Story Type: News and Media

Astraea Mourns Passing of LGBTI Luminary, Paula Ettelbrick

Paula Ettelbrick passed away this morning surrounded by friends and family after a year-long battle with cancer. We mourn the loss of a dear friend to Astraea, one of our stalwart leaders in LGBTI philanthropy and human rights.

A lawyer by training, Paula was a longtime part of the Astraea family who dedicated her life to LGBTI human rights and racial and economic justice. Most recently, she consulted with Astraea’s international grants program before taking the helm of the Stonewall Foundation last year.

Paula’s impact stretches across more than a quarter century. She contributed strategic thinking, tenacity and wisdom to the field through her work with numerous colleague organizations. Among them are the Empire State Pride Agenda, Lambda Legal, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). She impacted countless students as a professor of law.

Paula’s sharp eye and constant commitment to the freedom of all LGBTI people never wavered, nor did she confine her efforts to the borders of the U.S. She was a key figure in supporting the work of activists the world over, including Uganda, bringing much needed attention to human rights violations and advocating for change.

We send our deepest condolences to her loved ones and to all touched by her light.

Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund 20th Anniversary

Celebrating its 20th Anniversary, the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund is just one way that Astraea promotes the power of arts and culture to move hearts and change minds. Since 1991, we have granted more than a half a million dollars to support emerging lesbian writers. This anniversary year, twelve women were selected from a pool of more than 300 applicants and awarded a total of $26,600 to recognize their accomplishments in fiction and poetry. Whether they are pursuing graduate degrees or welding metal in an art studio, we are thrilled to share their stories and their work with you.

On receiving the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund Award in Fiction, Francesca Austin Ochoa said, “”The last, and only, writing award that I received was from a contest held at my Catholic grade school. I was twelve years old and I remember having my name called from the pulpit and awkwardly making my way up the church aisle to claim a $25 check and a card signed by the presiding reverend.  It is an absolute honor to be recognized by the Astraea Foundation many years later and for much more genuine convictions.””

Today, her convictions include the idea that, “Both art and social justice can be expressions of how we see, and how we wish to see the world. It is about contributing to the library of human thought and imagination in a way that recomposes truth and reinterprets dreams.”

Francesca plans to use the award towards her MFA in fiction at Columbia University. [read her work]

Lori Swartz, based in Santa Fe, is somewhat of a renaissance woman who performs burlesque and trapeze, makes films, writes and works metal in her art studio. She said that the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund Award in Poetry was “a validation of all my years of solitary writing.”

To Lori, making art is an essential part of social justice. “As lesbian or queer writers, there are so many barriers to writing down our stories. There is the struggle of coming out, accepting our histories and then having the guts to put it on paper. Putting our experiences in writing lends them credibility.”

Lori plans to use the award to fund a month-long writing sabbatical in an as yet undetermined city. “It’s important that this gift contributes to my writing, travel and freedom,” she said. Lori recently made a documentary on the challenges artists face in marketing their work and is currently writing her first novel. [read her work]

A prestigious panel of writers determined the awards: Fiction panelists were Ana-Maurine Lara and R. Erica Doyle. Poetry panelists were Chrystos and Nikky Finney.

Also recognized for their work were Finalists in Fiction Sheree L. Greer and Chinelo Okparanta; Finalists in Poetry Donna M. Lane and Lauren Peterson; Honorable Mentions in Fiction M.J. Corey, Sassafras Lowrey, and Jenie Pak; and Honorable Mentions in Poetry Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, Nicole Santalucia, and Kirya Traber.

A portion of these awards was made possible by Skip’s Sappho Fund at Astraea. Each year, awards are made from the Lesbian Writers Fund and the Lesbian Visual Arts Fund to artists located west of the Mississippi in posthumous honor of Skip Neal, a lesbian artist and Astraea supporter.

To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Lesbian Writers Fund, Astraea is hosting Writeous! Celebrating 20 Years of the Astraea Lesbian Writers Fund in New York City. Join us on November 11th, 2011.

Astraea Announces the 20th Anniversary of the Lesbian Writers Fund

On the 20th anniversary of its Lesbian Writers Fund, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice celebrates the shifts in acceptance of lesbian writing, and acknowledges work left to do.

