“Weaving Equality — Exploring Gender & The Arts”… An International Women’s Day Celebration

Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day, 3-5 pm

It’s our third year of celebrating International Women’s Day! What better way to dialogue with fellow artists and art lovers than under the umbrella of the Gender Weave Exhibition. We are delighted to mix it up with an unfolding list of participants including Lascivious Jane (Liberty City Kings), Van Nguyen (performance artist), Arleen Olshan (painter), Kathryn Pannepacker (fiber artist), E. Simon Ruchti (Asst. Prof. Women’s and Gender Studies, Westchester U.), Jennifer Turnbull (Spiral Q), Chea Villanueva (writer), and others.

Artists will examine the intersection of sexuality, gender identity, women’s equality and “social norms” within their work and lives. It’s an interactive and empowering afternoon celebrating International Women’s Day and the Gender Weave Project. Build community, be part of the conversation. Join us. $10 donation.

Panelists Include:

Lascivious Jane

Lascivious Jane is a full time producer and performer. She has been performing and producing burlesque for more than 8 years and is the founding member and Artistic Director & proud Glitter Mama of Philadelphia’s multi award-winning Liberty City Kings Drag & Burlesque AKA LiCK, Philly’s largest and most diverse performance troupe. She is a Canadian transplant to Philly who moved here 13 years ago for grad school and never wants to leave. When she is not working on her Ph.D in Human Sexuality or working out new numbers for the stage, she can be found covered in dirt on her organic mini urban farm or standing over a hot canning pot in the kitchen preserving the harvest. She is the producer of LiCK’s monthly Vixens & Vagabonds Queer & Kinky Cabaret, the longest running drag (and burlesque) show at her home bar Tabu, every 1st Saturday and recently won the title of Ms. Philadelphia Leather 2015.

Van Nguyen

Van is a genderqueer Vietnamese-American educator, activist, and performing artist raised and rooted in Philadelphia. She is a board member of the Leeway Foundation, a performer and web coordinator of the Liberty City Kings Drag and Burlesque troupe, steering committee member of Hotpot!, Philadelphia’s queer Asian/Pacific Islander women and trans folk gathering, and a former Philadelphia Trans Health Conference Kids Camp program director.

Arleen Olshan

The Mt. Airy Art Garage was Arleen’s brain child. Initially her goal was create a space where artists could collaborate—have studios, a gallery, classroom and performance space to build community. With the tremendous partnership of her wife Linda Slodki and the support of the Northwest Community, this dream, launched in 2009, has come to fruition.

Arleen is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with a BFA in Painting from the University of Arts (then the Philadelphia College of Art). She is also a master in handcrafted leather accessories, which she has worked in for over 50 years.

Kathryn Pannepacker

Kathryn Pannepacker is a textile/visual artist living in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated from Penn State University with a major in English and a minor in art. Afterwards, she apprenticed with 3rd generation French tapestry weaver, Jean Pierre Larochette and his partner, Yael Lurie, a painter and designer for tapestry. Kathryn then went to Aubusson, France to continue weaving as an artist-in-resident. She also had the opportunity to be an artist-in-resident in Hachioji, Japan, through the Japan Foundation.

Though still weaving pictorial tapestry, she also weaves with unusual materials. Through the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia, Kathryn painted a 7′ x 500 ft. wide mural called Wall of Rugs: the global language of textiles at Girard and Belmont Avenues featuring the textiles of 42 countries. Part 2 was completed at Broad and Lehigh Streets. Her most recent painted-to-look-like-knitting & crochet-mural, Nana Blankets, can be seen in North Philly.

Kathryn exhibits locally, nationally and internationally, and has work in private and public collections. In the summers of 2010 & 2013, she was in Canada doing an outdoor textile installation for the international textile arts event at Moon Rain Center. She is committed to the transformative power of art in people’s lives and the sustainability of such transformation by involving the community.

See her featured on the cover/Spring 2009 issue of AMERICAN CRAFT.

E. Simon Ruchti, Ph.D.

Simon is an assistant professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Philosophy at West Chester University. After completing a Bachelors in Theatre and Dramatic Literature at Mount Holyoke College, Simon went on to earn her Masters in Performance Studies at New York University and her doctorate in Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University. Both her master’s thesis and dissertation examined the relationship between gender and performance. Simon has also worked as a director and dramaturge for theatrical productions, spent five years in the film industry, and even had the opportunity to direct a baroque opera. Her areas of expertise include queer theory, feminist theory, performance theory, and masculinity studies. Currently, however, Simon’s scholarship focuses on her work with fraternity men to fight rape culture.

