JAG Productions and Pride Center of Vermont Present OUT HERE, a Virtual Open Mic to Celebrate Black Trans Futures

JAG Productions and Pride Center of Vermont will close out Vermont's Pride week with OUT HERE, a live-stream showcase of regional BIPOC LGBTQ+ artists on Sunday, September 13 at 7 p.m. Suggested donation is $10 and all proceeds raised will go to G.L.I.T.S. whose mission is to "advocate and educate to ensure health, wellness, and inclusion of transgender people in our society and to address the stigmatization and criminalization of trans people because of anti-prostitution/anti-sex work laws." RSVP for OUT HERE with JAG at jagproductionsvt.com or at pridecentervt.org.

JAG and Pride Center of Vermont will highlight BIPOC LGBTQ+ musicians, actors, storytellers in order to respect, uplift, and celebrate the hyper-marginalized voices in society. According to tracking done by the Human Rights Campaign, 27 transgender or gender non-conforming people were fatally shot, stabbed or killed by violent means in 2019 - 91-percent were Black women and 81-percent were under 30 years of age. So far in 2020, 26 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been violently killed.

Of the increased violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people, JAG Productions Founder and Producing Artistic Director Jarvis Green said, "I'm sad and disgusted by the amount of Black trans folks that are murdered and go missing day after day. Putting on this event to support the work of G.L.I.T.S. is the least we can do. With that said, being in collaboration with Pride Center of Vermont, whose mission is aligned with JAG's, is important and an absolute thrill. In this moment, the fact that we get to use our platforms to let our communities know we are in communication and working together despite the state of the world brings me so much joy. "

This will be the first collaboration between Pride Center of Vermont and JAG Productions, and both organizations are delighted to be working together and using their talents and resources to benefit G.L.I.T.S. and bring awareness to the work it is doing in the transgender community.

Pride Center of Vermont Communications and Development Director Justin Marsh said, "This is one of the first major collaborations with JAG Productions and we're really excited about that. We've been hyper-aware of Jarvis's work in the White River Junction area, and supportive of his work. I think that this sort of event - uplifting not only BIPOC performers, queer performers, but also uplifting a fellow nonprofit organization run by a person of color, that's always sort of a lens we're looking through, and that it is also a timely thing to do. There was just this perfect storm for getting all of the pieces in place for an event like this."

OUT HERE will feature artists like Golden Mystique, Carlton Bell, Jadah Bearden, William Bellamy, Carlos Polanco, among a myriad of other talented BIPOC LGBTQ+ performers. Between each performance there will be chats with the artists, as well as representatives from JAG and Pride Center of Vermont and G.L.I.T.S.

To RSVP to attend the event, go to jagproductionsvt.com, pridecentervt.org.

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