ASTRAEA NAMES AWARD RECIPIENTS AND HOSTS LESBIAN WRITERS SHOWCASE IN NEW YORK CITY ON NOVEMBER 11th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 21, 2011

Contact: Zavé Martohardjono
Media and Communications Officer
communications@astraeafoundation.org

NEW YORK, NY— On the 20th anniversary of its Lesbian Writers Fund, the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice celebrates the shifts in acceptance of lesbian writing, and acknowledges work left to do. Since the Fund was established in 1991, Astraea has awarded more than half a million dollars in unrestricted funds to emerging lesbian poets and fiction writers to ensure their voices are supported and amplified. This year’s recipients are Francesca Austin Ochoa in Fiction and Lori Swartz in poetry. Astraea also named four finalists and six honorable mentions, distributing a total of $26,600. To mark the 20th anniversary of the fund, Astraea will host a Lesbian Writers Fund showcase on October 22nd.

Too often, lesbian writing is marginalized by literary venues and funding sources. Lori Swartz said, “As lesbian or queer writers, there are so many barriers to writing down our stories. There is the struggle of coming out, accepting our histories and then having the guts to put it on paper. Putting our experiences in writing lends them credibility.”

“Both art and social justice can be expressions of how we see, and how we wish to see the world,” said Francesca Austin Ochoa. “It is about contributing to the library of human thought and imagination in a way that recomposes truth and reinterprets dreams.”

Astraea Executive Director, J. Bob Alotta said, “Along with the Lesbian Writers Fund, Astraea supports a range of arts and culture projects because they are an essential part of achieving social justice.” She continued, “They speak to us on a different level and allow more direct access to the heart without prejudices getting in the way.”

Since its founding in 1977, Astraea has been on the cutting edge of progressive funding initiatives, providing more than $17 million to hundreds of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) organizations and projects that work to secure human rights for LGBTI people and advance gender, racial, economic and social justice across the U.S and internationally.

A prestigious panel of writers determined the 2011 Lesbian Writers Fund awards: Fiction panelists were Ana-Maurine Lara and R. Erica Doyle. Poetry panelists were Chrystos and Nikky Finney.

Also recognized for their work were Finalists in Fiction Sheree L. Greer and Chinelo Okparanta; Finalists in Poetry Donna M. Lane and Lauren Peterson; Honorable Mentions in Fiction Michele Koury, Sassafras Lowrey, and Jenie Pak; and Honorable Mentions in Poetry Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers, Nicole Santalucia, and Kirya Traber. More about the award recipients and samples of their work can be found at www.astraeafoundation.org.

Executive Director Quoted in Black Enterprise

As the discussion over gay rights continues, so, too, does the debate as to whether the gay rights issue is a civil rights issue, namely one that some say is reflective of the black civil rights movement.

As the discussion over gay rights continues, so, too, does the debate as to whether the gay rights issue is a civil rights issue, namely one that some say is reflective of the black civil rights movement. In the upcoming film, The New Black, filmmaker Yoruba Richen explores the histories of the African American and LGBT civil rights movements. “The film specifically looks at homophobia in the Black church, and how the Christian right has exploited this phenomenon that exists in order to promote an anti-gay political agenda,” says Richen. Her project is demonstrative of how the parallels and distinctions between the African American and gay rights movements are complex and multi-layered.

“
As both of these movements have reached maturation we have multiple generations working for civil rights,” says J. Bob Alotta, executive director of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. “Right now you would be talking about grandchildren and children of civil rights activists. Our elders were Black Panthers and marching with [Martin Luther King Jr]. Not only have we learned from them, but when we start talking about identity politics it’s apparent that many of us embody multiple identities.”

Read the rest of the article on Black Enterprise.

Party With Pride 2011 Slideshow

Nearly 150 people celebrated with Astraea at our  6th annual Party with Pride! It was a wonderful evening full of great conversation, music, dancing and community. Tarrah Reynolds and Maryam Blacksher filled the first part of the evening with beautiful sounds of the violin and viola, and DJs RiMarkable and Tikka Masala ruled with incredible beats that kept the party moving. View the slideshow of the event!

Community is one of the hallmarks of Astraea. From the 1970s to today, Astraea has remained dedicated to nurturing the communities we care so deeply about, in New York and worldwide.

We know that the best kind of power is collective. In that spirit, sign up to learn more about Astraea and be invited to our next event!

