By Andrew “Boots” Hardy (San Francisco International Arts Festival)

Queer artists may once have been forced to hide in plain sight, but they’re taking center stage by storm at this year’s San Francisco International Arts Festival.

SFIAF 2024 unleashes a power-packed calendar including brilliant performances in dance, theater, live music, and more, shoe-horning scores of shows at a dozen venues into just 12 whirlwind days in the Mission District. Among the performers are a handful of Queer Qreators who break through the constraints of modern mindsets and bring what used to be “niche” performances into the mainstream.

For some, their work has become a standalone statement on politics, capitalism and modern culture.

Dynamic choreographer Joe Landini — founder of Safehouse for the Performing Arts — brings to the stage the world premier of “Freddie Vs. Elvis,” an abstract dance exhibition built on the 1970s musical foundations of Queen and the King. The physicality of what he creates, he believes, is a profound statement in and of itself.

“The body is political,” Landini says. “Being a queer man makes me political, and therefore every creative decision I make is political… The very act of being an artist is political.”

Cindy Emch, founder and front-gal of the hard-hitting Queer country band Secret Emchy Society, would seem to agree. With a deep and abiding sense of respect for–not to mention perspective on–the history of country music, she points back at Patrick Haggerty, called Queer country’s “lost pioneer” after releasing an unapologetically “out” album in 1973.

“There was this moment [in 2014] where Patrick Haggerty and Lavender Country got rediscovered,” she reflected. “It relaunched this community of people. The press got really interested, like, ‘What? There’s a gay country band from the seventies?’ Who knew that even happened?”

Queer country performers will be a major staple at Festival 2024. Secret Emchy Society will be opening for transgender singer-songwriter Shawna Virago, of the hit songs “Gender Armageddon” and “Heaven-Sent Delinquent.” This year’s festival is also the launch party for the world premier of Virago’s newest album, “Blood in her Dreams.”

“She. Is. So. Good,” Emch laughed with a toss of her flaming burgundy hair and gleaming hoop earrings, and said she can’t wait to be able to play Virago’s music on an endless loop when it’s finally released. She had the good fortune to be on tour with Virago when some of the latter’s newest music was still in its infancy, and got to hear several songs in their rawest form.

“I’m super honored and excited to be opening for her. Especially because I’m like, Give me a record! I’m going crazy having some of these songs in my head for the last eight years.”

Singer-songwriter Rachel Garlin may share some of the same influences as Emch and Virago, but she and her music tend to buck the boundaries of conventional genres. Rooted in Berkeley-esque folk-rock, her music often defies classification; she’s driven more by a passion for lyrics that aim for impact and deliver a profound and powerful message.

“We’re all kind of in a new understanding of how much genres can be either expansive or limiting, depending on how we use them,” she said, acknowledging that as an artist, she incorporates the intangible influences of her environment into what she creates.

Though he makes art through an entirely different medium, Landini has the same sort of philosophical approach to his work.

“Art can exist outside of the ‘real’ world,” he said, “and can just exist for the sake of existing, as an act of expression or emotion—or neither.”

Sometimes for Queer artists of any medium, art becomes the expressive outlet not only of passion and emotion, but of their very identity.

“Art needs vulnerability,” Garlin said. “Being an artist is an opportunity to be real, and to be vulnerable. You have to explore the different parts of your identity, even the parts that aren’t ‘acceptable.’ 

“You have to unlearn some things,” she insists. “I’ve had to accept some parts of myself that I didn’t always accept. And that process, luckily, goes well with the creative process.”

Cindy Emch has a similar view, with a far more imaginative way of putting it:

“The combination of shit-kickery and tenderness, I think, is a really hard place to live in, but somehow I can’t seem to get out of it.”

Landini’s perspective delves deeper on the subject of identity.

“I think my other-ness has helped me identify when I am using a Queer lens to address a theme and how to be empathetic when I’m choreographing or doing research. Being an outsider is useful for perspective because it allows me more objectivity to challenge norms and accepted truths.”

Queer artists at SFIAF 2024 are all bringing their best work to the stage.

“SFIAF allows me to reach a broader community and have my work seen by people that are outside my personal community,” Landini said. 

He believes that the festival provides a chance to challenge himself in new ways and learn from a wider array of experiences.

“It’s also an opportunity to see my work side-by-side with my peers, and to understand how other artists are doing research, how they are developing their work. In the festival, I frequently see artists from Europe or Asia who have a completely different way of doing research and working in the field. This allows me to see beyond my own field of vision artistically.”

His work — indeed, the art of all of this year’s performers — brings home the foundational truth that art is a messenger that cuts through all of the complications of our modern civilization.

“Art proves that there is a world beyond greed, prejudice, poverty and trauma, which makes me hopeful about why I am contributing to our culture.”

SFIAF presents the work of innovative artists from the Bay Area and around the world; many of the international artists make their US debut at the Festival. From 2003-23, SFIAF and more than 100 presenting partners have coordinated, presented and/or produced performances by over 600 arts ensembles from United States and 60 other countries, and presented hundreds of educational and community engagement  activities with diverse communities. The 2004 Festival will take place in San Francisco’ Mission District, from May 1st through May 12th. The Testival’s ongoing theme is “IN DIASPORA: I.D. for the New Majority.”

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TheatreStorm is a proud contributing supporter of the 2024 San Francisco International Arts Festival.
For a full schedule of the upcoming Festival,  click here.