Serafemme

I've been threatening to write this blog for a while now but truthfully I hadn't really had the chance to sit still and put all my thoughts together until now.

I told a friend of mine at the beginning of the year that I wasn't sure if Serafemme was going to happen this year because I was still exhausted from 2005. She gave me the gas face and told me to get it together because Serafemme 2005 was well-done and if nothing else, she personally wanted to see the event happen again.

*sigh*

It's not that I didn't want to do Serafemme, I most definitely, absolutely wanted to do Serafemme but I really felt overwhelmed last year and the thought of putting myself through that much work again wore me out. Nevertheless, Serafemme was a dream of mine (I say that a lot, I know, but it's true) and I wasn't content with only executing it once and letting it go. The venue last year was great but I knew that I wanted to do Serafemme later in the year this time, a time during the year when most people are back in school and the National One Archives is in a college town and not the most condusive spot at that that time of the year.

My own personal "Serafemme", Ann Giagni from the June Mazer Archives, is such an extraordinary person. Having only known me for about a year, her belief in me is unparalled. She believes in me and in Serafemme and is absolutely committed to making sure the festival succeeds year after year. It was Ann's idea to solicit support from the Lesbian Visibility Committee for the City of West Hollywood, a committee I'd joined after delivering a speech for their 2005 Dyke March. She came equipped with a complete presentation on why they should get behind the festival and I believe she got two sentences out before the Committee said "Sure!".

It was quickly decided that the Serafemme would be housed in West Hollywood Park and the Committee committed to sponsoring it at a certain level. So far, so good.

I'd designed the first run of flyers the same weekend as Long Beach Gay and Lesbian Pride and went about the task of getting the word out about the festival but it wasn't too long after that I found out that the Pacific Design Center located directly across the street from the park on San Vicente would be shutting down San Vicente on the same day as the festival - August 27th - for their Emmy party. That left me with two choices: change the date of the festival or change the time of the festival. Changing the time would mean that the festival could only run until 3PM at the latest and I would have had to hustle everyone out of the park immediatley afterwards so the PDC could set up for their party; parking would have been a nightmare and all the way around it would have been a frenetic, uncomfortable scenario so I had no choice but to change the date.

Changing the date turned out to be a blesssing because now the festival could go as long as I'd wanted (6PM), we were able to use the baseball field instead of trying to figure out how to baracade the actual park, parking would be a lot easier - in fact, we got free parking at the PDC thanks to the City and my buddy Krys who posed for the flyer could be there to see the festival before she took off for Denmark.

I asked 9 of the artists from last year's festival to return - Damnyo, Ricoshade, Angie Evans, Neb Luv, Skim, Gia, Nadirah Shakoor, Lori Jenaire & DJ Nova Jade and added some new ones: Kandi Cole, Madam Brown, Miki Vale, Red Summer from Chicago, J Scales from Maryland, Shurlavision, Jade Ross & Alison De La Cruz. With the space and the artists in place, the really big stuff was on lock.

Which just left: figuring out the layout of the space, photography, stage dimensions, decorations, color scheme, sound, vendors, volunteers, chairs, trash cans, canopies, artist bios, artist technical needs, artist bookings at local clubs, designing flyers, parking, designing a poster, and promotion-promotion-promotion both online and print. =)

My two saving graces were - the City of West Hollywood and Ann-Marie Williams. Corey Roskin and Daphne Dennis from the City are the most patient, accomodating people on the planet and answered every question, every concern and every need with a smile which can't be easy. Ann-Marie is a woman I met through the CLV (Committee for Lesbian Visibility) and she came across as responsible and together and I thought her working on the festival with me would give us a change to hang out. I had no idea she'd be the dynamo she turned out to be, this woman is brilliant. She's the most resourceful, responsible, go-to person I've met in a long time and she quickly became my right hand person. She took a huge load off my shoulders!

A month out of the festival I was stressed about some things, mostly vendors. A lot of the vendors I got a week out of the festival and the food vendor I got TWO DAYS BEFORE the festival after I did a desperate call to Alan-Michael, vendor contact for the ATB festival panicked that the attendees wouldn't have anything to eat. I would have loved for their to have been more variety in the type of food offered but I tried my best,I went to festivals and swap meets for months before Serafemme trying to gather every vendor I could but either Sundays or August 20th in particular just wasn't a convenient day but I did what I could and from what I've heard from people save for not having more food options, the vendors were pretty good.

