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Read Astraea’s take on funding sex worker organizing as part of achieving gender justice.
Summer 2011 eThreads just released! Read Astraea’s take on funding sex worker organizing as part of achieving gender justice. Hear about our 2011 International Fund grantees and their work to end hate violence to seize political moments. Find out how flexible funding has allowed a New York grantee to innovate, and meet two donor partners who have launched a new giving circle. Plus, Astraea travels the globe for LGBTI human rights.
Read eThreads here: www.ethreads.org
Get down for justice, eat, drink, and dance while supporting some of the fiercest LGBTI activists around the world. Join Astraea on June 18th in Brooklyn for a fabulous evening featuring the beautiful violin sounds of Tarrah Reynolds and the righteous beats of DJ RiMarkable and DJ Tikka Masala. Hosted by the Astraea staff and held at the beautiful Brooklyn home of our Executive Director.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
(you’re welcome to stay for the whole evening)
Cant attend? RSVP to sponsor a ticket.
Or click here to RSVP and pay at the door.
Questions or to purchase your tickets over the phone call 212.529.8021
Astraea is pleased to announce that Go Magazine has selected Executive Director J. Bob Alotta and Board Member Ileana Jimenez as two of its class of 2011 “100 Women We Love.” Also honored were grantee partners Amber Hollibaugh of Queers for Economic Justice, B. Cole of the Brown Boi project, Lisbeth Melendez Rivera of Unid@s, and Chong Moua of Shades of Yellow.
J. Bob Alotta
“I aim to connect the dots to reveal a brilliant constellation of LGBTI righteousness: we are such amazing, diverse, thoughtful, ever-present and ever-growing people. The phrase, ‘We are everywhere,’ doesn’t just imply geography. We are inside of, affected by and affecting every issue,” Alotta points out. “It is my job to make sure justice is a verb.”
Ileana Jimenez
Ileana Jimenez is the founder and sole blogger at FeministTeacher.com and an educator at the progressive Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School in New York. She teaches courses on feminism, Latino/a literature, LGBT literature and more to prep the next generation of feminist thinkers. An Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice board member since 2005, Jimenez received the 2010 Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching to conduct research on gender and education in Mexico and spoke at Mexico Citys first international conference on bullying.
San Francisco’s ABC Channel 7 News honored the founder of Astraea grantee partner Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP). Madeline Lim was recognized as part of the channel’s Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Salutes, which named six leaders in the community this year. QWOCMAP has been an Astraea grantee partner since 2003. The organization equips queer women and trans people to use filmmaking for social change. QWOCMAP conducts a free16-week film training program; holds film screenings in collaboration with community-based organizations; and hosts an Annual Queer Women of Color Film Festival.
Executive/Artistic Director, Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (KGO Photo)
At the age of 23, Madeleine Lim escaped persecution by the Singaporean government for her organizing work as a young lesbian artist-activist.
Ten years later, she created Sambal Belacan in San Francisco, a film that is still banned in Singapore for its exploration of race, sexuality and nationality. As one of a small number of queer women of color filmmakers on the international film festival circuit, she saw that only queer women of color would tell their own authentic stories. She created Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP) with the belief that a community of artist-activist leaders could change the face of filmmaking and the social justice movement.
As founding Executive/Artistic Director, Lim directs organizational vision and provides artistic direction for all QWOCMAP programs. She is an award-winning filmmaker with more than 20 years of experience as a producer, director, editor, and cinematographer. Her films have screened at sold-out theaters at international film festivals around the world, including the Vancouver International Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival, and Amsterdam Amnesty International Film Festival. Her work has also been featured at museums and universities, and broadcast on PBS to over 2.5 million viewers. She holds a B.A. in Cinema from San Francisco State University, where she was awarded Outstanding Cinema Student of the Year.
The Featured Filmmaker at the 2006 APAture Asian American Arts Festival, Lim has twice been awarded the San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Commission for her new film about her mother and other girls adopted from China. She has won the 2007 DreamSpeaker Award from Purple Moon Dance Project, and the 2010 Phoenix Award from Asian Pacific Islander Women & Transgender Community (APIQWTC).
For more information: http://www.qwocmap.org/MadeleineLim.html
Please join us on May 12th for a briefing for grantmakers about the emerging framework of Disability Justice as central to the success of our broader social justice movements. No longer accepting disability within a framework of individual struggle, Disability Justice activists address disability within a broader social context that includes race, class and sexuality.
An emerging Disability Justice framework provides us the opportunity to learn how disability is interconnected with every other issue, and how our movements can become inclusive and sustainable for all people, of all abilities and identities. We will hear from three visionary activists at the leading edge of Disability Justice.