Jennifer Turnbull

Jennifer Turnbull uses art, the most powerful tool of communication, to transcend man-made boundaries. Inspired by the everyday, Jennifer Turnbull illuminates stories with the strongest themes and sometimes most difficult experiences relevant to all audiences. Over 30 years ago Jennifer began formal training in Ballet and expanded to Jazz, Contemporary, Hip-Hop & West African dance.  Almost 20 years ago, choreography became an integral part of her expression, earning her awards for Excellence in Choreography from Deerfield Academy and Tufts University.

Turnbull seeks to redefine the terms of art-education, believing in the power it harnesses, to revolutionize our formal education systems. Jennifer teaches Dance and Visual Arts in Philadelphia with Spiral Q Puppet Theater and the Barnes Foundation. Collaboratively she works with visionaries making music, dance and site-specific performance with SWARM and BARETEETH.

Chea Villanueva

Chea Villanueva’s fiction and poetry has been published in numerous anthologies throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe and is the author of two books of short fiction—Bulletproof Butches and Jessie’s Song. Villanueva identifies as a male or male identified Stone Butch and was featured in the late Christopher Lee’s film, Trappings of Transhood, a documentary about gender identity.

Dartmouth Commencement 2017

President Hanlon, Board of Trustees, distinguished faculty, fellow honorees; Magnificent alumni including and especially my dad, Class of 1961; My wife, Jennifer ... and with her in mind ... Members of the admissions committee for the Dartmouth Classes of 2029 and 2032, who are right now for the first time hearing the names Alice Tapper, age 9, and Jack Tapper, age 7; Friends of mine from the Class of 1991—Hillman, Scully, Haber, Kessler, Miller, Groq, Barts, Edison—most of whom I met 30 years ago this fall in the Choates, which I’m still not convinced is not a psychological experiment by Dartmouth Housing. They are here today, because if you want it to happen, friendships formed here can last for the rest of your lives; Rejoicing families; And most importantly, you—glorious, brilliant, ambitious, determined members of the Dartmouth College Class of 2017. A proud member of the class of 1925 once wrote: “The more that you read The more things you will know The more that you learn The more places you’ll go.” This is from a book that probably all of you have received as a gift this week. And it’s true that the more that you read and the more that you learn, the more places you may very well go. But while I revere Dr. Seuss, by necessity he left a few things out. He didn’t tell you that there are a lot of unread and uninquisitive – but well-connected – heathen going very far and doing very well. In the real world, not only is the Lorax still battling the Once-ler—he also has to deal with the Once-ler's Super PAC. And his nasty, nasty tweets. Dr. Seuss often depicted the world as he wished it, with endings that were just and lessons that were learned. But that is not the world you are about to enter. The world outside of Hanover can be cold. Not “walking from the River Cluster to Dartmouth Hall in February to make a 7:45 a.m. language drill” cold, but cold. It has been said, “He who stays the longest learns the most.” Actually, that wasn’t actually said by anyone; it was once carved on the wall in the basement bathroom of Alpha Chi. But it is true! Though no doubt some of you after all are way smarter than I am – many of you, probably – especially you with the glasses in the third row—I have picked up a few things along the way. “He who stays the longest learns the most.” Wise words from someone who probably had his pants down. I wonder if whoever took that little knife and carved that into the Alpha Chi basement bathroom wall ever imagined that one day it would be invoked in a commencement address? Whatever the case, it has truth. It speaks to the wisdom one accrues merely by continuing to exist and paying a modicum of attention. So, what tangible advice do I have to share, having departed from this campus 26 years ago? First, let me offer the quick and easy stuff. OK? Always write thank-you notes. Be a big tipper. Always split Aces and Eights. Floss. Call your folks. Invest in a good mattress. Shine your shoes. Don’t tweet, post, Instagram, or email anything you wouldn’t feel comfortable seeing on the front page of The New York Times. Be nice to seniors. Be nice to children. Remember birthdays. Never miss an opportunity to charge an electronic device. Use two-step verification. Shake it off. Shake it off. Stretch before exercising. Stretch after exercising. Exercise. Never play keno. Never drink airplane coffee. Never pay $200 for a pair of jeans. Never wear jean shorts; and No one has ever had fun on a paddleboat. You can get that from YouTube later. Those are the easy ones. But there are a few harder-fought lessons into which I would like to delve a bit further. The first one is about you, right now. For you, my dearest Class of 2017. Even if you have jobs or grad school lined up, you are no doubt stressing a bit about the question: What are you going to do with the rest of your life? And my first serious bit of advice to you is: Do not worry if you do not know what you want to do with the rest of your life; it is OK if you take years to figure it out. Wall Street, Silicon Valley, law school—they ain’t going anywhere. I did not become a full-time journalist until I was almost 29. It took me a little time to figure out where my particular qualities of annoying persistence, uncomfortable observations, and curiously rooted self-regard might best be suited. Now, our society worships the prodigies. The Mozarts. To paraphrase Tom Lehrer, it is a sobering thought to consider that when Mozart was my age he had been dead for twelve years. But to measure success by how old you are when you achieve it is silly. