As part of the Domestic Intercultural Immersion (DII) Grant which supports Q-Fest programming, the Q-Fest student cohort has chosen a handful of topics on which to share with Q-Fest attendees. Presentation topics were chosen by the student groups — addressing relationships between different social group perspectives, how their experiences have contributed to understandings of how institutions maintain dominant assumptions, recognizing the impact of systems of privilege and oppression, and how all of these things relate back to the Eau Claire community. Our three student groups will be presenting on the following topics for this year:

Creating Queer Spaces: Lee, Jade, Emma

In creating queer spaces, we highlight the importance of physicality; relating to one’s physical presence of themselves or others in a space. What changes about a space when it is specifically and purposefully dedicated to creating or highlighting something? We apply the concept of physicality to queer spaces by researching and exploring San Francisco record stores. We interviewed owners of some different record stores to gather what owning and curating a store dedicated to physical copies of music means to them. We also reflect on our own experiences of watching and engaging in film. The Frameline Film Festival serves its purpose as a physically dedicated space for queer film, therefore creating a queer space throughout the Bay Area. What elements and actions of making a space sacred and dedicated to a certain intention, i.e. creating a safe space for queer people, are needed to make that space useful and positive?

Queer Elders: Miles, Jay, Max

This project seeks to close the intergenerational gaps within the queer community. To build our historical and personal understanding of queerness, we met with three people active in the queer community in San Francisco in different ways. Through interviews, we gained stories and perspectives on how the gay community has grown and evolved.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Bry, Makayla, Primrose

The San Francisco Bay Area is a dream place to live for anyone, From the beautiful Castro Street all the way to Pier 39 there is always something to see or do. But living here full time is a different story, we will be presenting the gentrification of the San Francisco Bay Area and how it is disproportionately affecting LGBTQ+ people. We want to highlight the disparities between districts that are more gentrified compared to others. We will be talking specifically about the Castro District and the Mission District and also showing the personal pictures that we took of each one.