The day of the festival I didn't feel ready. I'd wanted more vendors, wondered if there'd been enough promotion, wondered if anybody other than me was interested in a queer women of color music festival, worried that I'd forgotten something crucial, did the line-up flow well? Should I have put the poet where the hip hop artist was? Should I have switched the bassist with the poet? Is the layout okay? The baseball field looked like it was going to swallow the crowd, would the sightlines be okay? Do we have enough tables? Is it going to be too hot today? Will the hosts do a good job?

I wasn't supposed to host Serafemme, that's another story but I did and I had a lot of fun doing it. There's an unofficial decision out there that I am to host Serafemme every year and who knows I just might? Queen started the afternoon with a blessing, followed by a 4-person open mic (another point of the day's stress: is anyone going to participate in the open mic?) and then the festival started strong with Gia and the beginning of the day long running joke of all the things the sign language interpretors had to translate: "pass it around" "damn, you think" and "muthafucka" were some of our favorites.

Once the day started, it was nothing but bliss. The City, Ann-Marie and I had put together all the right elements and all we could do was sit back and do it. Unfortunately, many of our volunteers flaked on us but the CLV ladies took over at the front gate.

August 20th, 2006, we laughed and communed as one. Women brought their lawn chairs, their picnics, their sunglasses and their smiles. We listened to an entire afternoon of great music, bought some great vendor merchandise and chowed on some damn fine chicken. Over 500 women and absolutely no drama, 17 artists bringing their A-game. It was nuthin' but love and despite my own-self imposed stresses, it went over without a hitch. Serafemme was ordained for the community, that much was evident and the community came out to show their support.

I have no interst in patting myself on the back. I pat Ann-Marie and the City on the back, the June L Mazer Lesbian Archives, Christopher Street West and GLAAD. Those are the entities who believed in the festival and lent their financial support. I pat the artists on the back for being the brilliant musicians, dancers and poets they are. I pat Jasmyne Cannick on the back for helping with the publicity and Tongues Magazine, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, Eyespyla & Jewel's Catch One for their community promotional support but more than anything, I pat the community on the back for supporting this effort both with their presence and their positivity. It was an exhausting experience but one that I love and look forward to bringing to the community year after year.

My Dyke March Speech...

Good evening :

My name is Marquita Thomas, founder of Out&About, a social, networking and activist organization for lesbians of color. I am also the producer of Serafemme, the queer women of color music festival taking place August 20th at West Hollywood Park Baseball Field

I would like to thank the mayor of West Hollywood, the City of West Hollywood, Christopher Street West and the Committee for Lesbian Visibility for continuing the dyke march and for addressing the need for lesbian visibility.



When we take on the issue of lesbian visibility, we address the question of where are you?. To that, we respond: We are in West Hollywood, we are in Silverlake, we are in Leimert Park, we are in San Francisco, we are in Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Kalamazoo, we are in the faraway unknown parts of the map and as close as the seat next to you. We are teaching children, raising families, in the Senate and on your television. We are making you laugh, making you think, making you wonder and changing the world.



Having said that, we can not address the issue of lesbian visibility with just where we are physically, we must too address where we came from and pay homage to our lesbian ancestors without whose contributions we would not be standing here today. After answering the question: Where are you? we must also answer the question of who are you? and in one collective resounding voice we must say:



I am we.



I am the woman who was institutionalized for dressing as a man.



I am Lucy Ann Lobdell



I am the woman beheaded, stoned, assaulted or jailed for being gay.



I am Sakia Gunn. I am Brandon Tina



I am the pink and black triangles of the Holocaust.



I am the Stonewall Rebellion.



I am the women who defiantly wrote songs and poetry about their love for women



I am Ma Rainey; I am Bessie Smith; I am June Jordan; I am Audre Lourde; I am Rita Mae Brown;



I am the political lesbian who did not accept exclusion from traditional political organizations



I am the Daughters of Bilitis; I am Elaine Noble; I am Margarethe Cammermeyer;



I am the lesbian fighting to adopt a child and the lesbian couple trying to conceive.



I am the black lesbian persecuted by her pastor. I am the lesbian of Asian descent dealing with the absence of accurate and decent representations in the commercial and political sectors of mainstream artistic circles.



I am Merle Woo; I am Ivy Bottini.



I am the immigrant lesbian who fled her country to avoid persecution; I am dont ask, dont tell; I am the underrepresented lesbian youth and lesbian elders; I am the lesbian clergy.



I am the gay activist fighting against the federal amendment;



I am all the lesbians who stand at the forefront of revolution and inspire change:



I am Meshell Ndegeocello; I am kd lang; I am Jasmyne Cannick; I am Lorri Jean; I am Sheila Kuehl ; I am Pat Langlois; I am Patti DiLuigi; I am Rita Gonzales; I am Jen Gomez; I am Marquita Thomas. I am love. I am Pride. I am equal.



Thank you.