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer wasn’t published until Mark Twain was 41. Do not stress if you have no idea what you want to do with the rest of your life. View these years, where your responsibilities are relatively few, as a journey, as an adventure. Adventures are not seamless trips from point A to point B; they have ups and downs and obstacles. And every crappy internship, every rude boss, every remedial chore that makes you wonder, “Why did I bother working so hard to get into Dartmouth and graduate from Dartmouth?”—it is all part of this voyage. Every step of my trip to this stage today taught me something and guided me to here. The fall after graduation, I went to film school. I could not have been more unhappy. Flash forward a few years, more misery in Washington, DC, as the worst public relations flunky in the history of relating to the public. These were periods of ennui, angst, sturm undt drang, and many other words only the Europeans could have come up with. I felt like a complete and utter failure. All part of the adventure. Do not take these moments that you will someday soon experience as failings or even as wrong turns. Public relations and my ineptitude in it steered me away from the world of spin, but it also showed me how PR executives spin, which gave me insight into how to cut through it. And, more importantly, it was while supporting myself as a PR flunky that I began writing freelance newspaper stories. And that led me to my first full-time job as a reporter at Washington City Paper, a tiny free weekly newspaper, with an editor who was like a one-man journalism school, who saw in me a young man who did not take mistakes and errors seriously enough and browbeat that attitude out of me. If I had not worked under that man at that free weekly newspaper, I would not be on this stage right now. At the risk of sounding like Oprah, embrace this adventure. Throw yourself into it. Now. How to get started? You know how your parents used say when you were younger that the world doesn’t revolve around you? You’re about to find out what they meant. Because, believe it or not, until now, crudely speaking, the academic worlds in which you’ve been safely ensconced have been all about you—your teachers and your coaches, professors and advisers, from UGAs to President Hanlon—they have been focused on not only your education but your experience and your personal growth. You are about to leave a warm and nutritious womb. Freshman trips, freshman groups, sophomore summer, tea at Sanborn, the Phys Ed requirement, all the rest... this incredible support system, these teams of people whose job it has been to turn you into an adult with skills and smarts and tools – caring about your mixers, about your happiness, about your comfort, about your birth control needs, about whether or not you drink responsibly, whether you’re doing okay, making sure you go to the dentist. I'm sorry to say, that ends tomorrow. You now have to do that for yourselves, and for each other. Now, my little baby birds, you are expected to fly. Coach. Last row, middle seat. There will be no UGA down the hall in your first apartment, and if there is one, that's not really a UGA; that's just a creepy dude trying to get on your Wi-Fi. Now I’m not saying you should be scared about what tomorrow might bring. The real world's a cool place. There are plenty of nice and kind people. There's live music, fresh juices, hotels that don’t charge for the minibar. But the real world, unlike what you've experienced here, is a place of transaction. What does that mean? Practically speaking, it means you can no longer rely on people in positions of power to do things for you because they care about you. The people you’re going to meet whom you need to help you get a job, or an apartment, or a loan, or advice—the people to whom later you will point to and say, “Hey, she gave me my first break!”