Community Compass
Community Compass is a service of OITM. GLBT organizations from around the state are invited to provide brief — 200 words or less — descriptions of recent or upcoming activities and events. Send your submissions to us by email by the 15th of the month.
Calling
Volunteers for SafeSpace
Volunteer for SafeSpace
at the fourth annual Phone-A-Thon. On January 23, 26, and 30 from 5pm
to 9pm. Help end physical, sexual, emotional, and hate violence in the
LGBTQQ community. Volunteers with great phone, administrative, and organization
skills are encouraged to join this year's crew. A brief orientation will
be held, free dinner will be provided, and small prizes will go out to
the top callers of the night! Please contact Connie at connie@safespacevt.org
or 802-863-0003.
An
Outrighteous Website!
Outright Vermont is proud to
announce the launch of its redesigned website at www.outrightvt.org.
The website redesign was supported in part by a Verizon grant in 2005.
The new website maintains Outright Vermont's effort to stay connected
and available to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & questioning
or queer youth & their supporters around the state.
We know that young people are
the most 'wired' generation and therefore we understand the critical importance
of being visible on the web. There is so much misinformation on the web
for LGBT/queer youth. We hope that our website will connect youth and
their supporters with our services as well as direct them to additional,
accurate resources available online.
The redesigned website
was designed by Vermont Design Works, a full-service graphic design, internet
marketing, and hosting firm located in the Burlington, Vermont area. For
more information about Vermont Design Works, please visit www.vtdesignworks.com.
Arts
Grants Guidelines
A program of Creative Capital
and supported by-the Rockefeller Foundation-the Multi-Arts Production
Fund (www.mapfund.org/)
supports original new work in all disciplines and traditions of the live
performing arts.
Every year, the fund supports
up to 42 performance-based works with awards ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.
The goal of the fund is
to assist artists who are exploring and challenging the dynamics of live
performance within our changing society, thus reflecting the culture's
innovation and growing diversity. MAP seeks especially to support work
that brings insight and vibrant critique to the issue of cultural difference,
be that in class, gender, generation, ethnicity, or tradition.
Deadline: February 10, 2006
Applications for MAP support
must come from U.S.-based organizations that have current nonprofit federal
tax status. In addition, nonprofit artist-services organizations may apply
as fiscal sponsors on behalf of unincorporated artists or ensembles. Both
the organization and the artists involved in the project must have at
least a two-year history of professional activity.
Visit the MAP Fund Web
site for complete program information and application guidelines. An online
application form is available January 2, 2006. Completed applications
may be sent electronically between February 1 and February 10, 2006. RFP
Link: fconline.fdncenter.org/pnd/5002089/mapfund
Clergy for Marriage-Equality
It is no secret
that conservative and radical religious institutions often leverage their
organizational structure and financial resources in attempt to claim moral
authority on just about every social issue, including civil marriage.
They employ tools of fear and shame to demonize our families and actively
work against marriage equality for same-sex couples.
Because of vocal
radical groups, we sometimes do not hear the people of faith who genuinely
struggle with the issue of civil marriage equality for same-sex couples.
They become lost in the fray, fearing that by questioning the effort to
gain marriage equality for same-sex couples they will be silenced with
the label of homophobia.
We must continue strengthen
our efforts within communities of faith to create avenues for people who
seek education and guidance about marriage equality.
In Vermont, many clergy
members have led efforts to create this space for their faith communities.
The Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force is working with these leaders
to offer other supportive clergy members and lay leaders the opportunity
to sign the Declaration of Religious Support for same-sex couples to civilly
marry. The goals are to provide clergy members and lay leaders an opportunity
to take meaningful action in support of marriage equality and to provide
people of faith a community to find answers to their questions.
Ask your supportive clergy
member or lay leader to sign the Declaration. Download the Declaration
at www.vtfreetomarry.org/advocacy.php
To learn more about the
work of clergy members for marriage equality, contact Robyn Maguire at
field_director@vtfreetomarry.org
or call 388.2633.
R.U.1.2? Seeks Cadre
Serve your community and make
new friends!! Help people in our community to get information, counseling
and referrals on HIV prevention, quitting smoking, other health issues,
civil unions, gay tourism, mental health, etc.
