For the past couple years, I have organized an art fair, called Palmer Square Art Fair in Chicago. It’s an extremely wholesome day where artists of all kinds fill up the east end of Palmer Square Park and share their work with their community. Locals shop their wares, get to know the artists and make new friends. It’s one of my favorite days of the year.
Last year it rained. It was a bummer, but we forged ahead and still hosted the fair. People showed up for us despite the rain and it was incredibly heartwarming.
That day, 2 special people came to my booth– Lex & Cam. They organize The Queer Social Club in Chicago. Through this club, they host events and meetups for queer folks in Chicago. They asked me if I would be interested in collaborating with them on a Queer Art Event, and I was so incredibly stoked. From this conversation, Queer Art Party was born.
The vision was to create an event for queer folks, by queer folks that celebrates art, music, and community; to combine the goals of both Palmer Square Art Fair and The Queer Social Club. We pitched the idea to one of our favorite venues, Sleeping Village, and they were stoked.
We hosted our first event on a beautiful sunny day in October. We had 20 queer art vendors, a makeup artist, portrait photographer, DJ, and delicious food.
After the event, we reflected on how special it was to create a space for queer folks to get to know each other through art, music, and shared joy. We got to work planning our second event. We wanted to double down on our vision and expand the event to 2 days.
The second Queer Art Party is a 2 day celebration of queer music and art at Sleeping Village. On Day 1 (April 9) you can shop art from 20+ local queer vendors and on Day 2 (April 10) you can you enjoy local queer music and dance. We hope to see you there!