—those people are looking for something in return. What is that something? It can be tricky to figure out. It might be your loyalty, your respectability, that you have a diploma from Dartmouth, your brains, your cleverness, or your politeness. Different people are going to want you for different reasons, but your first boss and every boss you ever will have will want something very simple: your hard work and your good attitude. Now, the transactional nature of the world might sound harsh but it isn’t necessarily. Put it this way: A screenwriter sells her idea to a studio. The studio wants to make her movie. They start conducting screen tests. In this parable you're, say, Vin Diesel. You audition. You have to. No one is going to give you that job out of the kindness of their hearts. They need to have confidence that you will be Fast and Furious. So they can sell $380 million worth of movie tickets. But here is the exquisite bit of good news, for those of you paying attention: Now you know this; now you know that it all comes down to you figuring out what you can offer them. It's a lesson it took me several years to learn—maybe even more than that, maybe a decade or two—but once I did it was invaluable. I joined ABC News in 2003. In the 2004 presidential race, I was not assigned a candidate to cover. I can still list the reporters who were, by the way. I remember every one of them. I got nothing. So I did the only thing I could do. Complain? No. I worked so hard in those intervening years to establish myself as a good and tireless political reporter, so hard they HAD to assign me a candidate in 2008, for their own good. It worked, and in 2008 I was finally assigned a candidate. My goal then became to be the White House correspondent. And I knew, again, there was only one way I would get that job. I had to be so skilled and tough and industrious and vigilant that, if my bosses at ABC News made anyone else the White House correspondent, they would look like idiots. I had to force them to give it to me out of their own best interests. Now, I've come up with a lot of bad strategies and made a lot of bad decisions in my life. I’ve made enough bad decisions to fill five other commencement addresses. But this was a good one. Have something that they want. And show it to them—over and over, every day. Make them need you. Work twice as hard as the job requires. Make sure they know that you will show up and act like a professional, that you don't feel entitled to anything. Make them hire you for their own good, not yours. Now, a word on the inevitable rejections that may soon shower upon you like a monsoon. Dr. Seuss’s first book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, was rejected 27 times before he found a publisher. As a young man, Robert Frost, class of 1896, received a rejection letter from the poetry editor of the Atlantic Monthly with the note: “Our magazine has no room for your vigorous verse.” In other words: Not every expert is expert. Quite a few of them are going to be wrong about you. Some of them will be downright idiots. When my classmate Shonda Rhimes first pitched Grey’s Anatomy to a room full of older men, they told her that nobody was going to watch a show about a woman who has casual sex and threw a guy out the night before her first day of work—that that was completely unrealistic and that nobody wanted to know that woman. Shonda sat in that pitch meeting and thought, “Wow they don’t know anything about what’s going on in the world right now.” Forgetting the critical, financial, and popular success of the show for a moment, Shonda can't even keep track of how many young women have told her that they were inspired to become doctors because of Grey’s Anatomy. Keep going. There might be a lot of rejection. Most of it you should not take personally. People making decisions are often wrong. Even the faculty of Dartmouth can get it wrong! Connie Britton, Class of ‘89, perhaps the best known and most critically acclaimed actress to have ever graduated from Dartmouth College, was not able to convince the Drama Department here to sponsor her to send to the League Auditions. David Benioff, Class of ‘92, acclaimed novelist and screenwriter and co-creator of HBO’s Game of Thrones, he didn't get into English 80—three times. But some of the rejection you should take personally. Some of it will be because of things you could be doing better. Try to figure out what those things are. Because you always can be doing something better. To be honest, this never ends. The best and most successful people are constantly striving to be better. If you think that at 48 I think I’ve got it all figured out, kindly allow me to disabuse you of that notion. And I can provide multiple sources for that scoop. And I can do that because I know it's important to surround yourself with people who love you and respect you enough to tell you the truth. And it is important to listen to them. Many people you will see rise to a level of success on which it becomes difficult to find people to challenge them and their ideas. And whether politicians or generals, news anchors, or CEOs, that inevitably leads to their downfall. Look at what's going on in Washington, DC, right now. Tell me there aren’t people you can think of whose own careers would not be improved if they heeded the suggestions of a tough but loving staff of critics willing to share hard truths. At my job at CNN, I am lucky enough to be surrounded by people who challenge me every day. From the top, to the side, to the bottom of the ladder. They make me better by sanding away my worst impulses. Class of 2017, get people like that around you. No matter how high you rise, do not get rid of them. You're going to have friends who are willing to criticize you, and maybe you don’t want to hear it, and your impulse may be to show them the door; but if you spend the rest of your twenties amidst only the sycophantic and the shallow, you will wake up at 30 with a