We are looking forward to being together with you (virtually) in just one week! We hope you will extend your support by donating or becoming a sponsor.

SPARK is Thursday, October 14th, 2021
5 PM PDT / 8 PM EDT
100% virtual, free, and open to all

Accessibility: all audio will be captioned and have ASL interpretation, with Spanish language interpretation and audio descriptions available by phone. Please get in touch if you have access questions or requests.

MEET OUR EMCEES!

[ID: photo of Basit. They have brown skin, short bleach blonde hair, and brown eyes. They're wearing bright turquoise eyeliner, a mermaid pattern bodice, one gold earring, and a sparkly necklace. They're indoors, leaning against a wall, gazing neutrally into the camera.]

Basit (they/them) is a non-binary Black Nigerian-American performance artist, singer/songwriter, musician, screenwriter, and actor. Their creative practices are rooted in cultivating radical empathy, embracing vulnerability and unique expression, and finding power and strength in existence. Their art is cultivated from their passion for telling stories, and shedding light on perspectives that are often neglected. Basit's unique lived experiences and desire to honor their sacred past, present, and future inform their artistry and further explore the pluralities of identity. Basit is a cofounder of LEGACY, a production company focused on providing resources to artists systemically excluded from – and exploited by – media and the arts.

Image Description: photo of Basit. They have brown skin, short bleach blonde hair, and brown eyes. They're wearing bright turquoise eyeliner, a mermaid pattern bodice, one gold earring, and a sparkly necklace. They're indoors, leaning against a wall, gazing neutrally into the camera.

[ID: Photo of Joshua. They have brown skin, long black locks draped over their chest, and brown eyes. They're shirtless, wearing a multi-layered ankara pattern skirt in orange, green, and yellow layers, and they have pearly catseye eyeliner. They're standing against a burgundy background, gazing into the camera.]

Joshua Allen (they/them) is a writer, artist, model and activist from Brooklyn, New York. In 2016 they founded the Black Excellence Collective, an organizing hub for and by Black LGBTQI+ young people. Outside of their organizing work with the collective, Josh has produced a number of visual arts projects such as Sex Dreams, Lifeblood, and recently joined the 2020 For Freedoms Awakening Billboard Campaign as a participating artist. Currently they are serving as an Activist-In-Residence at Silver Arts Projects, and sit on the grantmaking panels of the Resist Foundation and the Black Trans Fund working to mobilize resources for frontline communities advancing social, political, and economic justice.

Image Description: Photo of Joshua. They have brown skin, long black locks draped over their chest, and brown eyes. They're shirtless, wearing a multi-layered ankara pattern skirt in orange, green, and yellow layers, and they have pearly catseye eyeliner. They're standing against a burgundy background, gazing into the camera.

SHARE YOUR PHOTOS

Before tuning into SPARK 2021 on our event website – send in a celebratory selfie! Consider getting your friends together for a Zoom pre-party to grab a screenshot of a group photo.

Share your fab look and your joy with us by 4:55 PDT / 7:55 EDT on October 14th. Email your photos to [email protected] for a chance to be featured during the event, and post them on social media with the hashtag #SPARK2021 along with tagging @TransLawCenter.

THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

P R E S E N T I N G

[id: the Ariadne Getty Foundation logo]