Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives is a process-to-performance project, developed into dynamic pop-up multimedia - sound, lights, video and images - within an installation of closet doors, both inspired by and developed from the intergenerational and cross-sectional dialogues of Boston-area LGBTQ+ artists and community.
In the project’s first phase, queer artists and community alike engaged in a series of cocktail parties, paired dialogues, and individual interviews. These dialogues were augmented by materials from the archives of project partner The History Project, self-identified as “the only organization focused exclusively on documenting and preserving the history of New England’s LGBTQ communities.”
The inspiration for the project was sparked in rehearsal with a dancer in his 20s, another in his 30s, and DiMuro, in his 60s. A simple question was asked: “What was the AIDS crisis like to live through? I’ve only read about it in books.” The conversation evolved into an discussion of the terms “gay” and “queer”, their usage over time; and they asked, isn’t our current era’s killing of young trans women of color an epidemic of its own? The project further developed with the emergence of the coronavirus, which ultimately altered the course and scope of the developmental research. To date, nearly every event has been held online, which has enabled conversations not just in Boston, but across the globe, with participants from Texas, Washington, D.C., France, New Zealand, and more.
Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives seeks to build upon the archives of the past and these conversations in the present, satisfying a need for present day celebration and articulation of the spectrum of LGBTQ+ lives lived, in all their glorious diversity.
Built on a foundation of our first-gay/now-queer histories in the hopes of creating a more intersectional voice for the future, the project is, in itself, a commission to all visitors and contributors to the dialogues who add to our collection of stories each day and to all performing artists defining the current queer world in Boston: Celebrate your queer and accumulated selves, be inspired by the past but not a slave to it; use your humanity, your dialogue, your talents to make a bridge for future queer lives.
In the project’s first phase, queer artists and community alike engaged in a series of cocktail parties, paired dialogues, and individual interviews. These dialogues were augmented by materials from the archives of project partner The History Project, self-identified as “the only organization focused exclusively on documenting and preserving the history of New England’s LGBTQ communities.”
The inspiration for the project was sparked in rehearsal with a dancer in his 20s, another in his 30s, and DiMuro, in his 60s. A simple question was asked: “What was the AIDS crisis like to live through? I’ve only read about it in books.” The conversation evolved into an discussion of the terms “gay” and “queer”, their usage over time; and they asked, isn’t our current era’s killing of young trans women of color an epidemic of its own? The project further developed with the emergence of the coronavirus, which ultimately altered the course and scope of the developmental research. To date, nearly every event has been held online, which has enabled conversations not just in Boston, but across the globe, with participants from Texas, Washington, D.C., France, New Zealand, and more.
Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives seeks to build upon the archives of the past and these conversations in the present, satisfying a need for present day celebration and articulation of the spectrum of LGBTQ+ lives lived, in all their glorious diversity.
Built on a foundation of our first-gay/now-queer histories in the hopes of creating a more intersectional voice for the future, the project is, in itself, a commission to all visitors and contributors to the dialogues who add to our collection of stories each day and to all performing artists defining the current queer world in Boston: Celebrate your queer and accumulated selves, be inspired by the past but not a slave to it; use your humanity, your dialogue, your talents to make a bridge for future queer lives.
Join us for the premier of the
Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives' Queer Cabaret
October 22 & 23, 2021
The Center for the Arts at the Armory
191 Highland Avenue | Somerville, MA
Follow the project:
www.stonestorainbows.com
Facebook: @stonestorainbows
Instagram: @stonestorainbows
Creation, Funding and Support
The Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives collaboration has been fed by over 100 voices to date, through Zoom rooms, Instagram, and live conversations. Design and production collaborators and funders are listed below.
Collaborative Team
Lindsay Caddle LaPointe, Video Editing/Design
Jennifer Fok, Lighting/Environment Design
Peter DiMuro/Concept, Director
Pamela Hirsch, Video Mapping
Jeffery Petersen, Installation Design
Kristin Wagner, Project lead/Administration for PDM
Core Partners
Ágora Cultural Architects
Arlington Street Church
The History Project
Creative/Artistic Partners
Dancing Queerly
Front Porch Arts Collective
Jean Appolon Expressions
Facilitators
Angelina Benitez
Lyndsay Allyn Cox
Alexander Davis
J Michael Winward
Funding and Support
Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives is a project of Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion, in collaboration with The History Project, Arlington Street Church, and Ágora Cultural Architects. Additional creative support provided by partners Dancing Queerly, The Front Porch Arts Collective, and Jean Appolon Expressions. Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives is supported by: the New England Foundation for the Arts' Creative City Boston program, with funding from the Barr Foundation (2020); The Equality Fund at The Boston Foundation (2020, 2021); the Somerville Arts Council and the Cambridge Arts Council, local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency (2021); and individual donors.
Collaborative Team
Lindsay Caddle LaPointe, Video Editing/Design
Jennifer Fok, Lighting/Environment Design
Peter DiMuro/Concept, Director
Pamela Hirsch, Video Mapping
Jeffery Petersen, Installation Design
Kristin Wagner, Project lead/Administration for PDM
Core Partners
Ágora Cultural Architects
Arlington Street Church
The History Project
Creative/Artistic Partners
Dancing Queerly
Front Porch Arts Collective
Jean Appolon Expressions
Facilitators
Angelina Benitez
Lyndsay Allyn Cox
Alexander Davis
J Michael Winward
Funding and Support
Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives is a project of Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion, in collaboration with The History Project, Arlington Street Church, and Ágora Cultural Architects. Additional creative support provided by partners Dancing Queerly, The Front Porch Arts Collective, and Jean Appolon Expressions. Stones to Rainbows/Gay to Queer Lives is supported by: the New England Foundation for the Arts' Creative City Boston program, with funding from the Barr Foundation (2020); The Equality Fund at The Boston Foundation (2020, 2021); the Somerville Arts Council and the Cambridge Arts Council, local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency (2021); and individual donors.