friendship hangover worse than a month of Jägermeister shots. You know, it’s funny what sticks to your brain. I haven’t looked at the autographs in my high school yearbook since they were written in 1987, but I know that there’s one in there from a girl named Kate. She praised me for my cutting wit, but she also cautioned me to be careful about how I wielded that particular blade. And though I spent much of the next 20 years ignoring that lesson, much to my own detriment, I still remember that advice 30 years later because she was right. Advice can sting. Ted Koppel once pulled me into his office after seeing an embarrassing TV pilot I was part of and told me that it was OK to tell my bosses “No.” Charlie Gibson once told me to stop sending such pointed emails, that I would get a lot farther if I didn’t share every critical thought I had every moment I had it. These were not easy criticisms to hear. But they were right. These were important people investing their time to try to make me better. These kinds of lessons aren’t fun. No one enjoys hearing about how much of a jerk they are. So let me also say while I prepare you for those moments: Absorb the lessons. Adapt accordingly. But do not be too hard on yourself. And listen to yourself, follow the better angel we all have in us steering us toward ways to be our best selves. On October 3, 2009, I was sitting in my wife’s recovery room at a hospital in Washington, DC, holding our newborn son. On TV I saw a news story: That day, an outpost containing just fifty-odd US troops had been attacked by up to 400 insurgents. Combat Outpost Keating was built at the bottom of three steep mountains, the reporter said, in a particularly rough corner of Afghanistan just 14 miles from the Pakistan border. It was an ugly and brutal battle. The deadliest for the US that year. Eight American soldiers were killed. And as I sat in the room that day holding my son, hearing about these eight other sons taken from their parents, from their wives, I wanted to know why. Why would anyone put an outpost in a such a dangerous place? And more importantly, who were these people that were risking so much and sacrificing everything – people to whom I really didn't pay all that much attention, to be honest. Sure, I covered debates over troop levels—ten thousand, forty thousand—but those were statistics; those weren't people. So, against the advice of a lot of people I knew, I decided to write a book about the men who fought and suffered and prevailed and died in that battle, about Combat Outpost Keating. Writing that book was a long slog. Many doubters; many skeptics. And yet I felt compelled to tell the story of these troops and their families, people part of a world unfamiliar to me at the time, the world of the US military, of duty and sacrifice. In some cases, the ultimate sacrifice. Hearing the stories firsthand of these men and women made me realize how little I had accomplished in the service of anyone other than myself. “My God,” I told my wife one afternoon after I had been visiting with two Cavalry officers, Dave and Alex. “My God, these guys are amazing, and I am nothing. I have risked nothing and sacrificed nothing compared with these men.” “But honey,” she said, “you can tell their stories. You can tell their stories.” The book I wrote, The Outpost, remains the professional work I am proudest of. It is not what has resulted in the most Twitter memes, but it is the most meaningful. It was the one least about me; and it may be one professional achievement, maybe, perhaps, that has a chance of outlasting me. That which you end up doing in the service of something greater than you – even if it means that you feel lesser, humbler, even worthless by comparison – by honoring the humanity of others, that will allow you to get in closer touch with your own. And this is the most important thing I can tell you today, Class of 2017. Don’t just work hard at your job; work hard at everything. Work hard at being a friend. Work hard at being a partner, at being a son or a daughter, at being a grandchild, at being a steward in your community, at caring about people who have never had a day like the one you’re having today. At being the best YOU that you can be, Class of 2017, all of you, A to Z, from the best Alexander Abate to the best Jonathan Zuttah. There are going to be moments like this one – a celebration of hard work well done, surrounded by family and friends. And then there are going to be moments when you feel alone and adrift, misunderstood, and hopeless. Maybe right now it looks to you like someone like me effortlessly went from your seat to this stage. Let me assure you, there was effort. There was effort and there was pain and embarrassment and rejection and humiliation. False starts and false turns and mistake after mistake after mistake. But that's OK. That's all part of the adventure, and yours starts now. Members of the Dartmouth College class of 2017 – you are already great. Now it’s up to you to become even greater. Be bold. Be smart. Be brave. Be true. Go forth and rock. God bless you; God bless your families; God bless Dartmouth College of Hanover, New Hampshire; God bless the memory of EBA’s; and God bless the United States of America. Thank you for the honor of a lifetime.

