Last year I had the distinct honor of co-jurying entries to the Art of Pride juried exhibition which happens in conjunction with San Diego’s LGBT 2013 Pride festival. Whoosh, and believe it or not 11 months have rolled by and the deadline is looming for artists interested in exhibiting their work at this year’s show.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the origin story of the Art of Pride, here’s how it goes: For many years sunny San Diego’s very own LGBT Pride offered a unique venue beneath the beautiful trees of Balboa Park for local artists to display their work. It was a win-win for all concerned. Artists, especially those with an LGBT emphasis to their work had a massive annual audience while our local Pride organization benefitted from the participation of the most creative members of the community.
If there was a downside it was only that the artists were dispersed throughout the festival grounds which didn’t make it easy for visitors to know where all the artwork was. So, several years ago “Judy the Beauty on Duty” of the Big Kitchen thought to pool the artists together in one place and organize it under the banner Art of Pride. The San Diego LGBT Pride Organization supported this idea by allowing Art of Pride to offer affordable space to self-representing artists to show and sell their work.
Now Art of Pride is fully established at Pride and within the community. The organization seeks to promote and support the work of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and LGBT-allied artists. It coordinates a monthly exhibition at the San Diego Pride offices in North Park with artist receptions on the second Saturday of each month, coinciding with Ray at Night. And, once a year as our LGBT community comes together to recognize its progress and chart a new future it provides low cost display space to a variety of artists offering a relaxing cultural oasis inside the festival grounds.
The deadline for entries is Sunday, June 1. Accepted artists will be notified by June 12. Pride weekend is July 12-14.
Go to artofpride.weebly.com to access the submission form.
