Chicago, IL — the Pride South Side Organizing Committee convenes to organize an inaugural pride festival from Friday, June 28th - 30th, 2019, in partnership with various local venues on the Southside of Chicago. Partner venues include:
- The Stony Island Arts bank, located at 6760 S Stony Island Ave, Chicago, IL 60649
- The DuSable Museum, located at 740 E 56th Pl, Chicago, IL 60637
- The South Shore Cultural Center Beach, located at 7059 S South Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60649
- Gallery Guichard, located at 436 E 47th St, Chicago, IL 60653
- The Promontory, located at 5311 S Lake Park Ave W, Chicago, IL 60615
- The Jeffrey's Pub, located at 7041 S Jeffery Ave, Chicago, IL 60649
The festival will consist of a series of events designed to cater to the wide array LGBTQIA identifying community members throughout the Southside of Chicago. The weekend will kick off with a Film Screening, in partnership with OpenTV at the Stony Island Arts Bank on June 28th from 8 pm - 10 pm. OpenTV produces intersectional media and is best known for producing Brown Girls , a sitcom that was picked up by HBO.
The opening night will also include a kickoff party curated by Melloe Drama at Gallery Guichard from 8 p.m.- 1 am. Melloe Drama is a cultural curator, whose work has included activations throughout the City of Chicago. Most recently, Melloe Drama partnered with the Chicago Loop Alliance to curate their annual ACTIVATE Premier event which will transform a hidden alley for one night only with contortionists, magicians, hip-hop and house music on two stages, an interactive costume photo booth and more live murals than ever before seen in the Loop.
Saturday, June 29th, 2019, The DuSable Museum will host the mainstay event, a concert, and festival from 12 pm - 9 pm. The DuSable is the oldest African American history museum in the country and Smithsonian Affiliate. Confirmed Artists include Duane Powell, Mister Wallace, Boogie, Morenxxx, Roy Kinsey, Brandon Markell, Cha$e and Avehre with more confirmations pending.
After the festival on June 29th, four different venues will host various after parties targeting different affinities within the community, to include:
-Solaris from 9:30 p.m. - until? Solaris is to take place at the Promontory, located at 5311 S Lake Park Ave W, Chicago, IL 60615. Ticket prices vary. SOLARIS is a queer pride celebration from Swoon, smallWORLD Collective, Molasses, and House of Zetina, inspired by the warmth and renewal of the summer solstice. These collectives have joined together to curate a one of a kind party that unites all corners of Chicago's queer community.
- The House of Lauren presents The South Side Mini-Ball from 9:30 pm - 1 am. Location TBA. The ticket price is $7. The House of Lauren presents its first mini ball on the south side. All categories must be brought in all black effect. The categories are as follows, and Prizes include Performance :$100, Realness :$100, Runway :$100, Sex Siren :$100. Ticket sales for this event support the category prizes.
- She Proud from 9:30 pm - 1 am. Location TBA. Free to enter. She Proud is a South Side celebration of all that it means to be unapologetically queer and woman and femme. We center Black women both cis and trans, butch & feminine, & girls from the hoods of Chicago during this official after party for Pride South Side. Get in free with us as we turn up, shake it and drop it low all night long.
- Legends; Grown Folk Only from 9:30 pm - Until. Legends will take place at the Jeffrey's Pub, the oldest African American owned LGBTQIA Bar in the country. The Ticket Price is $10. For the adult pride partiers - come out to the Pub and dance all night for the Legends!
Sunday, June 30th, 2019, The South Shore Cultural Center Beach will host the closing event, titled Beachnic; Queering in the parks. Guests will arrive to listen to music, hang out and say farewell to the weekend.
ABOUT Pride South Side
Pride South Side was organized with a greater social impact mission in mind. A report by the City of Chicago, Department of Health attempts to explain why HIV infections rates are on the rise on the South Side of Chicago, among queer black male youth, despite the advent of PrEP and education. Washington Park is leading the city in new HIV infection rates, followed by Chatham second,
and South Shore third. This means that the southside is leading the entire midwest in new HIV infection rates. The report finds that a leading cause of this issue is the lack of social spaces that are both queer and black/POC affirming. Pride South Side seeks to address this problem through a three-pronged initiative to include:
Pride South Side : Host a flagship pride event on Chicago's South and West Sides that is evergreen and touches every majority minority South and West Side community;
Cultural Training : Partner with churches, small businesses, non-profits, and schools to provide diversity and inclusion training in communities in which the epidemic is the highest.
Support safe spaces by recruiting brick and mortar businesses into a safe space program where they register as a 'safe space';
Pipelines : Develop pipelines of queer-identifying youth to support programming, including workforce development, educational advancement, health and wellness, and dating and intimacy workshops.
Despite the need to address rising HIV rates among queer black male youth, Pride South Side is celebrating the full breadth of the LGBTQIA community because there are other barriers to the community. This includes a high rate of drug abuse, murders of trans women and various issues that point to a continued devaluing of queer black and brown bodies.
The Pride South Side White Paper can be found here .
The Festival presenting sponsor is AHF.
Additional sponsors include The White Sox, Lyft, The South Side Help Center, The Black Gay Men's Caucus, 720 Films, Jack Daniels, the DuSable Museum, the Chicago Park District, Fahrenheit Chicago, the Rebuild Foundation, OpenTV, the Coalition for Justice and Respect, Hope Is, Talooka Studios with more sponsorships pending.
Pride South Side, Friday-Sunday, June 28-30, 2019. Throughout the Southside of Chicago.
For tickets and more info: www.PrideSouthSide.com, www.PrideSouthSide.org .
—From a press release