Those looking for ways to serve
their community are invited to attend volunteer training workshops at
R.U.1.2? Queer Community Center in Burlington and join the Center’s
Volunteer Cadre. The Center Cadre will, among other activities, provide
front reception desk hospitality for those visiting the center. Over time,
the Center Cadre will assist the Center with public communication as R.U.1.2?QCC
continues to develop its services in Vermont. The Cadre will also offer
social opportunities for its members.
The first training workshops
are scheduled for Saturday afternoon, 24 January (4-hour training) and
Monday and Tuesday evenings, 26 & 27 January (2 hours each night).
Snow date: 28 January). Required training for Cadre membership is 4 hours.
Reservations are necessary. Call the center, 802 860 7812, or e-mail rwwolff@innevi.com
The workshops will be conducted
by Center Staff and Board of Directors Member Robert William Wolff. Wolff
is coordinator of the Center Cadre program.
Kisses for the UU
The First Unitarian Universalist Society's
Welcoming Congre-gation Committee in Burlington is requesting pictures
from the GLBT community of couples kissing, especially from Civil Union
celebrations! In celebration of our intentionally diverse community, we
want to celebrate our lives and loves by-exhibiting-the photos-on our
UU bulletin board in the lobby by the parlor.-Pictures can be submitted
via email at riverasail@yahoo.com
in PDF, gif, jpg, or tif file format or mail a copy to Miguel Angel Bernard-Rivera,
37 Northshore Dr. Burlington, VT 05401. If you have any questions, please
call 802-864-2246.
Winter Is a Drag, Let’s Make It a Ball
Planning for the 11th
annual Winter is a Drag Ball is well underway. The event will take place
Saturday, February 11, 2006, at Higher Ground in South Burlington. Presented
for the fourth in a row by The House of LeMay, this is a benefit for the
Vermont People with AIDS Coalition.
The night will begin at 7:30pm
with a seated Cabaret show featuring a wide variety of entertainment.
At 9pm, The Boom Boom Room will open up with Elliott Matos returning again
this year to DJ. There will be larger production numbers presented throughout
the night as well as the crowning of the King and Queen of the Drag Ball.
At 10pm, the Cabaret Lounge will transform into the Diva Disco Lounge
where DJ John Martin will host drag performances and play the disco hits
of Drag Balls past.
Tickets for the event are $15
before the show and $20 on the day of the show and are available at Higher
Ground: www.highergroundmusic.com
Performers are needed for all three
venues (Cabaret, Boom Boom, and Diva Disco) and anyone wishing to perform
should contact houseoflemay@hotmail.com
as soon as possible.
Undoing Racism in Vermont
Passing on this great
training opportunity coming up in Boston. This is the same group that
did a Vermont training back in June which sparked the community work of
O.U.R. in Vermont (Organizers Undoing Racism in Vermont, also formerly
known as March OR Move/CURe VT) who have worked on the South Burlington
Police Department recently to address issues of racism within the department.
This growing collective has brought together a very unlikely group of
activists. We are religious conservative fundamentalists, radical queers,
people of color, womyn, men, youth, white folks and people of various
economic means. This truly is a unique and historical collaboration of
organizers who are focusing to address racism in our state. Should you
wish to get involved with the Undoing Racism work with O.U.R. in Vermont
or the ongoing monthly potluck/community gatherings that gather to discuss
racism in our lives & community, please contact Lluvia Mulvaney-Stanak
(lluvia@outrightvt.org) &
I will give you the 2006 gathering dates.
The training in
Boston (details below) was very impactful for the 10 members of Outright
Vermont who attended back in June & we highly recommend that you or
other activists/community folk you know attend.
TRAINING: Undoing Racism
Training by the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond
Jan 13-15th, Boston, MA. The
Undoing Racism training is intended show us that organizing skills alone
are not sufficient to build the kinds of coalitions necessary for a broad-based
movement for social change. Racism is the single most critical barrier
to building effective coalitions for social change. Racism has been consciously
and systematically erected, and it can be undone only if people understand
what it is, where it comes from, how it functions, and why it is perpetuated.
Co-sponsored by the Haymarket People's Fund. For more info, 617- 522-7676
or email Tommie@haymarket.org