Queer|Art, NYC’s home for the creative and professional development of LGBTQ+ artists, has announced the new Fellows for the 2023 Queer|Art|Mentorship (QAM) program cycle. The Mentorship program is the cornerstone of Queer|Art’s work, providing a platform of support for LGBTQ+ artists focused on creative issues and long-term sustainability of artistic practice. Now in its 12th year, the organization’s celebrated year-long creative and professional development program supports both remote and in-person participation between early-career and established LGBTQ+ artists from across the country. 

Queer|Art|Mentorship bridges professional and social thresholds that often isolate artists by generation, discipline, and region. The 2023 cohort is made up of Mentors and Fellows participating across five states: California, New York, Illinois, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.

Miranda Haymon (they/she) is a Princess Grace Award winning writer, director, and curator currently developing several projects in theater, opera, podcasts, and film. They’re working with Mentor Zackary Drucker on Queer Sibs, a documentary and performance project developed out of the artist’s relationship with their older gay brother, investigating how social allyship intersects with family bonds.

“Intergenerational dialogue is crucial for our survival. It is hazardous sometimes to be an artist, a storyteller, a trans person so I rejoice in emerging artists and new talents. This couldn’t be more clear in my creative relationship with Miranda. Within a few months of us working together they created this whole project and unfolded it so fast and with such energy that it was almost a burst of creative power. We should expect great things coming out of Miranda’s endless creative power. I’m beyond excited to be their mentor” says Zackary Drucker.

Miranda Haymon on the working relationship with Zackary Drucker

Tell us about your experience thus far as a Queer|Art mentee.

My experience so far has been incredible, truly. I’ve had a lot of mentor/mentee relationships before this, but this has been the fastest and most easeful of them all. From our first phone call I immediately felt a connection, and that connection has grown deep and wide over the last several months. I love that both of us are on a sort of precipice; seeing budding flowers from seeds planted long ago. There’s a real sense of accountability in our relationship, too. I want to show up for her just as much as she’s shown up for me. She watches in process cuts of my work, and I go to her premiere parties. We are constantly celebrating each other. I am so lucky to have her support and guidance.

What is it about Queer|Art that you find particularly inspiring?

I love that our individual work is in dialogue with multiple artistic forms and practices. It means as a cohort we can share an extensive toolkit of phrases, ways of working, and methods of creating. The way I would approach a roadblock, creatively or strategically, is only limited to the experiences I have in my craft and industry; a very small container, ultimately. I am inspired by my fellow cohort members and am making strides in my individual practice because of them.

In your opinion, what is the status of the queer community today (within the arts and in society)?

I feel really excited about queer communities making art that doesn’t feel the need to prove to the world that we exist. We do and we aren’t going anywhere. The opportunity in this is to make art that shows us in all our humanity—not just what’s digestible for normative audiences. For me, that’s stuff that’s fucking weird and doesn’t make sense. That’s messy, that’s multiplicitous. The status is that while we do continue to fight for our humanity, our art should reflect the full reality of that. The raw and relentless.

What would you say has been the most meaningful lesson you’ve learned from Zackary so far?

Okay even though this seems like such a small moment it really has affected me. I asked her how she manages to protect creative time when a lot of our work also involves heavy admin like answering emails, talking on the phone, etc. She said she makes a list of who she has to speak to that day and really doesn’t hold too many set in stone meetings. That way she can be flexible to the flows of her creative practice but still make the calls she needs to make. I never have thought about protecting my days in this way and it was an eye opener for me. I can get really bogged down in the fear of “Well if it’s not scheduled, it won’t happen!” (I’m a Virgo.) Zackary has demonstrated the power of balance, trusting in your collaborators to find you when they need, and how to be a true multihyphenate.

More info about Queer|Art|Mentorship here https://www.queer-art.org/mentorship