trans activists will talk about the Transgender Day of Remembrance and I've seen a number of videos and read a lot of articles from white activists who never mention the fact that all the names on the list are women of color. If you are doing that, if you are co-opting that event to talk about violence against trans people, but you are not mentioning trans women specifically, trans women of color specifically or sex work specifically then you are failing." Joe Varisco of JRV MAJESTY Productions sits down with Jen Richards founder of We Happy Trans* (www.WeHappyTrans.com) to discuss the launch of the 2013 Trans 100 list. http://www.facebook.com/events/491163934264456 The 2013 Trans 100 is an inaugural overview of the breadth and diversity of work being done in, by, and for the transgender community across the United States. The first effort of its kind, the list intends to shift the coverage of trans issues by focusing on the positive work being accomplished, and providing visibility to those typically underrepresented. This positive recognition will rightfully occur on March 31st, the International Transgender Day of Visibility, and it will be telecast live and documented to be viewed and celebrated by individuals, groups and organizations in other regions and nations. The launch will include remarks by special guests Janet Mock and Dr. Kortney Ryan Ziegler, live performances by Namoli Brennet and Joe Stevens, and will be hosted by KOKUMO. This is a joint production of We Happy Trans, This is HOW, and Chicago House. The event will be free, but donations are encouraged and reservations are recommended. For sponsorship opportunities and media inquiries, please contact producer Jen Richards via jen@WeHappyTrans.com. Jen Richards lives in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago and is quite happily in an asymptotic relationship to radical authenticity and in a permanent state of aporia. Jen is unabashedly proud to be a graduate of Shimer College, longtime member of the Theosophical Society in America, and an Outward Bound alum, has published articles, led workshops and presented talks on a variety of topics across the country, relishes her work in the arts as the Managing Director of eighth blackbird and President of New Music Chicago, and is the creator of wehappytrans.com She humbly requests your latitude as she figures out what the hell she is doing, and remains genuinely open to feedback. She earnestly loves truth, beauty and goodness. She also loves you, madly. Yes, you. Check out more of Jen's work at: wtftransdating.tumblr.com ourtranschat.tumblr.com translovestories.tumblr.com --- This interview is part of the QUEER LEXICON oral history series that attempts to explore and document the lives of queer Chicago culture makers, innovators and luminaries. QUEER LEXICON is an original JRV MAJESTY Production. For more information or to support this project please contact us at jrvmajesty@gmail.com