MIX NYC 2018 Contributing Stakeholders' Fundraiser
Art often reflects the world we live in based on how it’s digested and the atmosphere in which we receive the download or transmission; whether it be in academia, our living rooms, or the streets. "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life", so we’ve been told... and that ‘the images we see in the world shape our brains and aid in creating the world around us’. The moving image is a most powerful medium of expression, of confusion, and of control. Proof positive that the violence or joy etched in the headlines and narratives put before us every day both paralyze us and empower those who wish to silence us, and vice versa, each of us have our opportunity to be active or passive bystanders in creating the world we deserve to live in.
MIX NYC’s Annual Film Festival is not only a visual media platform, it is a collective artwork — from load-in to load-out — an immersive environment held together by folk from every piece of our rainbow acronym and diaspora who wanted to be invested in something different, new, and exciting. It could be said that the platform created before failed to resemble the ‘world stage’ which most of us live in and the stories embedded behind every hot-glued jewel and painted wall are not all pleasant fairy tales.Those walls served as a place to elevate the community that held it, and alienate the demographics within that community that felt excluded. That discord severed the ability for that stage to be anything more than a mirror that reflects some of the distasteful aspects of society. Our path towards harmony begins when we invest in challenging the normative world by depicting all the various ways we can expose change, and to remain humble in the face of that change; we are only but new spokes in the wheel with an opportunity to take her down a path toward the future.
MIX NYC’s Co-Directorship is currently a pair of year-round, full-time staff members acting as a decentralized leadership, working to create sustainable year-round and festival leadership positions. The positions have been designed to ensure that the Co-Directors and their associates will support one another. This includes creating opportunities for involvement outside their roles, like curation/exhibition, events planning, or organizational development. Our collaborative goal is to ensure organizational and structural support within MIX NYC for every stakeholder, from staff to audience.
Our mission this year with the festival is to support the work of independent LGBTQ filmmakers and to share their work with an audience and environment that seeks to see some change in the world, and we need a lot of resources to do so. Contributing Stakeholders ensure that we have the resources to execute our goals and maximize the capacity of both our projects and our labor. Human resources are much of what allows MIX NYC to function and hold the space we need for each other in the hostile world in which we live. We need containers to continue the conversations that challenge and disturb complacency! We need queer experimental media! We need as many outlets as possible to express what is happening to us everyday! We also need people to showcase the works of those who create, steward and facilitate queer greatness! That means there’s a place for everyone. Whether you’re an individual donor interested in contributing to the festival, or a foundation seeking innovative ways to create social change, MIX NYC wants to connect you to the artists and programs you are eager to support. Your investment will preserve the work of various LGBTQ artists, and the spaces that allow these thoughtful, provocative, independent LGBTQ voices to flourish.
What is a Contributing Stakeholder?
- Different than a Board Member or a member of the management staff, a Stakeholder is someone in the greater community accountable for how we execute our mission
- Current and/or proven leadership in organizing or motivating people to get involved in queer DIY settings
- Willing to support in promoting the events and community intentions of the organization and festival
- Donates labor, solutions or financial resources to the programs or general operating expenses of MIX NYC when needed
Becoming a MIX NYC Stakeholder provides you with exclusive and behind-the-curtain perks, discounts and priority access to all film screenings and special events: our annual festival as well as year-round screenings and events throughout the city. We encourage sustaining Stakeholder contributions starting $25 (more if you can, less if you can’t, of course!) which includes a litany of benefits such: access to pre-screenings, current MIX merchandise and memorabilia, festival drink tickets, VIP Stakeholder badges, invitations to engage in Artist and Maker panel discussions and socials, and truly, the opportunity to support world-creators and artists who give voice and visibility to the full spectrum of LGBTQ stories that inspire, entertain and open minds.
When Maya Angelou said, “The need for change bulldozed a path down the center of my mind”, she put a road on the ‘map of possibility’, and it is up to each of us to figure out how to leave the footprints for those to come when we are gone. We believe that MIX 30 is one of the many opportunities in life to be an agent for change and to challenge our community to re-establish itself with artists who are honored to stand up and let their voices be heard. It has never been more crucial that we consider answering the call when it comes.
Fiercely Yours Always,
Devon and Flayr, MIX NYC 2018 Co-Directors