On the evening of June 10th, 2023 under familiar, gray San Francisco skies, in a small Castro Storefront that was once home to Harvey Milk’s own camera shop, Queer Arts Featured swung its door open, spilled onto the sidewalk, and celebrated their ONE YEAR of building Radically Queer Space in a Very Gay Place! In honor of the artists, the creators, the many, MANY helping hands along the way, co-founders Devlin Shand and Erika Pappas came together to put on a shamelessly Queer evening.
The gallery was filled with art donated by the Bay Area Queer community for guests to bid on to help Queer A.F. raise the final stretch of their fundraising goal. Proceeds from this silent auction go directly to keeping community programming accessible to all, to continue to provide below market commission rates for their artists, and bring in more team members to help them achieve our dream of becoming a sustainably permanent fixture of Queerness in The Castro!
This auction will run until June 18th at 7pm, seize your chance to support Local Queer Artists!
Dressed in their most personal version of elegance, opulence, and celebration, locals lined up to have their photos taken in front of Queer A.F’s signature neon sign. Surely bigger on the inside than it is outside, the boutique was packed all evening, COVID conscious shoppers browsed hundreds of one-of-a-kind items from Queer A.F.’s boutique. Performances took place on the store’s outside stage from performers Kai Kai and Miss Monstrosity, while inside Joshuah Ciafardone, also known as Aurora Rose, stunned with a height-defying, ceiling-kicking performance and Miraj debuted their song Can’t Get Enough, for the first time in front of a live audience.
At the end of the evening Devlin and Erika expressed their heartfelt thanks to everyone in attendance, co-founder Fadi Salah offered remote remarks shared by Dr. LeKisha Mixon, and, of course, blew out the candle on Queer A.F.’s first birthday cake.