Come Out with Pride Orlando

Come Out With Pride (COWP) is proud to announce the 14th annual Come Out With Pride Grand Marshals: Community Grand Marshal Nancy Rosado, and Talent Grand Marshal Carson Kressley. Grand Marshals are selected by the COWP Board members and are selected based on their service to the LGBTQ+ community. The parade will be held on Saturday, October 13, with the festival opening at noon at Lake Eola Park and the parade step off is at 4pm at Lake Eola Park. COWP is expanding to a full week of events designed to bring together the LGBTQ+ and allied communities around Central Florida and beyond.

“We are truly honored to have activist Nancy Rosado and International star Carson Kressley as Come Out With Pride Grand Marshals,” said Jeff Prystajko, board president of Come Out With Pride. “Rosado’s contributions to the expansion of LGBTQ+ and LatinX equality are unparalleled. Kressley is part of our community and stands for equality for all.”

Carson Kressley is an actor and designer. He was the fashion expert on the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy where he was one of the show’s “Fab Five.” He was also the motivational host of the TV show How to Look Good Naked and OWN‘s Carson Nation, as well as a contestant on season 13 of Dancing with the Stars. Since 2015, Kressley has been a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Nancy Rosado served as a Sergeant for the New York Police Department (NYPD). She has more than 35 years of combined professional experience in mental health care, law enforcement, community affairs and workforce development and training. During her tenure, she spearheaded the creation of the department’s mental health care response for on-scene first responders following the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. Currently, Rosado is employed with the University of Central Florida’s Restores Program, a program that focuses on the treatment of PTSD, as a consultant and outreach coordinator for the first responder community, survivors of the Pulse Nightclub tragedy and their families as well as the victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She is also involved with several nonprofits across Central Florida focused on furthering LatinX and LBGTQ+ communities.

This year, international pop star Betty Who will headline the brand new Pride Stage. Betty Who has elevated herself as a dance-music star with hits, including “Somebody Loves You”, “I Love You Always Forever,” “Human Touch,” and most recently the remixed theme song “All Things” for Netflix’s hit show Queer Eye.

Crystal Waters, one of Billboard Magazine’s top dance music legends, will headline the Amphitheater Stage. Waters, best known for “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)” and “100 Percent Pure Love” boasts six ASCAP Songwriter Awards, three American Music Award nominations, a MTV Video Music Award nod and four Billboard Music Awards.

Frenchie Davis, will headline the Weekend Launch Party. Davis first highlighted her talents on American Idol, and she was in the Top 8 on NBC’s show “The Voice” and has performed on Broadway.   

Since its inception in 2005, COWP has become Central Florida’s largest LGBTQ+ parade and festival. This year, COWP is expected to attract more than 160,000 visitors to the city of Orlando. Events for Orlando Pride Week, Monday, October 8 and run through Sunday, October 14, include:

Monday, October 8

Come Out With Pride and Zebra Coalition invites you to the Drag Race 5K at Harbor Park in Baldwin Park from 5–8 p.m. Put on your best colorful outfit, your favorite running shoes and get moving! Join several local Drag personalities and hundreds of participants as they run, walk and sashay their way through Baldwin Park.

Tuesday, October 9

Come Out With Pride and QLatinx present a screening of the Portuguese film MAR (The Sea) at the venue from 5-10pm. This award-winning short film portrays love, betrayal, and moving on from the harm inflicted by loved ones and depicts how every family has its many methods of coping with LGBTQ+ related situations and outcomes. Director William Vitoria will be conducting a Q&A immediately following the film. Light bites and refreshments will be available.

Wednesday, October 10

House of Pride at Ace Café from 7–11:30 p.m.In the past, the nightclub culture was the very place that many LGBTQ+ individuals could go and live freely. For one night only, one of Orlando’s premier dance clubs, The Edge, now ACE Café, will make a comeback and present the outrageous music, dancing and entertainment that paved the way for generations to come. Bringing back one of the most successful gay nights in Orlando would not be complete without the inclusion of some of Orlando’s top drag houses. Jose Xtravaganza will be performing.

Thursday, October 11

In partnership with the Thornton Park District’s Wine & Art Walk, Come Out With pride will take over The Veranda in Thornton Park for the annual Pride Weekend Launch Party from 6-11pm. Hosted by Orlando’s own Gidget Galone, the event will showcase a variety of entertainment and special performances from DJ Joanie as well as some of Orlando’s top LGBTQ+ performers. The event is free and open to the public. Guests can upgrade their experience with the Weekend Launch Party All-Access Pass.

Friday, October 12

Pride Block Party presented by Stonewall Bar Orlando from 7-11:30pm. Join Come Out With Pride and the surrounding neighborhood for a night of fun and camaraderie before the weekend festivities. Special appearance by LUCIANA.

Saturday October 13

Big Gay Brunch Hosted by Orlando Weekly at The Abbey; 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Start the day with an amazing brunch spread, bottomless mimosas, a Bloody Mary bar and live performances from local entertainers.

SponsorWalk & Pride Marketplace at Lake Eola Park from 12-7 p.m. is presented by Marriott, and will showcase businesses and organizations committed to diversity. The Marketplace expands in 2018 to stretch the length of Robinson Street adjacent to the park. Pride Takes Action, an initiative designed to connect festival-goers with advocacy groups, returns with more activities to educate and engage.

