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Raising the curtain on trans visibility: NYC-based arts collective plans day of events
By
Michael Hill
and
George Bodarky
Published Mar 31, 2023
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Tiph Browne
By
Michael Hill
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George Bodarky
Published Mar 31, 2023
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March 31 is Transgender Day of Visibility. It’s an international event to celebrate the lives and contributions of trans people, and others on the nonbinary and gender queer spectra. The day also aims to draw attention to issues these communities face, like violence and discrimination.
In New York City, the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts collective is holding a series of events, including in Times Square and at the Brooklyn Museum. WNYC’s Morning Edition Host Michael Hill talked with BTFA’s founder and executive director Jordyn Jay.
Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and content.
Michael Hill: Transgender Day of Visibility started back in 2010, but this year it comes as the U.S. is seeing a wave of legislation seen by many as anti LGBTQ+. Many of those bills target transgender and gender nonconforming people directly. What role does today's Day of Visibility play in your mind in countering that sentiment and what does it mean to you specifically?
Jordyn Jay: Transgender Day of Visibility this year is extremely important because it gives us an opportunity to highlight and humanize the people that are a part of the trans community. I think that a lot of these laws are being made to specifically dehumanize us and to erase us from public spaces. Today we get the opportunity to say, "no, we're here." We are human beings and we have so much to offer this world, and that we are deserving of respect, love, care and protection. I think that it's really vital that we're able to send that message not only to those who would oppose us, but also to those of us who don't have a strong community or our youth who feel targeted, and make sure that we are here standing with them and that there is hope and that there is a chance for them to experience joy and liberation, regardless of what the lawmakers or media would have them to believe.
Jordyn, you started the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts collective in 2019. What inspired you to launch the collective and what's the collective's overall mission?
I was inspired to launch the collective by having experiences both in the arts and in organizing spaces and realizing that there wasn't really space for Black trans femmes. A lot of organizing that was for Black trans communities was centered around housing justice, criminal justice and health care. Those are all really important causes, but I think a lot of people stopped at getting trans people to a point where we could survive. I wanted us to get to a point where we could thrive and we could invest in the parts of us that have dreams and ambitions and hopes beyond just being able to make ends meet.
I was also studying to get my master's in art politics at NYU, and I realized that there wasn't a lot of art advocacy or awareness around Black trans people in the arts and the contributions that we've made to arts and culture, both in the United States and around the world. And so I wanted to bring more light to that and provide more resources for Black trans femmes in the arts.
What did you hear from people who turned out for those very first open mic nights and artist performances when you started BTFA?
In our very first meetup before it was even solidified into what is now BTFA I heard a young trans woman tell me that seeing a flyer that called out specifically Black trans femme artists was the first time that she felt comfortable to leave her apartment in six months.
I also heard from older trans women who've been openly trans since the '90s and have been living in New York their whole life say it was the very first time that they had a space that was specifically for them in a city like New York City.
How would you describe the current climate for trans and non-binary artists? Has it evolved since you started BTFA four years ago?
I think that, honestly, BTFA has been a part of changing the landscape and has been able to infiltrate and partner with these artistic institutions, these mainstays, and I think that there's a lot of work to be done. I think we're just scratching the surface.
A lot of what's happening is that trans people are being included for visibility sake, but we need trans people at the administrative level, we need trans people that are in the rooms making decisions, trans people on the boards of these art institutions so that there could be a real deep structural change.
BTFA has a series of curated events and projects scheduled across the city today. What's on tap?
We're starting the day with a performance live in Times Square from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. featuring some of our brightest artists from ballroom to drag to hip-hop. It’s gonna be a really exciting show, and we hope that a lot of people come out and support. We'll also have a performance and a DJ set happening at the Brooklyn Museum from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. It'll be a poetry performance by one of our original founding artists and DJ Demi Goddess, who's been a newer member of the collective. We will also have on display at the Queens Museum, a mural done by BTFA artist Glori Tuitt that celebrates trans women who are organizing and creating space for our liberation. And at the Leslie Lohman Museum, we will have an exhibition in the windows that I've curated myself that will be on display from March 31 all the way through April 24. And we'll also have some things on display at New York Live Arts in their lobby.
You went through a long list here. Where can people go to see a lineup of today's events?
People can go to our Instagram at BTFA collective to see all of the things that we're doing.
Jordyn, what's next for BTFA? Where do you see the collective in say, five or 10 years?
I see the collective spreading nationally and internationally. We already work internationally with the list, which is a database of artists from across the world. We have 100 Black trans femme artists from five different countries that are a part of that database, and we hope to be able to spread that database and connect with those artists in their actual home locations. We've also started expanding physically to L.A. We've hosted some events there, and we'll be continuing to do so in the coming year. We're planning to spread the wealth and to make sure that Black trans femmes in all parts of the world know that they have a space to create without limitations. I also envision us being able to provide more resources, being able to support artists in every facet of their creative process and their lives.
Jordyn Jay is the founder and executive director of the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts collective. Jordyn, thanks so much for taking time for us.
Thank you so much for having me, and I'm so happy to be celebrating Trans Day of Visibility with BTFA, and hope you all will join us.
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Michael Hill
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George Bodarky
George is the community partnerships and training editor. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-647-3726.
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