Pride Arts Festival

The festival will showcase works by six artists from within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) community at Medulla Art Gallery, 37 Fitt Street Woodbrook, on June 1 from 6 pm, said a media release.

The Pride Arts Festival is the region’s “first arts festival to focus solely on the cultural contributions of the Caribbean’s LGBTQI community to the visual and performing arts,” the release said. “The festival articulates the diverse experiences of the LGBTQI community and the value in solidarity and community building by engaging the community and the wider public with positive and nuanced expressions of Queer culture.

I Am One hopes to uplift the voices of this often-marginalised community to firmly assert our rights and value.” This year’s theme, “I Am __ Citizen”, the release said “serves as a bold acknowledgement of the ongoing struggle LGBTQI people face daily, simply to be recognised as full citizens.” Opening night will showcase a curated art exhibit of six nationally and internationally recognised artists whose work speaks to this complexity with vulnerability and honesty, as well as speeches and performances by activists and artists.

The opening will also feature speeches by co-directors of I Am One and other LGBTQI community activists as well as a series of performances by musicians and poets.

I Am One will host an artist talk with the exhibiting artists at Medulla on June 8 from 6 to 8 pm. The festival encompasses a series of arts events at several Port-of-Spain venues including film screenings, a concert and other live performances until June 15.