Crossroads: A Convening of Queer Midwest Curators

Crossroads: A Convening of Queer Midwest Curators
Tuesday, September 23, 5pm-7:30pm
DeLuca Forum, Discovery Building
330 N Orchard St, Madison, WI

This event is free and open to the public. Registration required.

At a time when queer visibility and engagement is at an all-time high within the art world, projects and exhibitions centering queerness face a unique set of circumstances when realized outside of coastal cities. For curatorial projects developed within the geographical region of “Middle America,” the lack of adequate state and city funding, ongoing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and complex socio-political conditions can be obstacles for the many queer curators and artists in the Midwest. A lower population density and broader geographical distances often create additional roadblocks when aiming for equitable access and inclusion of diverse queer voices within curated projects in Midwest institutions, spaces, and communities.

With these factors in mind, Crossroads: A Convening of Queer Midwest Curators will bring together a group of self-identified queer curators living and working within the Midwest. Curators Kyle Herrington and Bo Owen will facilitate a public discussion among the panelists on the topics of queer art in the Midwest and tools, methodologies, and considerations for curating queerly in the middle of the United States. This event will build vital networks among curators, cultural workers, and artists exhibiting or making work with LGBTQ+ themes while also advancing the development of queer curatorial practices. Going beyond discussions of biography and aesthetics, this program aims to unfold queer curation as a crucial catalyst for artist support, documentation, and activism within both regional and national contexts.

Crossroads: A Convening of Queer Midwest Curators is made possible in part by a Curatorial Advancement Grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation and is a fiscally sponsored project by the New York Foundation for the Arts. The convening is co-sponsored by the UW-Madison Center for Design and Material Culture, the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center, the Department of Geography, and the Department of Art History.

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