Her Philly Moves, a collective run exclusively by LGBTQ-identified millennials, is hosting a music, arts and film festival June 9 during Pride for LGBTQ women of color.
JUICE, hosted at Life Do Grow Farm in North Philadelphia, is a one-day summertime arts, music and film festival that “embodies the concept of free and unapologetic expression, carefreeness, radical self-love and cultural preservation,” said Daiyon Kpou, creator of Her Philly Moves. The event will feature music performances by LGBTQ artists, art exhibitions with interactive installments, film screenings after sunset and a pop-up printmaking station sponsored by Philadelphia Printworks.
“JUICE is our vision of what a more inclusive and intersectional Pride festival celebration looks like. We value the spaces we’re providing and hope to keep going to protect queer and trans women of color,” Kpou said.
The collective, established in 2016, started as an informational blog of the same name that connected people in the city to LGBT events and resources. Kpou said that the blog transformed because she wanted to create more opportunities to celebrate queer and trans women of color.
“Her Philly Moves was conceptualized during a time when I felt like there were a lot of interesting things happening in Philadelphia, but it seemed like it was difficult to find a central source for people to find out about these events,” Kpou said. “Along the way, we found more of a need to connect queer creatives together in a safe space for those who we feel were targeted the most in the community.”
Her Philly Moves received fiscal funding from a local nonprofit, Saving Grace Orphanage International. The nonprofit — established by Kpou’s mother — provides social services to displaced children in Liberia as a result of the 15-year civil war. Through that fiscal funding, Her Philly Moves can apply for nonprofit grants through Saving Grace. The nonprofit’s executive board provided administrative support with teaching the collective how to budget and fundraise. Kpou said the support allowed the collective to refocus its scope and mission to honor the legacy of early LGBT activists through inclusive creative celebration.
“I wanted to provide spaces for people to feel like they can come together and fully and authentically express themselves,” Kpou said. “There are many spaces that offer inclusion, but some voices are often left out. We’re trying to change that.”
JUICE will be held Saturday, June 9 at Life Do Grow Farms, 2315 N. 11th St. To purchase tickets, visit https://juicephilly.splashthat.com/.