Press release from Pansy Collective:
Pansy Collective presents the 3rd annual Pansy Festival to benefit Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Accion (CIMA) and the Pansy Collective Mutual Aid Fund. Pansy Collective is a collaborative group of queer and trans artists operating as a booking collective and grassroots mutual aid funder. While Pansy Collective books events all year long, Pansy Fest is our largest benefit of the year.
Pansy Fest is a mixed genre queer/trans music and arts festival in Asheville, North Carolina on August 23rd-25th 2019.
Pansy Fest started in 2017 with the intention of showcasing and celebrating southern and rural LGBTQ+ artists and building community around the south and in rural areas. So often with underrepresented cultures and communities, there is no space unless we make it ourselves, together. When LGBTQ+ folks band together and celebrate a legacy of resistance and resilience, a subversive community love letter is created.
We chose the name “pansy collective” to play off of the slur “pansy” which has historically been thrown at effeminate gays. Pansies-as a flower- are symbolic of strength in softness. Pansies are able to survive through spring frosts and trampling thanks to the resilience of their flimsy stalks. Pansies are a remarkable symbol for queerness and we celebrate our ability to bloom in the face of those wish to stomp us out.
PansyFest is proud to have financially supported Southerners on New Ground, BeLoved House, Trans Kindred Collective, and Tranzmission Prison Project over the last two years. The beneficiaries for Pansy Fest III will be split between Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Accion and a new initiative, Pansy Collective Mutual Aid Fund. This fund will support queer and transgender peoples’ legal, medical, and survival costs through an organized, sustained, rotating donations model.
This year’s lineup features multiple returning artists, including The Muslims (Durham, NC), Trauma Queen (Columbia, SC), Waxjaw (Huntington, WV) and Asheville, North Carolina’s very own Bless Your Heart. 2019 is also boasting a long list of Pansy Fest newcomers, including For Your Health (Columbus, OH), Ahomari (Columbia, SC),and Listless (Richmond, VA) . To find out about all the amazing artists performing at Pansy Fest this year check out the full lineup at pansyfest.org and keep up with our social media on instagram @pansyfest and Pansy Collective facebook page.
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