The Most Colorful Parade at Lake Eola Park from 4-6 p.m. is presented by SunTrust and is the most eagerly anticipated event of this year’s festival and will feature more than 100 groups spanning a 1-mile route through downtown Orlando. New this year are guest judges to help determine which entries will be deemed best of show. A community rally and two entertainment stages follow the parade to keep the energy going. Pride Fireworks Show at Lake Eola Park at 9:30 p.m. marks the official close of the Come Out With Pride 2018 festival. A limited number of tickets are available for “Picnic Under the Stars”, where guests will receive a blanket and assorted food/drink to watch the fireworks from an exclusive and cozy area.

Sunday, October 14

Pride Recovery Brunch at Celine Orlando from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. where they invite you to enjoy Sunday Funday with Come Out With Pride for one last delicious brunch spread at one of downtown’s newest venues. While you recover, enjoy live music and performances from local entertainers.

For updates on the official 2018 schedule of events for Orlando Pride Week, visit their website or follow along on Facebook with @comeoutwithpride.

Come Out With Pride Orlando would like to thank its sponsors including Marriott (SponsorWalk & Pride Marketplace), Suntrust (Parade), Perry Ellis and Penguin (Pride Stage), Nissan (Pride Amphitheater stage), Banfield (PetZone), CFE Credit Union (ATM), Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Celebrity Cruise Lines (VIP Experience), Hilton Grand Vacation (Face of Pride Screen) and more than 50 additional organizations who are committed to supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

About Come Out With Pride

Come Out With Pride, Inc. is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization inspired to make an impact in Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community. Celebrated in October, Come Out With Pride welcomes everyone from Central Florida and beyond to come together and celebrate diverse communities. Come Out With Pride is also dedicated to supporting the community through grants and scholarships via its ‘Pride Gives Back’ program. For more information, go to comeoutwithpride.com.

source https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/10/04/come-out-with-pride-orlando/ from Hot Spots Magazine https://hotspotsmagazin.blogspot.com/2018/10/come-out-with-pride-orlando.html

Come Out with Pride Orlando

Come Out With Pride (COWP) is proud to announce the 14th annual Come Out With Pride Grand Marshals: Community Grand Marshal Nancy Rosado, and Talent Grand Marshal Carson Kressley. Grand Marshals are selected by the COWP Board members and are selected based on their service to the LGBTQ+ community. The parade will be held on Saturday, October 13, with the festival opening at noon at Lake Eola Park and the parade step off is at 4pm at Lake Eola Park. COWP is expanding to a full week of events designed to bring together the LGBTQ+ and allied communities around Central Florida and beyond.

“We are truly honored to have activist Nancy Rosado and International star Carson Kressley as Come Out With Pride Grand Marshals,” said Jeff Prystajko, board president of Come Out With Pride. “Rosado’s contributions to the expansion of LGBTQ+ and LatinX equality are unparalleled. Kressley is part of our community and stands for equality for all.”

Carson Kressley is an actor and designer. He was the fashion expert on the original Queer Eye for the Straight Guy where he was one of the show’s “Fab Five.” He was also the motivational host of the TV show How to Look Good Naked and OWN‘s Carson Nation, as well as a contestant on season 13 of Dancing with the Stars. Since 2015, Kressley has been a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Nancy Rosado served as a Sergeant for the New York Police Department (NYPD). She has more than 35 years of combined professional experience in mental health care, law enforcement, community affairs and workforce development and training. During her tenure, she spearheaded the creation of the department’s mental health care response for on-scene first responders following the World Trade Center attack on 9/11. Currently, Rosado is employed with the University of Central Florida’s Restores Program, a program that focuses on the treatment of PTSD, as a consultant and outreach coordinator for the first responder community, survivors of the Pulse Nightclub tragedy and their families as well as the victims of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. She is also involved with several nonprofits across Central Florida focused on furthering LatinX and LBGTQ+ communities.

This year, international pop star Betty Who will headline the brand new Pride Stage. Betty Who has elevated herself as a dance-music star with hits, including “Somebody Loves You”, “I Love You Always Forever,” “Human Touch,” and most recently the remixed theme song “All Things” for Netflix’s hit show Queer Eye.

Crystal Waters, one of Billboard Magazine’s top dance music legends, will headline the Amphitheater Stage. Waters, best known for “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)” and “100 Percent Pure Love” boasts six ASCAP Songwriter Awards, three American Music Award nominations, a MTV Video Music Award nod and four Billboard Music Awards.

Frenchie Davis, will headline the Weekend Launch Party. Davis first highlighted her talents on American Idol, and she was in the Top 8 on NBC’s show “The Voice” and has performed on Broadway.   

