Announcing Seeing Rainbows
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 4, 2024
Media Contact: Nuri Héd | always.seeing.rainbows@gmail.com
Announcing the formation of
Seeing Rainbows, a New, 100% Trans-Led Arts Organization in the Berkshires
[PITTSFIELD, MA] A new star coalesces in the glittering firmament of Berkshire cultural organizations. Seeing Rainbows, Inc. — a corporation awaiting 501(c)3 status — has begun operations to “collaborate to build sustainable and supportive trans community by producing and presenting liberating art, performances, installations and other experiences by and for queer / trans / Jewish / BIPOC / disabled / fat / other marginalized persons, on unceded Mohican lands and the Berkshires and beyond…” This mission statement encapsulates the organization’s core goal of centering anti-racist inclusion at every step of the artistic process, from incubation and curation to planning and execution.
The entire board serves simultaneously as the staff of the organization to ensure no one is in a hierarchical position of power over anyone else. The programming, as a result, emerges from the people within the organization, as well as their interactions with the broader community. As described by co-founder and one of the five founding directors, Joey Thompson: “Seeing Rainbows will be a starting path for us locally to build community, and starting with what we have in ourselves.”
At launch, Seeing Rainbows will offer three core programs: “Salon: A Seeing Rainbows Co-Creation Workshop Experience,” Queer Art Parties, and weekly semi-guided Trans Hikes. The organization has partnered with The Foundry in West Stockbridge to host the first Salon on Wednesday, June 12, 2024 at 11am. It will be a pay-what-you-can event, and no one will be turned away for lack of funds. “Keeping things financially accessible is one of the core principles of Seeing Rainbows, so wherever possible, our events will be pay-what-you-can / NOTAFLOF,” says co-founder and director, Maayan Nuri Héd, using an acronym for the phrase “no-one-turned-away-for-lack-of-funds,” which will be a core accessibility feature of the new organization’s programming. Ms. Héd says regarding the Salon program, “It's hard to describe if you haven't participated before. Think one part workshop, one part community hangout, one part transcendent spiritual experience, one part performance. Maybe. Salon is different every time — because salon is emergence in action. Come prepared to create, to share, but most of all, to listen.”
“Seeing Rainbows works to bring that childlike comfort, wonder and excitement of seeing a rainbow to the trans community,” says co-founder and director Cypress Gallagher. “We aim to bridge the gap between the marginalized and mainstream of society. I do my best to be as loudly and visibly queer so others feel comfortable to explore and share their own true selves with the world. People are so much more than the boxes society breaks us down into.”
"Innovation often starts with art," says Ephraim Alexander Schwartz, co-founder and director. "One of our earliest recorded dreams of landing on the moon is visited around 175 BCE in a satire of Homer's Odyssey — literally a ship sailing its way into space. When conventional solutions fail to bring us what we need, sometimes we need an approach closer to da Vinci's rather than Steve Jobs'."
Mr. Thompson says, “Seeing Rainbows was created by people who belong to different marginalized communities, and this makes me hopeful, because these people have a better understanding of multiple problems that society faces, so we are better equipped to come up with ideas on how to combat them.”
Seeing Rainbows cites feminist activist and writer adrienne maree brown as a major inspiration. “The concept of emergence,” explains Ms. Héd, “is sometimes defined as ‘the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. it emphasizes critical connections, authentic relationships, listening with the body and the mind’.” The organization expects its programming to be informed as much by its audience and the communities it serves as by its staff and leadership.
The team, consisting of a 100% trans board and staff, are also entirely Berkshire residents, and seek through the organization to build a supportive and sustainable framework to foster the creation of art by and for the trans community. The five-person board is also one of the few majority-BIPOC boards in the Berkshires, as well as being strongly informed by the Jewish culture and heritage of two of its founders and board members. “This is a time, perhaps one of many, when the need for loud, Jewish voices in support of liberation and equity are even more important, informed by our shared duty to pursue tikkun olam, the healing of the world,” explains Ms. Héd. Mr. Thompson shares, “Seeing Rainbows can innovate from past attempts to build a program that is more focused on the people and both, their collective but also individual needs.”
It is a serendipitous time of year for a trans-led arts community to launch, as folks of all stripes finally come out of winter hibernation to find and create joy in community with others, and some of those stripes are painted blue, white and pink: the colors of the trans pride flag.
Seeing Rainbows has filed an application with the IRS for 501(c)3 non-profit status, and expects a determination by the end of this calendar year. In the interim, the organization is a fiscally sponsored project of the Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition. The nascent organization has launched a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and other web presences. At the Foundry’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month Kickoff Celebration on June 1, the organization informally announced its birth and the unprepared audience came forth with nearly $200 in donations on the spot, in partial support of the organization’s website launch at seeingrainbows.org. Questions may be directed to the board and staff at always.seeing.rainbows@gmail.com.
FOR MEDIA INQUIRES:
Maayan Nuri Héd | Staff/Board | always.seeing.rainbows@gmail.com
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