Announcing: Glitterbox

What is Glitterbox?

Glitterbox is the name of a performance stage taking place Friday, October 22, 2010 during IDKE XII, hosted by the Baltimore Gender Justice Collective (BGJC) that will highlight performers whom self-identify in their daily lives as People Of Color (POC) and/or Mixed Race.

What will Glitterbox be looking for in performance submissions?

We, the board of Glitterbox, would like to see performances at IDKE XII that examine the intersections between gender performance, personal responsibility, privilege, and race with the goal of creating a platform to expand performance into a viable connection with all social justice communities. Furthermore, we would like to see these performances organize for collective power by advancing transformative work, thinking and leadership of communities and individuals working to build bridges as well as end violence and prejudice in our daily lives.

How will the curated process work?

You must send in an application that will be reviewed by the Glitterbox board. We will make every effort to ensure that our curated show will feature work by many genders, many races, and many genres that will be able to showcase the brilliant work Performers of Color bring to IDKE this and every year. We hope that this stage will be seen, felt and perceived as an attempt to showcase the best of the available resources to us, and we hope that this stage and its constituents will continue to grow at future IDKEs.

Mission Statement

The Glitterbox Board is a group of People of Color (POC) and ally performers and activists that will be bringing together performers who self-identity as people of color or mixed race onto the stage of the same name at IDKE XII. The board hopes that the Glitterbox stage will engage in educational, cultural and social discourses through performance as a means of dealing with the racism, sexism, transphobia, queerphobia, sizeism, ageism, ablism, HIV/AIDS discrimination and other inequities as well as celebrate our triumphs, our joy and ourselves existing within our communities and in our lives.

Principles of Unity

We oppose the oppression of womyn, queers, transfolk, two spirits, youth, elders, genderqueers, differently able-bodied people, people with mental health complexities, and all that are oppressed.

We strive and fight to dismantle, deconstruct and unlearn (in no particular order but all at once) racism, patriarchy, ableism, heterosexism, sizeism, transphobia, queerphobia, ageism, HIV/AIDS discrimination, classism and authoritarianism.

Performer Respect Clause

In the effort to encourage our participants to be responsible performers, we ask for you to review our Performer Respect Clause which reads:

Much of drag performance is about entertainment and fun, but it is important to not lose sight of the fact that drag performance also can be a powerful medium that can either reiterate or deconstruct norms and/or stereotypes of gender, race, class, sexuality, and ability. Therefore, performers are asked to consider carefully whether or not the characters, costumes, and situations that they present on the IDKE stages are respectful of fellow performers and the audience. In your consideration of character, costume and situation, be aware that you will be held accountable for your performance' s messages, themes and depictions of race, ethnicity, religion, ability, class, sex, gender, etc. This means that you (all) as performers, not Baltimore Gender Justice Collective or the Glitterbox board, will be responsible for responding to any criticism, dialog or negative attention solicited by your performance.

When in doubt about the content of your performance, please ask a member of the Baltimore Gender Justice Collective. We greatly appreciate your time and consideration of the Glitterbox mission statement and IDKE Performer Respect Clause before sending in your submissions and look forward to seeing you at IDKE!