For the Queer Healing Arts Center, showcasing the work of Bay Area LGBTQ artists, especially those of color and gender-nonconforming, is its main raison d'être. At the same time, selling the art is what sustains it.
The Oakland-based arts center relies on the sale of the artwork at its shows, and purchases of products from its online store that are inspired by the works of the artists it highlights, to help cover its expenses, such as its monthly rent with utilities of $6,700. Transactions during the 2024 holiday shopping season were enough to cover its lease for the first month and a half of this year.
"I think if the community comes out and supports the center by purchasing art that is an important thing for people to be doing," noted Oakland resident Kin Folkz, the center's founder and executive director, during an interview this month at the art gallery and events space.
Showing off the location at 3411 Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland's Lakeshore neighborhood to the Bay Area Reporter, Folkz acknowledged, "We are struggling" when it comes to covering the center's bills.
It had to increase its share of the proceeds of art sales from 30% to 40%, with the remaining 60% retained by the artists. The center also rents out its space for various events as another revenue stream.
"We support all of our programs through grants, donations, online store sales, commissioned art and revenue from our events and art exhibitions," explained Folkz, 58, who is nonbinary and transgender and uses they/them pronouns.
The longevity of the institution, they noted, is dependent on its patrons.
"Just buy our stuff, come to our shows, and be willing to support us beyond $10," said Folkz, noting they do offer a sliding scale for events with an entry fee so everyone can utilize the center. "We want people to have access to us."
The arts center is a short walk from the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center and within the boundaries of the city's Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District. Nonprofit Social Good serves as its fiscal sponsor.
The arts center has a yearly budget of $125,000 to cover its rent, operating costs, and Folkz's salary of $15,000 for overseeing it. They also work as a professional grant writer for hire by nonprofits and other groups.
The center refreshes the artwork and other items for sale on its online store at queerartscenter.com/shop throughout the year. Among the items currently listed are ones inspired by the Baldwin & Lorde 2024 show it mounted late last year, such as a baby onesie ($28) that comes in different colors and features a black and white photo of the late gay Black writer James Baldwin surrounded by colorful flowers. The same image is on a candle ($19), throw pillow ($24) and tote bag ($38) for sale.
Part of the arts center's mission is to break through any hesitance people may have of displaying artworks created by queer artists in their homes or work places.
"We want people to feel comfortable with having James Baldwin on their wall," said Folkz, who was a community grand marshal in the 2018 San Francisco Pride parade.
Their own work of the late gay Black drag icon Marsha P. Johnson as the Statue of Liberty titled "Marsha: Torchbearer of Truth" is currently on display inside El Cerrito City Hall, one of the venues for this year's annual Art of the African Diaspora event showcasing Bay Area Black artists running through March 31. It can be purchased for $2,500.
"Our artwork is also exhibited in other galleries and commissioned by corporations, institutions, groups, and individuals. Currently, our artwork is being exhibited and sold at several spaces as part of the Art of the African Diaspora annual exhibition," noted Folkz.
An itinerant beginning
Back in 2012 leading up to Christmas, the late gay Black singer-songwriter Blackberri suggested to Folkz, a fellow musician who plays African drums, that they get together to jam on December 25. Neither celebrated the Christian holiday, so Folkz agreed to meet up with their friend at an open mic gathering in San Francisco.
The next year the two decided to rent out a locally-owned coffeehouse in Oakland near Lake Merritt, which has since closed, to host their own open mic for local queer and transgender artists. To their surprise, 43 people showed up that Christmas Eve.
"We were there for hours," recalled Folkz.
As people were saying goodbye, they each told Folkz they would see them next week. Confused, they asked Blackberri if he had told people they would co-host the event again.
"He told me he thought I had been telling people that we would do it again," laughed Folkz as they recounted the memory. "The people wanted it."
Thus, for seven years Folkz and Blackberri co-hosted the Oakland Queer Open Mic night for the East Bay's LGBTQ community, first at a coffeehouse and later at the city's LGBTQ center. Most gatherings they videotaped, creating an archival collection of the LGBTQ artistic scene they helped foster.
"People from around the world heard about it," recalled Folkz, who had also launched Spectrum Queer Media, and through it, traveled the globe uniting LGBTQ artists from different countries.
In 2009, they had gone to Jamaica and later went to Japan on cross-cultural exchanges between local and foreign queer artists. It was the precursor to establishing the arts center, which prior to having a storefront operated as "a moveable feast," explained Folkz, who grew up in Buffalo, New York with the given name of Monica Anderson, as they note in their bio on their personal website at kinfolkzart.com/about.
"It was safe for us. Having a clearly identified brick and mortar space was out of the question," recalled Folkz, who prior to calling the Bay Area home had lived in the Central Valley where they operated a youth arts program with their mother.
It was in mid-February 2020 when Folkz obtained the keys to the commercial space near Lake Merritt to open the arts center. It has a 660 square foot gallery space and a smaller meeting room in the back.
"It is about creating space and holding space so members of the community can be seen and be heard," said Paul Winfield, 46, a gay Oakland resident who is a singer and volunteers as the arts center's community engagement director. "At this time of conflict, we are about restoration and healing because outside of the community there is so much trauma and negativity. This is a place to come and find restoration."
The owner of the former vintage clothing store that had occupied the space happened to see Folkz passing by one day and stopped them to tell them that they felt Folkz should take it over. The woman coordinated Folkz meeting with her landlord to get the lease process started.
"It was a sweet deal until it wasn't," recalled Folkz.
The timing couldn't have been worse, as Folkz took over the storefront just weeks prior to the start of the COVID pandemic. For a while they had to pivot from hosting arts shows and other events to teaching digital storytelling to Black and Indigenous LGBTQ young adults and running a bootcamp for queer and trans people to learn how to code in order to seek employment in the tech sector.
They also housed a food justice program in the space that delivered over 30,000 meals to unhoused people of all ages.
"During COVID-19 shelter-in-place, we pivoted our focus to attend to the most immediate needs of our at-risk community," recalled Folkz.
Eventually, with the global health crisis under control and public gatherings safe again, Folkz began using the space as they had initially intended, hosting art shows and other cultural events. They originally had planned for at least six shows a year and are now up to a dozen or more that they program, in addition to the various events put on by outside organizers.
Cadence Myles, a lesbian Oakland-based musician, had helped organize the open mic nights with Folkz and now assists with the arts center. Having stopped drinking and smoking three years ago, Myles said it is important to have such spaces for people like herself to hang out at and meet other local creative types.
"There aren't many places that are without alcohol and drugs but also have community. This is one of those spaces," said Myles, who has performed with other musicians at the arts center. "As a sober artist that is important to me."
The center has a new show called "Black Everyday: A Celebration of Resilience, Beauty, and Creativity" opening Saturday, March 1, featuring the work of Folkz and fellow artists Apryl Sadler, JIBCA, and Sloane. There will be artist talks throughout that weekend. The gallery will be open each weekend in March from noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
To RSVP for free tickets to the show throughout its run, or for one of the artist talks, visit the arts center's website.
Got a tip on LGBTQ business news? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected]
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