GLAAD announces Black Queer Creative Summit

The world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization plans to host a two-day, three-night meeting in September.

GLAAD announced in a press release that it will stage the Black Queer Creative Summit, a September gathering designed to help develop BlackLGBTQ+ creatives in the entertainment industry.

Described as a first-of-its-kind in-person event, this latest initiative from GLAAD’s Communities of Color and Media Department, is scheduled for Sept. 14-17 in Los Angeles. It is designed to “empower, educate, and train” 150 emerging Black LGBTQ+ creatives and will cover five sectors of the entertainment industry: executives, creators, behind the scenes, on-screen talent and music supervision.

Over two days and three nights, the summit will feature keynote speakers, workshops and breakout sessions with top industry professionals who will discuss career and networking opportunities in the entertainment industry, among other topics.

GLAAD’s Black Queer Creative Summit will focus on five sectors of the entertainment industry.
(Photo credit: GLAAD)

DaShawn Usher, GLAAD’s director of communities of color and media, said in the press release, “The Summit will spotlight, celebrate, and curate professional development opportunities for emerging Black LGBTQ creative leaders, fostering a pipeline for the next generation of Black LGBTQ artists.” 

According to GLAAD’s latest “Where We Are on TV” report, 51% of all LGBTQ characters across platforms were people of color (POC). Of that 51%, 20% were Black characters. “Shows like Starz’s ‘P-Valley,’ ABC’s ‘The Rookie,’ AMC’s ‘Interview with a Vampire,’ Peacock’s ‘Bel-Air,’ Netflix’s ‘The Midnight Club,’ Amazon’s ‘Harlem’, and more are centering the intersections of Blackness and queerness and we’d like to see more.”

GLAAD will cover the travel and lodging expenses of the emerging creatives selected to attend the summit.

The Black Queer Creative Summit application process is open through June 12 at www.glaad.org/bqcs.

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