Arab Lesbians Are Not a Hoax – The Progressive

“When the lesbian blogger Amina Arraf in Syria was revealed to be a white American man named Tom MacMaster, it fueled the myth that Arab lesbians don’t exist. They do. And the anonymity of the Internet does create one of the few spaces that lesbian Arabs can come out and find each other…”

Astraea published an op-ed in The Progressive: “When the lesbian blogger Amina Arraf in Syria was revealed to be a white American man named Tom MacMaster, it fueled the myth that Arab lesbians don’t exist. They do. And the anonymity of the Internet does create one of the few spaces that lesbian Arabs can come out and find each other…”
Read the rest of the op-ed on The Progessive.

Summer 2011 eThreads Just Released

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

Beijing Queer Film Festival Goes Guerilla

On Sunday 19 June 2011, the Beijing Queer Film Festival successfully closed its fifth edition after 5 days of guerilla-style screenings and talks around the city.

On Sunday 19 June 2011, the Beijing Queer Film Festival successfully closed its fifth edition after 5 days of guerilla-style screenings and talks around the city.

3 days prior to the start of the festival, Chinese authorities had told the organizers to cancel the festival, warning them that they would be watching the Dongjen Book Club where the festival was supposed to take place. The organizers refused to lay down however and hurried to find several alternative screening locations in bars and coffee-houses around Beijing. By implementing strict safety measures surrounding the publication of screening times and places, they managed to stay out of the hands of the authorities for the duration of the festival.

More than 500 people, including an impressive array of Chinese and foreign queer filmmakers, attended the festival which showed more than 30 queer-themed films and held numerous talks.

Despite and perhaps even thanks to the ban imposed by the authorities, the Beijing Queer Film Festival succeeded in what it set out to do: celebrate queer film and celebrate the necessity of showing queer films in a society where non-mainstream voices are stifled all too often.

During its 10-year-long existence, the Beijing Queer Film Festival (BJQFF, www.bjqff.com) had its fair share of official trouble.  Started in 2001 by a group of Peking University students, the festival has been organized every other year by a changing group of volunteers.  Its first 2 editions were all marked by official interruptions and bans, forcing the organizers to keep their festival underground and far away from official eyes.

The 3rd and 4th edition, held in 2007 and 2009, were more successful.  Held in Songzhuang village, an artist community just outside of Beijing, they both took place without overt harassment from police or national security.  It encouraged the organizers to think bigger as they prepared for a large scale 2011 edition.

In April 2011, they had to adjust their plans however.  The official cancellation of DOChina, an independent documentary film festival scheduled to take place in May, signaled that Songzhuang village wasn’t a safe haven anymore for non-mainstream art happenings.  As it soon turned out, other art locations around Beijing were also experiencing a severe climate of government control and censorship.

“Apart from Songzhuang, we also made screening agreements with several other locations.  One by one they told us however that hosting the Beijing Queer Film Festival was too risky.  They were afraid of being shut down by the authorities, and they told us that they didn’t want to work with us anymore.”, says Stijn Deklerck, member of the 2011 BJQFF Organization Committee.

The organizers finally decided to hold their festival at the Dongjen Book Club, an activity center in Beijing’s Xicheng District.  Worried by the overall climate of fear, they decided not to publicize the exact name and address of the new festival location.  Only the times of the screenings were publicized, and people could only obtain the screening address after booking a seat for the festival.

On Sunday 12 June, it became evident that the safety measures adopted were far from enough to keep the authorities at bay.  Representatives of the Beijing Xicheng District Public Security Bureau, Culture Bureau and Bureau of Industry and Trade turned up unannounced at the Dongjen Book Club and demanded a sit-down with the BJQFF organizers.  After a short talk, in which they vaguely cited a number of Chinese laws, they declared that the festival was illegal and that it had to be cancelled.  They announced that they would post police officers at the Dongjen Book Club during the festival, and they expressed that there would be harsh consequences if the organizers disobeyed their orders.

In an emergency meeting, the BJQFF Organization Committee unanimously decided to still hold the festival but at a different location.

“The BJQFF was started as a platform to question and challenge mainstream culture.  Since  mainstream in China is mainly constructed by the government, we all felt a duty to not let the BJQFF be silenced by government bureaus, but to challenge their decisions on which films are acceptable for screening.”, says Cui Zi’En, co-founder of the festival and member of the 2011 organization committee.

