ESTABLISHING A BRAND NEW GLOBAL ALLIANCE

 On August 1st 2021, this video launched the ‘Global Alliance of Queer Choirs’, a global steering group of thought leaders and experts in queer choral leadership, committed to supporting the queer choral movement.

Genuinely changing the world through song

GAQC was inspired by the international work I had done in both choral music and jazz education in the last 25 years. This included for example, the collaboration I led between the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus and Coro Gai Ciudad de México, and the incredible opportunity we had to raise a 3rd of the entire budget for the marriage equality campaign in Dublin.

In both cases, we sang, and the world changed. Coro Gai Ciudad de México tripled in size over the next few years and continues to save lives and have impact across Mexico. Irish marriage equality passed.

In both cases, this was a direct result of international collaboration between queer arts organizations, that found synergy, sparked huge joy in each other and in audiences, and in the process tangibly created social change, both in the US and in Mexico and Ireland.

That, for me, is the kind of artistic work that is worth getting out of bed for. I have personally felt its value, and I want to inspire and support others to enable that kind of international work to happen.

How we did it

The GAQC Steering Group includes representatives of Legato, Proud Voices Asia, GALA Choruses, Unison Choruses Canada and Out & Loud Choirs. All these organizations present major choral festivals every few years in their different regions of the world, and provide other activities for their choirs, including meetings, seminars, conferences and symposiums. Our Steering group also includes other leading figures from across the queer choral movement worldwide, along with other regional organizations who’d like to be involved.

Central to the work of GAQC is a monthly meeting that takes place on Zoom. We aim to make those meetings a truly collaborative process and done with intention and cultural sensitivity.

They bring together representatives of five of the major regional organizations in queer choral singing worldwide. Information is exchanged and new thinking on queer choral singing is shared across regions. The goal is to co-ordinate festival dates, devise joint projects, and facilitate international collaborations, both across regions and between individual choirs.

At its most practical level, GAQC provides exciting performance and outreach opportunities, educates and motivates singers, and creates new audiences. The learning, sharing and mutual respect that we grow can be truly transforming. I have personally experienced how it breaks down walls, and builds mutual understanding of our common humanity.