The Elders Council of Thrive Network & Thrive East Bay is offering two monthly Elders Circles – one for BIPOC folks and another for White folks - starting in Oct 2022. These circles are open to anyone over the age of 50 who is interested in exploring and claiming the identity of Elder, and to elder-identifying participants in Thrive’s. To join the Elders Circles, click HERE

These monthly Elder Circles will explore themes of conscious aging, Elder developmental qualities, the place of Elders in community, the dynamics of oppression/privilege in the lives of Elders, and other themes chosen, on a regular basis, by the members of the circles. The Elder Circles will be open on a drop-in basis and with an encouragement to attend regularly for the purpose of building community and deepening our journey into Elderhood.

The BIPOC Elders Circle will be facilitated by Ann-Ellice Parker & Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles, and the White Elders Circle will be facilitated by Drew Sproul & Kurt Kuhwald. Our intention is for the members of these two groups to ground themselves in their respective identities and to establish group agreements, creative processes and close relationships that will sustain their work. Given Thrive is a mixed race, multi-generational, collaborative network working to build Beloved Community for these times—we envision bringing these two Circles together over time in multiple ways that meet the authentic needs and developing vision of the members.

If you are someone who may be interested in joining us, click HERE. If you know anyone who may also be interested in these Elder Circles, you are welcome to share this opportunity with them.

To email the Elders Circles click HERE

We look forward to connecting further with you.

In partnership,

Thrive Elders Council   

To learn more about About Thrive Network click HERE

To register for one of the one-on-one sessions, click HERE

To discuss a time outside this schedule, please contact Nicolás HERE

Calling specifically people of Dominican and Haitian descent–living in the island or abroad–and Dominican, Haitian and BIPOC neighbors of Washington Heights, the Bronx and New York at large. While I am happy to making space for people from other backgrounds, the emphasis is mainly on the communities described above. During our encounters we engage on relational practices, conversations and stories regarding our mothers, mother figures or mother presences in our lives, as well as challenges we might be facing or have faced with this relationship. We will also dialogue about class, gender, race, colonization and decolonization as it pertains to the Virgin of La Altagracia. To participate contact me @interiorbeautyaslon

Painting of La Virgen de la Altagracia by Josué Gómez. Photo of offering and painting by Josué Gómez. Used with permission from the artist. About Josué Gómez: artwork / culinary services

In 2022, I engage in a one-person pilgrimage centered on La Virgen de La Altagracia, Tatica, the protector of the Dominican Republic and to some, of the whole Island. I hence plan to travel from the Bronx to Washington Heights, two enclaves of Dominican presence in the City. Up until recently, Washington Heights, Little Quisqueya, has been the epicenter of Dominican cultures, that is, until the burgeoning Dominican communities that are rapidly arising in the Bronx as a result of the gentrification of “The Heights.” My journey takes into consideration the back and forth between these two loci. Tatica, the short or nickname for Altagracia and the name of the Dominican protector and guardian saint of the country, has evolved to become one of the loas, spirits, of the Vodun pantheon named Alaila. Tatica is celebrated on January 21st. This pilgrimage will be presented as part of an artist fellowship research with the Hispanic Society of America, and it is funded by a NYSCA grant. 

This experience is dedicated to the late Juana Camacho (Mami) / A long-term Dominican resident of Washington Heights

We're pleased to announce the opening of INDECENCIA.

TO RSVP for the opening click HERE

INDECENCIA brings together a cohort of queer/rare* artists from Latin America and/or of Latin American descent and living in the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean or in-between spaces/identities, whose praxes center on performance art and ephemeral actions. From the perspective of several generations, countries, and sociopolitical contexts, these artists invite us to consider Latinidad/Latinxidad and its relationship to religion, enfleshment, and sexuality. Their inquiries extend—through videos, props, scripts, costumes, and other channels—to the disjointed corpus of an entire hemisphere where, for many, the colonized and the colonizer can easily wrestle within a single body.

* “Raro” is the curator’s translation of “queer” in Spanish. “Raro” means strange, weird, or unusual.

INDECENCIA has already been named as a must-see exhibition in Hyperallergic's Fall Art Guide!

