There is an opportunity to put up a mini-version of Frayed Knots (my plan for a cabaret/festival of performance artists from culturally diverse & minority backgrounds) as part of the This Is Not Art/Crack Theatre festival in Newcastle, NSW late Sept-early Oct. The organisers were intrigued with the idea, but they needed to have more info on the sort of performers I’d like to get involved.

So I am looking for performers! Specifically, I am looking for people from ethnic minorities/People of Colour/Cultural and Linguistically Diverse Communities that do:

• Burlesque
• Circus
• Cabaret
• Readings
• Slam poetry
• Fringe art
• Hybrid art
• Experimental work
• Street theatre
• Cabaret
• MCing
• Magic

Basically, if it can be performed and it’s on the fringes, it’s good.

I would prefer if you were based in Australia, just so TINA feels it’s more viable to program this multicultural cabaret. But if you’re willing to come over to Australia to help out - awesome!!

You don’t need to commit 100% right now; just a notion that you would be interested in participating would be great. Also some info on who you are and the type of work that you do + contact details. Once I get an update on whether this cabaret goes ahead we can discuss logistics.

If you know of anyone else that could be useful, please pass on this message and get them to contact me at me[at]themerchgirl[dot]net (or recommend me people). The TINA app is due March 31st 2010 so I need details before then.

Thanks!

definatalie:

Reading the Fat Girl zines Nick bought for me. I’ve had a rough day, and these are cheering me up and giving me a sense of solidarity.

OOOOO where did you get those from?

Some of you may know Benjamin Law as a columnist for Frankie Magazine. Well he’s got a project that he needs your help for:

Hello folks,

Right now, I’m developing a book (with Black Inc) and a documentary series (with New Holland Pictures), about queer cultures throughout South East Asia.

From mid-2010 onwards, I’ll be trekking overseas for international stories. However, before I head off, I’ll also be scouting for Australia-based stories too.

So if you know of anyone who —

• was born in Asia;
• migrated to Australia;
• identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual or queer;
• has an interesting story to tell;

— I would love to hear from you. If you could let me know a little bit about them — as well as their contact details (but only if possible) — that would be stellar.

It doesn’t matter how old or young they are, or the circumstances in which they came to Australia — I would love to hear about them.

Feel free to spread the word for me too, and thanks for your help.

Cheers,— Ben.
P.S. If you have any contacts in Asia, I would also love to hear about them too.

His email address is benjaminlaw[at]gmail[dot]com so drop him a line!

• Tiara: There's been a survey that says 15-20 year olds are vastly more creative than any other age group. My question - define creative.
• Me: Why is that a surprise. They're the bored unemployed ones.
• Tiara: *dies laughing* ...
• Me: Well, they're unemployed because people think they'll be bored in a job, and then people complain when they see all the young people around.
• Tiara: ...put this on Tumblr in the conversation template!
• Me: Ok. What do I say?

One of my friends is participating in a karaoke competition during SXSW. He has to get votes in order to perform and he’s been egging people on to vote for him via Facebook status updates relentlessly. I tried to get into this competition last year, but remember posting a link to it once and then ignoring it, in an attempt to be “classy.”

As of this writing, he’s now in the top three for the competition and will get to compete. I, on the other hand, had to wait until the very end to sing during the competition last year.

The moral of the story: fuck being classy and promote yourself.

IdeaParty! at Visible Ink!

(I wish Tumblr had an integrated events posting system to make life easier)

I’m gonna be hosting a Barbara Sher-style IdeaParty - basically you get around in a circle, state your Wish and Obstacle (“I want to go on a world tour! But I have no passport!” or “I want to DANCE! …but I’m shy”) and everyone contributes ideas. Doesn’t matter if it’s practical or not, the point is to get ideas going.

Details!

IdeaParty!
Visible Ink, 54 Berwick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane QLD
7:30pm to 9pm : Tuesday 12th April 2010
Free : Open to All - bring friends!
Please email Tiara for RSVPs by Friday 9th April for catering

bookselves:

genderconfusion:

Vajazzling, Step-by-Step (click the photo for mildly NSFW pix)

I just heard about this yesterday! Here is an article about how to vagazzle your vagina like Jennifer Love Hewitt. In case you do not read the article, I will refer you to this excellent pull-quote:

“Jennifer described the appearance of the bikini trend by stating that ‘it shined like a disco-ball’ and went on to recommend that all girls should try vajazzling their ‘precious lady’.”