People living with a disability may be inconvenienced by living with an impairment, but what oppresses us is the systemic prejudice, discrimination, segregation and violence we face because we do not fall within a perceived norm. Patty Berne, Director Sins Invalid
Sponsors: Aepoch Fund, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Common Counsel Foundation
Register HERE
When you register, you will receive a call-in number and unique pin number to access the call through Maestro Conference. You will receive additional visual materials via email.
Speakers:
Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, co-founder, intersections/intersecciones consulting, Silver Spring, MD
Moderator: Zak Sinclair, Aepoch Fund, San Francisco, CA
Please contact briefing@aepoch.org with any questions.
The top movers and shakers in New Yorks lesbian and social justice community came together at the Deity in Boerum Hill on April 9 to welcome J. Bob Alotta as the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justices new executive director.
Astraea is a global foundation dedicated to providing financial support to lesbian-led LGBT and progressive organizations. Board Chair Mary Li also honored founding executive director Katherine Acey with an emeritus standing at the Brooklyn event.
EDGE spoke with Alotta the day before her public reception to find out a bit about the woman who will take the helm of the touted 30-year-old organization that granted more than $1.7 million to 146 organizations and individuals in 40 countries in 2010. “My background is a little diverse,” she said. “By trade I’m a filmmaker; I come from a traditional film media/activist/academic background. I did digital filmmaking at Columbia, new media at Zeitbyte and was board chair at FIERCE. I invested quite a lot in that organization.”
Astraea International Program Officer Dulce Reyes moderates a telebriefing for grantmakers exploring the role they can play in mitigating or aggravating risks and exposure facing their grantees (particularly human rights defenders).
FIRST DO NO HARM: GRANTEE SAFETY FOR LGBTI AND DISABILITY RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS AND OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Co-sponsored by: Funders for LGBTQ Issues, The International Human Rights Funders Group and The Disability Funders Network.
April 13, 2011
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET
This event is for grantmakers only.
The murders and ongoing persecution of LGBTI activists in Uganda and Honduras, and the growing threats faced by disability rights campaigners in Uganda and Ukraine remind us yet again that attention must be paid to both the concerns/risks that all human rights organizations and defenders share and those that are identity- or issue-specific. Presenters on this call will offer both a “grantee safety 101” and an examination of the distinct security issues faced by LGBTI and disability activiststwo particularly vulnerable and marginalized groups of human rights defendersand discuss the specific considerations for funders working with them. What are some general best practices that funders can implement to avoid harm? What practical steps are there for funders working with marginalized groups?
PRESENTERS
Terry Greenblatt, Executive Director and CEO, Urgent Action Fund
Nguru Karugu, Executive Director, Public Health Innovations
Diana Samarasan, Director, Disability Rights Fund.
MODERATOR
Dulce Reyes, Program Officer, International Fund for Sexual Minorities, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice
Please RSVP to Marvin Webb at marvin@lgbtfunders.org for dial-in information.
On Saturday, April 9th, nearly 200 people gathered at Deity in Brooklyn to welcome Astraeas new Executive Director, J. Bob Alotta, and to honor former Executive Director Katherine Acey.
At the event, Mary Li, Astraea Board Chair, announced that Katherine Acey will take on a new role as Executive Director Emerita. After the event, Executive Director J. Bob Alotta said, “Katherine was a visionary leader of the Astraea Foundation for over 23 years. Clearly, she has been not only a source of strength, but a comedic reminder that we must bring joy into our lives in order accomplish our best work. It was incredible to step up to a podium in that light and behold the vast beauty of our community. Here we will find our greatest strength and joy.”
Bob expressed deep appreciation for the event and the energy in the room. She said, “The show of support was overwhelming! I so appreciated each and every person introducing themselves to me, asking questions and (already!) giving me feedback. We’re off to an outstanding start!”
Looking forward, Bob pledged to “lead Astraea with vigor, strength, character, integrity and humor. Its an immeasurable opportunity to be asked to become a part of Astraeas futureworking for LGBTI human rights, movement building and social change. I am excited about joining Astraeas exceptional team, but most of all, I look forward to working with all of you.”
Support Astraea’s work for LGBTI human rights and social, racial, gender and economic justice worldwide: Donate Today!
Join us on Saturday, April 9th for an intimate afternoon to meet Astraeas new leadership and celebrate Katherine Acey’s legacy as founding Executive Director.
Saturday, April 9th
3:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m.
Refreshments and hors doeuvres will be served.
Deity
368 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217 [map]
Spring 2011 eThreads released! Read about a transfeminism dialogue in Guatemala, and how LGBTQQ people in San Francisco are creating safety together. View the work of exceptional lesbian visual artists, and hear from Astraeas new Executive Director about Astraeas future in social justice philanthropy.
Read eThreads here: www.ethreads.org
