LGBTQ+ Resources
Boulanger Initiative is glad to highlight some fantastic organizations advocating for LGBTQ+ composers and artists to help amplify the impact of their work.
American Musicological Society’s LGBTQ Study Group
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Study Group is a recognized special interest group of the American Musicological Society. Their objectives include increasing awareness of sexuality and music in the academy, promoting contact among music scholars working in LGBTQ studies, and establishing a forum for the presentation of such research. They also intend to provide an environment in which to examine the process of coming out in academia and to contribute to a positive political climate for affirmative action and LGBTQ curricula.
Black Trans Femmes in the Arts
BTFA is a community-based arts organization that builds community and mobilizes resources to support Black trans femme artists (artists who were assigned male-at-birth and now identify somewhere underneath the femme umbrella). They organize programming that centers and highlights Black trans femme artists, executive produce projects led by Black trans femme artists, and provide direct support to Black trans artists.
ChamberQueer
ChamberQueer highlights LGBTQ+ voices in contemporary & historical music and reimagines the classical concert experience as a radically inclusive gathering space & musical community for the 21st century.
ClassicalQueer
ClassicalQueer provides a space for queer+ people working in the classical arts to tell their stories in their own words. It is an archive of instrumentalists, performers, administrators, composers, writers, and conductors from around the world who have a diverse and complex set of experiences working in the classical arts.
GALA Choruses
GALA Choruses leads the North American LGBTQ choral movement. They cultivate the artistic development of 10,000 singers from more than 190 choruses in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. They serve choruses small or large, offering help whether you have 5 members or 250, a budget of $10,000 or $3 million.
GLBTQ Encyclopedia Project
This site is the world’s largest encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture and history with its own section for arts.
International Pride Orchestra
Founded in 2022, the International Pride Orchestra is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that brings together LGBTQ+ musicians from around the world to present concerts, celebrate community, and raise funds for LGBTQ+ causes.
The International Pride Orchestra unites music making with global advocacy. They are a volunteer orchestra with a charitable mission to raise awareness and funds for local, national, and international LGBTQ+ programs. Each year, a new city will be selected to host an IPO concert. Each concert partners with an LGBTQ+ organization to provide an outlet for patrons and musicians to give.
LEGATO European Association of LGBTQ+ Choirs
More than 128 member choirs from 20 countries with approximately 4120 singers look to LEGATO for support and leadership. They promote art, culture, and understanding between nations, staging choral singing events with participants from many European nations. They maintain an up-to-date list of LGBTQ+ Choirs in Europe and publish events being run by these Choirs locally, and encourages people to go and support the events. They connect new LGBTQ+ Choirs with more experienced ones so that they can avoid some of the pitfalls of starting a new Choir. They are actively supporting the development of LGBTQ+ Choirs in Eastern Europe, where in many countries to be LGBTQ+ is considered a crime, and people are persecuted. They work for the emancipation of LGBTQ+ individuals in Europe and combat discrimination against these groups.
LGBTQ+ Music Study Group
The LGBTQ+ Music Study Group was established in 2016 and receives support from professional bodies throughout the UK and Ireland: the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE), the Royal Musical Association (RMA), the Society for Music Analysis (SMA), and the Society for Musicology in Ireland (SMI). The Group’s mission is threefold: 1) to promote academic inquiry into issues of gender and sexuality in the study of music; 2) to create a safe space and support system for LGBTQ+ people within the scholarly community; and 3) to serve as a consulting body for wider issues of diversity and inclusion within music research, education, and performance. Aspiring toward queer politics informed by feminist and decolonizing efforts, the Study Group provides a space for cultivating and developing cutting-edge academic, political, and social work.
OutMusic Awards
OUTMUSIC - The LGBT Academy of Recording Arts (LARA) is registered as Outmusic Inc. a 501c3 non-profit organization that serves as an umbrella to support the work LARA (LGBT Academy of Recording Arts), the Outmusic Awards and the Outmusic Foundation. Their mission is to increase visibility and promote the advancement, contributions, and appreciation of LGBT+ music, entertainment, culture, and heritage as an equivalent entertainment platform. With a focus on creating opportunities to support the development of young aspiring artists, in a safe space where they can thrive and become industry professionals in the field of their interest.
OutVoice!
OutVoice! is the internet GLBT musician’s top twenty chart and service network which has been online since 1996.
Pink Singers
The Pink Singers is an LGBTQ+ community choir based in London. Formed in 1983 for the Lesbian & Gay Pride march, they have grown to become a 90 strong group of amateur singers who come together to sing, perform and campaign for their community. They are made up of talented people representing a diverse range of sexual orientations and gender identities from all walks of life who are united by a passion for singing great choral music.
Pride Bands Alliance
The purpose of Pride Bands Alliance is to promote LGBTQ+ Music, Visibility and Pride by:
Providing an international network of LGBTQ+ and affirming bands in all stages of development;
Promoting music as a medium of communication among people;
Improving the quality of artistic and organizational aspects of member bands; and
Stimulating public interest in the unique art form of community bands in our culture.
Queer Music Heritage
From January 2000 until March 2015 "Queer Music Heritage" was both a radio show and a website, and the goal of both was to preserve and share the music of our culture. It has become the resource on the net for the history of LGBT music. Each month's page gives the playlist and additional pages of info, and you can stream or download every show; there are over 580 hours of programming available.
QueerSounds Podcast
QueerSounds is a podcast on queer folks’ taste in music. A great love for music and the need to offer other LGBTQIAP+ people a place to talk about this is what brought this podcast into being. Music plays a huge role in queer life. With so many memories, anecdotes, and other stories that have songs attached to them, it would be a shame if no one would ever share them.
Society for Music Theory’s Queer Resource Group
The SMT Queer Resource Group (SMT-LGTB) explores issues of gender and sexuality as they pertain to music theory scholarship and to the professional lives of music theorists.
Spectrum Ensemble
Spectrum is a new music ensemble that highlights talented LGBTQA+ musicians. Based in Denton, TX, the ensemble commissions and performs new music by up-and-coming and established Queer composers.