Senior Prom: Reimagined is a multimedia project led by Carolyn Sherer that features senior prom pictures from Queer elders that are manipulated with quotes and mark making to create a more fully realized and honest recounting of their experiences from within the closet. Sherer’s work seeks to rewire the view of LGBTQIA2+ life and exclaim “We may have been victimized, but we are not victims”. The project will culminate in official Senior Prom photos for attendees that will also go on permanent display in the public lobby at the upcoming BAO elder LGBTQ housing facility in Homewood, Alabama.

Latasha Hyatt is making her mark on the history of Dothan, Alabama with her project “G.R.O.W.T.H. : A Publication on Wellness and Resilience in the African American Community”. This publication is a collaboration between 100 local businesses owners, creators, community leaders, movers and shakers across the greater Dothan area that seeks to make a record of healing and wellness practices specific to African American culture and why they work. The work Latasha puts into the project will culminate in a public event honoring the contributors and connecting the local community to open discussion on the topics addressed.

Moving image creator Charlie Mato-Toyela of the Cherokee AniYunWiYa Nation is creating space to uplift Native American voices through his newest project, “Left Behind” a Podcast platforming the history and contemporary practices of Native Americans across the state of Alabama. “Left Behind” will serve as an easily accessible historical documentation of Native experiences and practices for future generations to pull from as Mato-Toyela interviews visual artists, historians, community leaders and creatives and puts his finger on the pulse of a long silenced community that weaves its way through the fabric of our nation. 

Empowering Through Laughter is a community comedy series hosted by the Shenanigans Comedy Theatre that will bring together instructors with decades of experience in stand-up, improv, and sketch comedy, to expand access to comedy arts for Huntsville’s LGBTQIA2+ and minority populations. Through comedy workshops culminating in a public performance series, participants will develop essential skills in storytelling, performance, and public speaking, empowering them to share their experiences with a wider audience.

Banell Ballet is a community-centered initiative, led by lifelong dancer Zoe Banell, designed to increase exposure to the performing arts, particularly ballet, for underserved children and teens. This project seeks to bridge a gap of inequity by offering free ballet and contemporary dance lessons, providing essential dance apparel and shoes, and creating performance opportunities that will immerse participants, and the broader community in the transformative beauty of the performing arts.

“TransVoice” is a photo series paired with subject interviews created by photographer Tosha Gaines. The project will culminate in a public photography exhibition, traveling to several cities and towns across the state, including Birmingham, Montgomery, and Huntsville. Additionally, Gaines will develop a digital archive of the photos and stories, accessible to people beyond Alabama, a product that will serve as a resource for advocacy, education, and ongoing awareness, offering a more nuanced view of transgender lives in the South.

Show Me the Line is a feature documentary film directed by Emmy award winning artist and filmmaker Kelsey Iannuzzi about in vitro fertilization and creative resilience in Alabama. The film, with a growing list of 30+ collaborators, follows Abbey Crain, an artist and reproductive journalist whose own IVF embryos are caught in a historic Alabama Supreme Court ruling. Prevailing with a pen and paintbrush, Crain honors the personhood of Alabama women through art, inviting others caught in this unsettled legal storm to a community stage where they reckon with grief and hope.

“A Million Views” is a visual arts project centered around an inspiring vision of large-scale art installations that could be visible to the public 24/7 throughout Alabama. Creator, Brandin Stallworth, has already elicited support from Bumblebee Billboards in bringing his vision of exposing underserved communities to the power of art and will create and install works that rotate quarterly to create a major impression in rural cities all over the state.

Labor Without Borders (LWB) is a site-specific installation work by a collective of interdisciplinary artist-researchers based in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Led by mixed media artist Misha Hadar, the project will culminate in a mock temp agency that is inspired by real practices and legal cases involving corporate tactics used to employ the labor of undocumented individuals without incurring legal liability. The physical space will include branded materials and office spaces, all of which will be cataloged and composed into an open source digital blueprint making the exhibition available to any person or institution that wants to explore or recreate it.