Since its inception in 2005, COWP has become Central Florida’s largest LGBTQ+ parade and festival. This year, COWP is expected to attract more than 160,000 visitors to the city of Orlando. Events for Orlando Pride Week, Monday, October 8 and run through Sunday, October 14, include:

Monday, October 8

Come Out With Pride and Zebra Coalition invites you to the Drag Race 5K at Harbor Park in Baldwin Park from 5–8 p.m. Put on your best colorful outfit, your favorite running shoes and get moving! Join several local Drag personalities and hundreds of participants as they run, walk and sashay their way through Baldwin Park.

Tuesday, October 9

Come Out With Pride and QLatinx present a screening of the Portuguese film MAR (The Sea) at the venue from 5-10pm. This award-winning short film portrays love, betrayal, and moving on from the harm inflicted by loved ones and depicts how every family has its many methods of coping with LGBTQ+ related situations and outcomes. Director William Vitoria will be conducting a Q&A immediately following the film. Light bites and refreshments will be available.

Wednesday, October 10

House of Pride at Ace Café from 7–11:30 p.m.In the past, the nightclub culture was the very place that many LGBTQ+ individuals could go and live freely. For one night only, one of Orlando’s premier dance clubs, The Edge, now ACE Café, will make a comeback and present the outrageous music, dancing and entertainment that paved the way for generations to come. Bringing back one of the most successful gay nights in Orlando would not be complete without the inclusion of some of Orlando’s top drag houses. Jose Xtravaganza will be performing.

Thursday, October 11

In partnership with the Thornton Park District’s Wine & Art Walk, Come Out With pride will take over The Veranda in Thornton Park for the annual Pride Weekend Launch Party from 6-11pm. Hosted by Orlando’s own Gidget Galone, the event will showcase a variety of entertainment and special performances from DJ Joanie as well as some of Orlando’s top LGBTQ+ performers. The event is free and open to the public. Guests can upgrade their experience with the Weekend Launch Party All-Access Pass.

Friday, October 12

Pride Block Party presented by Stonewall Bar Orlando from 7-11:30pm. Join Come Out With Pride and the surrounding neighborhood for a night of fun and camaraderie before the weekend festivities. Special appearance by LUCIANA.

Saturday October 13

Big Gay Brunch Hosted by Orlando Weekly at The Abbey; 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Start the day with an amazing brunch spread, bottomless mimosas, a Bloody Mary bar and live performances from local entertainers.

SponsorWalk & Pride Marketplace at Lake Eola Park from 12-7 p.m. is presented by Marriott, and will showcase businesses and organizations committed to diversity. The Marketplace expands in 2018 to stretch the length of Robinson Street adjacent to the park. Pride Takes Action, an initiative designed to connect festival-goers with advocacy groups, returns with more activities to educate and engage.

The Most Colorful Parade at Lake Eola Park from 4-6 p.m. is presented by SunTrust and is the most eagerly anticipated event of this year’s festival and will feature more than 100 groups spanning a 1-mile route through downtown Orlando. New this year are guest judges to help determine which entries will be deemed best of show. A community rally and two entertainment stages follow the parade to keep the energy going. Pride Fireworks Show at Lake Eola Park at 9:30 p.m. marks the official close of the Come Out With Pride 2018 festival. A limited number of tickets are available for “Picnic Under the Stars”, where guests will receive a blanket and assorted food/drink to watch the fireworks from an exclusive and cozy area.

Sunday, October 14

Pride Recovery Brunch at Celine Orlando from 11 a.m.–2 p.m. where they invite you to enjoy Sunday Funday with Come Out With Pride for one last delicious brunch spread at one of downtown’s newest venues. While you recover, enjoy live music and performances from local entertainers.

For updates on the official 2018 schedule of events for Orlando Pride Week, visit their website or follow along on Facebook with @comeoutwithpride.

Come Out With Pride Orlando would like to thank its sponsors including Marriott (SponsorWalk & Pride Marketplace), Suntrust (Parade), Perry Ellis and Penguin (Pride Stage), Nissan (Pride Amphitheater stage), Banfield (PetZone), CFE Credit Union (ATM), Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Celebrity Cruise Lines (VIP Experience), Hilton Grand Vacation (Face of Pride Screen) and more than 50 additional organizations who are committed to supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

About Come Out With Pride

Come Out With Pride, Inc. is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization inspired to make an impact in Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community. Celebrated in October, Come Out With Pride welcomes everyone from Central Florida and beyond to come together and celebrate diverse communities. Come Out With Pride is also dedicated to supporting the community through grants and scholarships via its ‘Pride Gives Back’ program. For more information, go to comeoutwithpride.com.

from Hotspots! Magazine https://hotspotsmagazine.com/2018/10/04/come-out-with-pride-orlando/