With only 3 days left till the festival opening, scheduled on 15 June, the organizers started to engage all kinds of bars and cafe’s around Beijing.  Uncertain if the authorities would find out about the new locations, they decided to avoid a concentration of activities at one single space.

Fan Popo, one of the organizers, describes the atmosphere preceding the opening: “We were alarmed by the fact that the officials found out about the Dongjen Book Club, because we never publicized that the festival would take place there.  What was even scarier, was that the authorities also knew about the previous talks we had with other screening locations.  So we decided we needed some new safety measures, and one of them was to keep switching locations during the 5 days of the festival.”

The organizers also decided to give the outward impression that the festival was indeed cancelled, informing all the people who had already booked seats that the festival wouldn’t take place.  Only invited guests, volunteers, personal friends and LGBT organizations were informed about the new schedule and locations.

Nervously starting on 15 June, the Beijing Queer Film Festival managed to hold 5 days of inspiring screenings and talks.  Though not all screenings originally scheduled could take place, more than 30 films were screened during the festival in 4 thematic programs: Filmmakers’ Profile, Overseas Nation, Queers from Diverse Cultures and National Panorama (including short, feature and documentary films).  A special Beijing Queer Film Festival Retrospective Program consisted of a documentary about the past decade of the BJQFF and a panel discussion focusing on the development and future of queer film festivals in Asia.  Apart from the opening- and closing night ceremonies, the festival also managed to bring together a party crowd on 3 different nights of the festival.
8 filmmakers from outside of mainland China personally shared their films and experiences at the festival, including famous queer cinema pioneer Barbara Hammer, Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival organizer Sridhar Rangayan, Taiwanese queer documentary maker Mickey Chen and Chinese-Canadian video artist Wayne Yung.  More than 15 Chinese queer filmmakers presented and discussed their work, with many of their films premiering at the festival.  In a festival first, 25 people coming from the less-developed parts of China obtained funding to attend the festival, giving them the occasion to watch queer- and LGBT-themed films, an unknown luxury in their respective hometowns.  Overall, more than 500 people attended the festival, and proudly celebrated queer film.

At the end of the festival, the organization committee looks back on a very successful 5th BJQFF edition.

“While it is unfortunate that we had to be guerilla-warriors once again in order to hold this festival, we feel empowered and invigorated by the reactions of the audience and the filmmakers, and we’re ready to continue with our goal of spreading queer films and queer culture in Chinese society.”, says Yang Yang, the chairwoman of this year’s Beijing Queer Film Festival.

She sums it all up in her written preface to the festival: “[…] our biggest enemy consists of a small number of authoritarian organizations that are using the powerful national propaganda machine to subtly construct mainstream ideology.  And our biggest worth, our ultimate goal as a queer film festival is to challenge and oppose this mainstream ideology. […] The revolution hasn’t succeeded yet.  Queers, keep up the good work!”

Media contact:  Yang Yang
Email:  yangyang@bjqff.com

Go Magazine Honors Astraea Standouts in 100 Women We Love

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.

100 Women We Love

June 17, 2011
by Editor: Kat Long; Sharyn Jackson, Corina Maritescu, Shannon Leigh O’Neil and Dulci Pitagora

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.”

[read more]

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 City’s first international conference on bullying.

[read more]

Founder of Astraea Grantee Partner QWOCMAP on ABC Channel 7

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.

ABC Channel 7

Madeleine Lim

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Madeleine Lim - Executive/Artistic Director, Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project

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.

Lim’s films have received awards from the prestigious and highly competitive Paul Robeson Independent Media Fund, as well as the Frameline Film Completion Fund. She received the 1997 Award of Excellence from the San Jose Film & Video Commission’s Joey Awards and won the 1998 National Educational Media Network Bronze Apple Award. From 2000 to 2003, she was a California Arts Council Artist-in-Residence. Under Lim’s leadership, QWOCMAP’s Filmmaker Training Program was awarded 2003 Best Video Program by San Francisco Community Media. In 2005, Lim received the LGBT Local Hero Award from KQED-TV in recognition of her leadership of QWOCMAP and her dedicated service to the queer women of color community.

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