Dezi 5
The Arts District celebrates Pride with three days of programming
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com
What’s expected to be one of the largest Pride celebrations in North Texas this year takes place in the Arts District this weekend, with a schedule of events that is an exhausting 13 pages long covering three days.
What about social distancing? An event that began just a few years ago at the Dallas Museum of Art has expanded to include outdoor spaces at the Winspear Opera House, exhibits at the Nasher, Crow and Holocaust museums, pop-up events at Klyde Warren Park and programming running the gamut from Teen Pride to Coalition for Aging LGBT.
“We’re continuing to work our way down Flora Street,” said committee member Robert Emery, adding that he’s already spoken to several organizations that are interested in adding to the mix to make next year’s event even larger.
The weekend begins Friday night, June 18, with a virtual kick-off hosted by Terry Loftis and featuring Miss Dallas Southern Pride Porsche Paris, Dezi 5 and Miss Gay USofA Kennedy Davenport. Tune in at vimeo.com/showcase/prideparty at 6:30 p.m. to watch.
Pride Party + continues both live and online from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday, including exhibits in the various museums feature LGBT artists. Use the Nasher’s tour app for the month of June that features artists on view whose LGBTQ identity influenced their work. And learn about five LGBT artists in the DMA collection with a self-guided tour available at the guest services desk.
Only five? Well, five are featured, which leaves years of upcoming programming if the museum continues to highlight just five at a time.
At the Crow Museum of Asian Art, three quilt panels from the Names Project will be on display beginning Friday and continuing through the rest of the month. Two feature Asian-Americans who died of HIV, and the third includes Dallas names. Among them is the especially moving panel Dallasite Duane Kearns Puryear that he made for himself before he died and which hung at Resource Center until his death in 1990, when it was sent to be included in the NAMES Project Quilt.
Use code PRIDE21 to get $2 off admission to the Holocaust Museum and get an “LGBTQ+History and Rights Must See and Do” that details the LGBTQ historical elements of the museum’s exhibit. On line, the museum is featuring a video with Beau Chandler and Major Jimenez who were arrested for trying to obtain a marriage license in Dallas before it was legal.
Throughout the weekend are lots of performances, both live and on film.
Among the screenings is Brock Cravy’s Innocent Boy, showing at 3 p.m. on Sunday in the Horchow Auditorium at the DMA. Described as a short horror film set in Texas, it deals with a young trans boy who finds himself caught between a cowboy’s lustful rage, greed and corruption. It’s won several awards already, including “Best LGBT Short Film” at the South Texas Underground Film Festival and “Best Direction” at the Las Vegan Queer Arts Film Festival. After the film, Cravy will be on hand for a Q&A. Admission is free, but reservation required.
United Black Ellument presents the film premier of Make ’em Know It about the Kiki Ball scene in Dallas. Director Devin Hulsey and cast members will be present for a Q&A. The film runs at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
On the Sammons Park Community Stage outside the Winspear, TITAS/Dance Unbound hosts Complexions Contemporary Ballet in-person Big Barre master class at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday. TITAS artistic and executive director Charles Santos leads a panel discussion at 1:30 p.m. Complexions Ballet performs in the Winspear at 8 p.m.
At 3 p.m. on the Sammons stage, performers at 3 p.m. on Saturday include Uptown Players, Bandan Koro, Dezi 5, Arttitude resident installation artists and Kennedy Davenport.
Teen Pride is usually part of Dallas Pride. For this year, however, special Teen Pride activities move to Pride in the Arts District. Kennedy Davenport hosts and performs and welcomes Barbie Davenport, Ruby Scott, Hakeem Davenport, Devin Banks, Glam Davenport and Ariel O’Hara to the Teen Pride stage.
Organizer Amanda Robinson said admission is quite limited, and social distancing will be practiced since vaccines have only recently become available for teens.
Robinson will also lead advocacy training and teach how to create a safe space. She said the pandemic has taken a particular toll on LGBTQ teens who were not always living in a safe and loving family environment during the lockdown.
For younger attendees, the DMA has art materials and learning games. At the Flora Street entrance, create a Pride portrait with MariconX artist Jose Villalobos from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday.
Abounding Prosperity will have its HIV testing truck parked outside the DMA’s Flora Street entrance. Those who are tested will get a free ticket to Dallas Southern Pride’s Juneteenth Unity Weekend Mega Party at Gilley’s on Saturday night.
Sunday begins with virtual yoga class at 11 a.m. led by Resource Center’s Jalenzski Brown. Youth First and the DMA Teen Advisory Council invite young people to express themselves with rock painting and bracelet making. Materials provided while supplies last.
The University of Texas at Dallas Galerstein Gender Center and Crow Museum presents a virtual program centered around AAPI issues and the LGBTQIA communities from noon-2 p.m. And the Dallas Opera joins Pride in the Arts District for the first time offering Vanished, a three-part indie art film available through Dallas Opera TV. Through June 30, get a 50 percent discount on the film and a seven-day free trial of Dallas Opera TV with promo code TDO4LOVE.
Links for virtual programs not given in the article can be found in the pdf of the program available at DallasArtsDistrict.org/wp-content/uploads/Schedule-of-Events-for-Pride-2021-2-1.pdf.