Firstly: that’s not your vagina that’s your pubic mound! People kept going on and on about this and I couldn’t fathom why people wanted internal rhinestones. (I don’t think rhinestones on your vagina would even be possible even if you’re going for sexual feeling).

That said - when I saw the pictures and this article the first thing I thought of was “this is going to be a HIT with burlesque dancers and strippers”. Why hasn’t anyone done this as part of an act before? Or has someone done it and I haven’t heard? Would a vajazzled crotch count as a merkin/G-String for licensing purposes?

So many things I love are from cultures foreign to my own (hip hop, Indian music, Buddhist concepts, etc.), should I ignore those things because I’m a white girl from New Zealand? My life would be much less fabulous if I did! I absolutely believe that culture is something to be shared, delighted in, learned about & cherished…

Gala Darling, Cherry On Top www.galadarling.com

this is something that has come up in every discussion i’ve ever had about cultural appropriation with white people. ignoring vs. appropriating are two very different things.

here’s the thing: YOUR life might be “less fabulous,” but if you claim to love so many other cultures than your own, maybe you would be interested to know how the people who were raised in and created those cultures feel about you using specific (often stereotyped) pieces to increase the level of fabulousness in your life?

are their lives any better or worse thanks to you wearing a headdress? did you buy that headdress from a native person? will the money go to them? will racism, discrimination and insitutional forms of oppression against the people who were once forbidden from wearing those headdresses suddenly end because it is all the rage for white hipsters to wear them?

(via garconniere)

Notice how it even starts off with “My life would be less fabulous”. Cultural artifacts don’t exist to make you fabulous, Person of Dominant Outsider Class! While you’re whining about not being able to indulge in your “fabulousness” because some people call you out on your nicking of cultures, someone from that original culture is facing a hard time in school or at the job market or on the streets because they decided to dress according to their cultural norms instead of yours.

During the Hey Hey blackface debacle, which also included the debacle over a blackface performance by a British burlesque artist (mainly that he wouldn’t acknowledge that people will find it racist), someone messaged me and said “Burlesque has always been open to black people! You’ll see black entertainment culture all over historical burlesque performances!”. Yeah - but where were the black people? Why was (is, even) it acceptable to nick their dances, their music, their style - but deny them the opportunity to do it themselves?

Here’s the thing about cultural appropriation: If you, pretty skinny white lady, wear a feather headdress, people think: cute! glamourous! exotic! creative!

But if someone belonging to a culture to whom the feather headdress really belonged wore one, people think: outsider! scary! out of touch! refuses to fit in!

You can wear something from someone else’s culture without reprimand or discrimination, and the person from the culture that it comes from… can’t. Does that seem right to you?

White people have the privilege to dabble in other people’s cultures, at the same time (don’t kid yourself that this time is over) that we marginalize and discriminate against the PEOPLE whose culture we find so alluring. As white women, we can dabble in the “fashion” of other cultures, whereas indigenous people have been in some cases legally barred from wearing their own indigenous dress. Yeah. Legally. That would suck.

We, white people, turn “exotic” or “worldly” or “bohemian” clothes into an expensive fashion trend, while simultaneously indigenous peoples lack rights and live in extreme poverty – in Canada, where I live, First Nations peoples live in “third world” conditions in our “first world” country. So when you are wearing your “headdress” – think about the people you are glamorizing and how they sometimes don’t have running water, access to education, how they have an incredibly high suicide rate because their lives are so hard. Think about how you are doing nothing about it – you are taking from that culture and giving nothing back, not even your constructive support.

Actually here: a good friend of mine has a blog (you’ve linked to her before) where she talks about things like this, and the most recent post is about cultural appropriation at the Vancouver Olympics and why it sucks. In that post she links to a post about Native American culture as “fashion”

alagarconniere.blogspot.com/

Gala, you are a smart and thoughtful woman so I hope you do think about this one a lot more. I know it would be great if you and your readers really thought about what it means to take something from someone else’s culture and represent it as part of your own quirky stylish identity.

My intention is to start a constructive dialogue about what kind of clothing is up for grabs, style-wise, and what kind of clothing we might want to stop and think about before wearing. I hope that is “encouraging” enough.

Comments on Cherry On Top www.galadarling.com

IRIS FOR THE WIN, AS ALWAYS.

(via garconniere)

THERE you go, a great explanation. It’s not the use of cultural artifacts per se - it’s using them while still treating their originators like crap.