22 April 2020, 5:30 - 8:30 PM
Part of Queering Earth Day: Ecoqueer Art Series, April and May 2020
The Athens Institute for Contemporary Art and Avid Bookstore
Participant Cap: 20
Registration fee: $3

How are you preparing for community resilience?

In honor of Earth Day, the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art invites queer, trans, non-binary, and lgbtqia+ community to gather together for “Prepare for Resilience,” an evening of film and community. Through this event, we intend to host an emotionally safe and affirming space for LGBTQ+ people to explore the social vulnerability of our community to climate disasters, and to build community and resources for resilience that can seed next steps for local resilience preparedness.

We will watch a sneak-peek draft of Fire & Flood, an in-progress documentary highlighting the voices of 20 queer and trans people in California and Puerto Rico who were part of the community resilience work to the Tubbs Fire and Hurricane Maria in the fall of 2017. Before and after the screening, we will have a facilitated discussion and activities with the director, Vanessa Raditz, who is the co-founder of Queer Ecojustice Project, the #Qready Research Fellow with Out for Sustainability, and a PhD student in Geography at UGA.

Schedule of Events (subject to change):

5:30-6:00: Resource Fair
6:00-6:15: Introductory remarks from Director and ATHICA
6:15 - 7:45: Film Screening of Fire & Flood: Queer Resilience in the era of Climate Change
7:45 - 8:30: Facilitated Community Conversation on Resilience Preparedness

Call for participation: Resource Fair

To network our community with resources for resilience, we invite local community organizations, grassroots activists, and academics working on climate justice, disaster preparedness, public health, and related fields to participate in a resource fair. You do not need to identify as LGBTQ+ to attend and provide resources, but please commit to attending for the entire event, participating in the community conversation following the film, and supporting the creation of a safe place for LGBTQ+ people.

About the Film:

FIRE & FLOOD: QUEER RESILIENCE IN THE ERA OF CLIMATE CHANGE tells the story of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the fires in Santa Rosa, California, two near-simultaneous climate-related disasters in the fall of 2017, through the voices of LGBTQ people who lived through them and were part of the community response. The film explores the vulnerability of LGBTQ communities to climate disasters and also lifts up queer and trans strategies for resilience, transition, and survival. "Fire and Flood" was piloted at the National LGBTQ Task Force's Creating Change Conference in January, 2018, with positive feedback on the need for these stories in the LGBTQ movement.

Rating - This film is currently unrated, but contains some heavy themes and occasional mature language.