Kenney Mencher

“I’ve just been through some battles, and I’ve been through some situations, I’ve met some people, I’ve gathered some resources, and now I have something to give. I do have something to share. To be able to work with other artists who are at different levels of their creative development and be able to offer whatever it is that I have to them, to give them what I can, is a beautiful, beautiful gift to be able to give.”    —2019-2020 QAM Mentor Charles Rice-González 20 DAYS UNTIL THE NEW YEAR - $23K LEFT TO GO BEFORE $36K MATCH IS MET Thanks to a number of very generous supporters, all donations made to Queer|Art between now and the end of 2019 will be matched up to $36,000! This means, between now and New Year’s, your donations will make twice the impact on the work we do to support and empower a diverse community of LGBTQ+ artists. We've already raised $12,800 in matching donations. Double that with the match and we've now raised $25,600 of a possible $72,000 total goal.  Will you help us get the rest of the way there? Every donations helps to provide creative and professional mentorship for artists, production funds for artists' projects, and presentation funds for artist programs. Donate now. Make your dollars count twice.   Multi-year QAM Mentor Charles Rice-González and 2019-2020 Fellow María José Maldonado by Lola Flash for the 2019 Queer|Art Community Portrait Project SOMETHING TO SHARE! WITH MARÍA JOSÉ MALDONADO & CHARLES RICE-GONZÁLEZ Throughout our year-end appeal we will be featuring a different artist from the recent years of Queer|Art|Mentorship, as captured through lens of photographer Lola Flash for the 2019 Queer|Art Community Portrait Project (on view at The Center through January 9). María José Maldonado (Literature) is a Salvadoran-Ecuadorian queer writer, creator, performer and comedian exploring queerness, resistance and anger through speculative fiction, poetry and comedic performance. Maldonado will being working with Mentor, Charles Rice-González, to write a novella entitled “The Last Men On Earth,” which will explore the deconstruction and implosion of gender and identity in a future where cisgender boys and men have begun to menstruate due to the dwindling human population caused by climate change. María will be performing their very first stand up set at YAAAS! Festival, NYC's biggest queer comedy competition, this Thursday, December 12. Learn more here ABOUT THE 2019 QUEER|ART COMMUNITY PORTRAIT PROJECT For the Queer|Art Community Portrait Project, artists from across different disciplines and generations gather once a year to participate in a marathon photoshoot event, sitting for their portraits as representatives of the Queer|Art community. Over time, the project will chart nuances of generational and personal growth within the community—as many artists return and new artists are welcomed into the mix—all seen through the lens of a different photographer each year. The commission for the 2019 Queer|Art Community Portrait Project was awarded to Lola Flash, whose vivid, shimmering portraits capture Queer|Art’s diverse and vibrant artist community against the backdrop of the new Christopher Street Pier. Shot over the course of several hours on a beautiful sunny day in October, this year’s portrait project balances a celebratory resilience and youthful exuberance with deeply felt reflection as it connects us to the queer history of the pier. Learn more here ABOUT QUEER|ART Queer|Art is a non-profit arts organization based in New York City. Since its founding in 2009, Queer|Art has actively cultivated a network of support to address the absence of creative mentors who would have emerged from the generation most strongly affected by the ongoing AIDS crisis. By fostering the confident expression of LGBTQ+ artists' perspectives, stories, and identities across disciplines and generations, Queer|Art supports and empowers a population that has been historically suppressed, disenfranchised, and often overlooked by traditional institutional and economic support systems. Share Tweet Forward to a Friend The 2018-2019 Queer|Art|Mentorship Annual Exhibition is made possible with lead support from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The 2019 Queer|Art Community Portrait Project is made possible with lead support from HBO. Additional support for Queer|Art|Mentorship is provided by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council for the Arts.