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SJPD unveils safe place
Healdsburg in the fall
ARTS
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Fall Arts Preview
Natalie Douglas
The
www.ebar.com
Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 49 • No. 35 • August 29-September 4, 2019
Police chief apologizes to LGBTQ community Courtesy GLBT Historical Society
The GLBT Historical Society, which operates its small museum in the Castro, received funding from Grants for the Arts.
SF arts orgs awarded $12M in city grants
At an August 26 meeting at Glide Memorial Church, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott apologizes directly to Joanne Chadwick, left, for abusive treatment by the police department against the LGBTQ community. Chadwick attended the New Year’s Eve party in 1965 at California Hall that was raided by the police and led to widespread criticism of the police department.
by Veronica Dolginko
A
rts organizations in San Francisco recently got a boost, as Mayor London Breed and City Administrator Naomi Kelly announced $12.9 million in funding from Grants for the Arts for fiscal year 2020. At a time when a lot of people are concerned about the culture of the city, it looks like good news for a long list of recipients. Grants for the Arts is headed by Matthew Goudeau, a gay man who took over in February as the city was gearing up to determine the grant funding process under Proposition E, which voters passed last November. Prop E provides a 1.5% reallocation of the existing 8% hotel tax for arts and cultural services that includes Grants for the Arts. In an August 20 news release, Goudeau said he was grateful “to the many organizations that took the time to apply and that are providing cultural resources in San Francisco.” “We’re here to make sure they succeed,” he added. Established programs like the Frameline Film Festival were among the recipients. It received $109,000 for its annual LGBTQ film festival and other programming. The Castro Street Fair received $18,000. To people who don’t work in artistic fields the logistics of how art and artists survive in an expensive city can be a mystery. Even people who would consider themselves patrons of the arts often ask how exactly organizations like People in Plazas or the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus manage to remain an integral part of the city’s fabric. While some art forms are able to generate revenue from ticket sales or donations, many important and beloved institutions rely heavily on Grants for the Arts for the continuation of their work. “The support we get from the city and other government sources is vital to our operations,” said Terry Beswick, a gay man who’s executive director of the GLBT Historical Society, which received $75,000 for 2020 compared to 2019’s $58,000. “Without it, we would not be in a position to contemplate establishing a full-scale museum and research center.” The Gay Men’s Chorus received one of the largest amounts on the list: $152,510. The chorus has a roster of over 250 people and performs regularly at various venues. Earlier this See page 14 >>
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by David-Elijah Nahmod
S
an Francisco Police Chief William Scott apologized to the LGBTQ community at a reflection and reconciliation session Monday. The meeting was held in the sanctuary of Glide Memorial Church to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of the Compton’s Cafeteria riot. The Compton’s riot, which
preceded the Stonewall riots by three years, was “the first known instance of collective militant queer resistance to police harassment in U.S. history,” according to transgender historian Susan Stryker, who codirected the Emmy Award-winning 2005 documentary “Screaming Queens” about the incident. Scott apologized on behalf of the department.
“I and the men and women of this police department are truly sorry,” the chief said to the crowd of about 100 people. “We’re sorry for what happened and we’re sorry for our role in it and we’re sorry for the harm that it caused. Some here tonight may ask, why now? Why are we doing this now? And for those of you that might wonder why, I say it’s because we are listening. We hear you. And because it’s time.” See page 14 >> Photo
Concord LGBT center ED settles into new role by Matthew S. Bajko
W
ithin weeks of being named the new executive director of the Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County this spring, Jack Rednour-Bruckman found themself arguing to city councils across the East Bay why it was important for their cities to fly the rainbow flag in honor of Pride Month in June. For some cities, this year marked the first time that they agreed to fly the symbol for the LGBT community. Antioch was one such municipality, and the city asked RednourBruckman and Dorann “Dodi” Zotigh, president of the Concord-based center’s board of directors, to assist in raising the Pride flag. At the same time, Rednour-Bruckman was working with the center’s staff, board, and supporters on hosting its own annual Pride celebration the first weekend of June. In addition, they were focused on filling a number of staff positions at the center and recruiting new members to serve on its governing body. While juggling the public advocacy and managerial concerns, Rednour-Bruckman was also dealing with the fallout sparked by the sudden firing in February of most of the center’s counseling staff. It caused an outcry among supporters of the center concerned over its leadership and led to the resigna-
Courtesy RCC
Rainbow Community Center Executive Director Jack Rednour-Bruckman
tion in April of former executive director Kevin McAllister less than a year in the job. He was hired in June to be executive director of Meals on Wheels by ACC in Sacramento County. Amid the controversy, the center’s former board president Ken Carlson stepped down from the oversight body, and Zotigh, who has served on the board since 2015, took over the leadership role. Rednour-Bruck-
man, who uses gender-neutral pronouns and had joined the board earlier this year, initially was hired as an interim executive director but then was given the job on a permanent basis as of May 1. “It feels like we have some good momentum and things are moving in the right direction,” Rednour-Bruckman, 54, who identifies as nonbinary and a butch queer, told the Bay Area Reporter in a recent interview. They grew up in Contra Costa County and now resides in Antioch with their wife, Shar Rednour. The couple, together 26 years, has three children ages 27, 14, and 13. Their oldest, adopted out of foster care, came out as gay while in high school. Leading a nonprofit agency is a new role for Rednour-Bruckman. They previously had worked for a number of different companies in various management positions and at one point was a worker-owner of the retail sex emporium Good Vibrations. Most recently Rednour-Bruckman had launched their own consulting firm and worked with both corporate and nonprofit clients. When not at their center job, RednourBruckman is the lead singer for the all-queer band LadyKillers, which is releasing a new single, “Smash(the)Patriarchy,” Friday (August 30) through Die Laughing Records/ See page 14 >>
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