Participating artists: Luis A., Arantxa Araujo, Arthur Avilés, Nao Bustamante, Susana Cook, Anna Costa e Silva and Nina Terra, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Marga Gomez, Félix González Torres, Nadia Granados (La Fulminante), Noelia Quintero and Rita Indiana, Carlos Martiel, Carlos Leppe, Elizabeth “MACHA” Marrero, Ivan Monforte, Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, Charles Rice-González, Jesusa Rodríguez and Liliana Felipe, Carmelita Tropicana & Uzi Parnes & Ela Troyano, and Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis.

Curated by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles

Please join Leslie-Lohman, INDECENCIA curator Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles, and exhibition artists for an opening celebration September 15th from 6-8pm.

Para reservar para la apertura AQUÍ

INDECENCIA reúne a una cohorte de artistas rares* de América Latina y/o de ascendencia latinoamericana que viven en los Estados Unidos, Europa y el Caribe o en espacios/identidades intermedias, cuya praxis se concentra en el arte performativo y las acciones efímeras. Desde la perspectiva de varias generaciones, países y contextos sociopolíticos, estes artistas nos invitan a considerar la latinidad/latinxidad y su relación con la religión, la encarnación y la sexualidad. Sus cuestionamientos, mediante el uso de videos, utilería, guiones, vestuario y otros canales, abarcan el cuerpo desarticulado de todo un hemisferio donde, para muches, es perfectamente posible que la lucha entre colonizade y colonizadora/or/re ocurra en un mismo cuerpo.

* “Rare” es la traducción al castellano que hace el curador de “queer”.

Artistas Participantes: Luis A., Arantxa Araujo, Arthur Avilés, Nao Bustamante, Susana Cook, Anna Costa e Silva and Nina Terra, Jean-Ulrick Désert, Marga Gomez, Félix González Torres, Nadia Granados (La Fulminante), Noelia Quintero and Rita Indiana, Carlos Martiel, Carlos Leppe, Elizabeth “MACHA” Marrero, Ivan Monforte, Gigi Otálvaro-Hormillosa, Charles Rice-González, Jesusa Rodríguez and Liliana Felipe, Carmelita Tropicana & Uzi Parnes & Ela Troyano, and Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis.

Curado por Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles

Únase con Leslie-Lohman, el curador de Indecencia, Nicolás Dumit Estévez, Raful Espejo Ovalles, y los artistas de la exposición para una apertura pública el 15 de septiembre de 6 a 8 p.m.

Museum Accessibility

For in person visits, five external steps lead to our main entrance: a wheelchair lift is available. All galleries are wheelchair-accessible.There is a single-occupancy accessible restroom located behind the visitor services desk. All restrooms are gender-neutral. For requests or more information, please email info@leslielohman.org

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art provides a platform for artistic exploration through multi-faceted queer perspectives. We embrace the power of the arts to inspire, explore, and foster understanding of the rich diversity of LGBTQIA+ experiences. Through annual exhibitions, public programs, educational initiatives, artist fellowships, and a journal, LLMA forefronts the interrelationship of art and social justice for LGBTQIA+ communities in NYC and beyond. Our collection includes over 25,000 objects spanning 4 centuries of queer art.

The Museum is generously supported, in part, by public funds from Mellon Foundation, The Institute of Museum and Library Services, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council. Programmatic support is also provided by the Achilles Family Fund; Booth Ferris Foundation; Keith Haring Foundation; John Burton Harter Foundation; and the Henry Luce Foundation. Individual support is proudly provided by the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art's Board of Trustees and Global Ambassadors.

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The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art is open Wednesday 12-5pm and Thursday - Sunday, 12-6 pm.

A group exhibition at New York's Leslie Lohman Museum of Art shows Latinx artists who reflect on their relationship to religion and sexuality against the background of colonialism and capitalism.

The small Leslie Lohman Museum in Lower Manhattan is New York's only queer museum. Established in 1969 as a private collection and gallery, it rose to prominence during the AIDS crisis when it saved art from dying gay artists that would otherwise have been lost. In 2016, the City of New York turned the collection into a museum, with new exhibition spaces, educational programs, and grants. With its new exhibition Indecencia (Spanish) – or shamelessness in German – it shows works by artists from Latin America who reflect on their relationship to religion and sexuality against the background of colonialism and capitalism.

