The City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection To Host OutBeat: America's First Queer Jazz Festival
Featuring Performances by Andy Bey, Bill Stewart,
Fred Hersch and Patricia Barber, Among Others
Thursday, September 18 - Sunday, September 21, 2014
at Various Venues Throughout Philadelphia
The William Way LGBT Community Center, with generous support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, is proud to announce OutBeat: America's First Queer Jazz Festival, set to take place on the final days of summer - Thursday, September 18 to Sunday, September 21.
Sure to be a groundbreaking event in the City of Brotherly Love and
Sisterly Affection, Philadelphia will play host to a number of
critically acclaimed jazz artists across a broad musical spectrum
including: Andy Bey, Grammy® Award-winning pianist Fred Hersch, Patricia Barber Quartet and drummer Bill Stewart. Additional headliners and further details will be announced throughout the spring.
OutBeat,
the first LGBT jazz festival ever produced in the United States, will
include events ranging from public discussions hosted by JazzTimes to
intimate performances, special receptions with the artists, and historic
concerts in a variety of spaces. Festival sites will include lead venue
partner, the William Way LGBT Community Center, The Painted Bride Art Center, and Chris' Jazz Café as well as participation in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's popular "Art After 5" series.
"Philadelphia has enjoyed a legacy of being a great music city. We're also a city that affirms the lives of LGBT people," says Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter.
"Hosting the first LGBT jazz festival in North America provides an
opportunity to showcase the rich and vibrant culture of our city. We'll
be celebrating all of this for 4 days in September with OutBeat. I hope
to see you there!"
Additionally, Union Transfer - which Rolling Stone
cited as one of the "Top 20 Venues in America" - will be the
culminating site for the celebratory daylong closing event featuring
numerous headliners. The popular Northern Liberties venue will be
transformed into a festival setting with Spring Garden Street blocked
off to host Philly's finest food carts, crafters, local musicians, and
other merchants. Vendors, surprises and special guests performing in
multiple spaces will make this closing day especially memorable.
The
festival will serve as the finale for the William Way LGBT Community
Center's annual music series and highlight the intersection between
sexual orientation and gender identity within the jazz community. OutBeat
will feature a vibrant and eclectic mix of world-renowned jazz
musicians brought together for a series of once-in-a-lifetime
performances and panel discussions.
States William Way LGBT Community Center Executive Director, Chris Bartlett, "We are thankful that the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage
embraced this visionary initiative that we can now share with the
world. It is an honor to serve as host for this historic occasion in
Philadelphia."
The
William Way LGBT Community Center provides life-saving and
life-affirming services to more than 50,000 LGBTQ individuals and allies
every year. With a diverse array of over seventy monthly programs and
activities that serve Greater Philadelphia's vibrant and unique LGBTQ
population, the Center is proud to be called the region's hub of LGBTQ
community and culture. Programs offered by the Center include free peer
counseling, senior programs, an art gallery, one of the largest LGBT
archives in the western hemisphere, a public cyber center, hiking and
tour groups, and other recreational, health, educational, arts, and
cultural opportunities.
"Philadelphia
was founded more than 300 years ago by Englishman William Penn on
principles of equality and freedom of expression. Today, the City of
Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection is a welcoming place for people
from around the world, and a great destination for gay and lesbian
travelers," states Tami Sortman, Vice President of the
Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus. "While many other cities--New York,
Chicago, New Orleans--may consider themselves 'jazz capitols', it's an
incredible coup for the city of Philadelphia to be the home base of this
landmark event."
Philadelphia
has been at the forefront of supporting the LGBT community as the site
of some of the nation's first gay rights pickets, and in 1982 it was one
of the first cities in the country to pass anti-gay discrimination
laws. With the launch of the groundbreaking Philadelphia - Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay®
campaign in 2003, Philadelphia has since been ranked in the top 10
among destinations visited by LGBT travelers for the first time in 2010
as well as a top 10 leisure market for LGBT travelers aged 18-35.
For more insight on how queer jazz musicians have dealt with their identity through music, click here read the story from JazzTimes.
For more information on OutBeat: America's First Queer Jazz Festival,
please visit: OutBeatJazzFest.com
For more information on the William Way LGBT Community Center,
please visit: WayGay.org
For media information, please contact:
DL Media · 610-667-0501
Maureen McFadden · maureen@dlmediamusic.com
Don Lucoff · don@dlmediamusic.com
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