To read the full text and to listen to the podcast click HERE

To learn more about Andreas Robertz click HERE / To listen to Andreas previous podcasts click HERE

To learn more about click HERE

Image above: Jean Ulrick Désert / The Passion, 2006
Digital prints with digital date stamps, printed 2015 / Courtesy of the artist; support for this installation provided by The 8th Floor, New York

Image Credit: Photo: © Bryson Rand, 2022. Courtesy of the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art.

INDECENCIA / September 16, 2022 - January 8, 2023 / Curated by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles

To learn more about Andrés Senra click HERE

Nicolás Dumit Estevez Raful Espejo Ovalles: Luke, we met through Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle in Colchester, not too far from London. The three of you were facilitating The First International Ecosex Symposium. I really relish this time together with the most unusual group of creative beings. Any memories or impressions?

Luke Dixon: It was the most wonderful of experiences, in a very quiet, rather conservative part of England, that embraced the radical ideas of the workshop. We created, experimented, cooked, and ate together, worked late into the night, and all as a way of exploring new ways in which as humans and artists we could reimagine our relationship with the planet. It was a wonderful group of people, coming together from all over the world to share and create. And for me it was a delightful opportunity to reconnect with the miraculous Annie and Beth.

NDEREO: I keep telling people about our Tree-somes, when we were gently tied to trees so as to develop intimate connections with them. So much to unEarth regarding this marvelous time in the English countryside. How did you get involved with this?

LD: I had worked with Annie and Beth on previous projects, including producing their Blue Wedding in Oxford, England.

To read the full Q&I click HERE

To read about Dr. Luke Dixon click HERE

To learn about the First International Ecosex Symposium click HERE

#COLLECTION / Explore the highlights of the El Museo’s Permanent collection on the Bloomberg Connects App @bloombergconnects, including audio by artists Elia Alba @asahinyc, Juan Sanchez @guaninsanchez, Nicolás Dumit Estévez @interiorbeautysalon, and more! To download the app, click HERE

El Museo’s permanent collection offers an in-depth perspective on Latino art and visual culture in the U.S.. Latin America, and the Caribbean. Raging from pre-Columbian to modern and contemporary art, the collection, totaling more than 8,000 objects, is a unique cultural resource that reflects the institution’s decolonized and diasporic history ethos, which since its founding in 1969, has envisioned three main cultures–Amerindian, African, and European–as the basis of visual cultures in the Americas.  

In an effort to create dialogues across histories, media, traditions, and other categorizations, the permanent collection has been re-envisioned into six evolving thematic sections, which include: Urban Experiences, Expanded Graphics, African and Indigenous Heritages, Craft Intersection, Women Artists, and Representing Latinx. With many of the artworks echoing across sections, such groupings represent a new approach to the range of typologies that constitute El Museo’s collection, which reflects the full diversity of Latino art. 

To learn more about El Museo del Barrio, click HERE

A FREE Online Gathering Over Two Days  “Youth Mental Wellness - Resilience in Uncertainty” / October 7 and 8, 2021 

For more details about the conference click HERE

To register click HERE

About In My Mind Conference 2021 : Our 2021 conference continues as a FREE virtual gathering with a potentially larger participation - many from previous conferences and first timers - WELCOME! As a participant, you are likely to meet others from around the world, the country and your neighborhood/community from the comfort of your home. 

Recognizing the limitations imposed on us by the continuing pandemic and the fatigue many experience from too much online/screen time, this year’s Conference will span two days - truncated each day. It will be primarily led by our young LGBTQ+ people of color community members, who will share with us their view of the present and their thoughts for the future. Subject areas will raise and discuss issues focused on LGBTQ+ people of color mental health - “In My Mind.”  

The conference hones in on issues impacting mental health, such as foster care, homelessness and shelter system, incarceration, physical health, substance abuse and recovery, transgender issues, sexual health, cultural sensitivity and acceptance (sexual orientation and gender identity), HIV, COVID-19, racism, homophobia and transphobia, education, coping with isolation, social media, external environmental factors, and much more.