Local queer artists receive grants from Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage announced last month that it had awarded $10.2 million to 39 Philadelphia-area cultural organizations and artists. Two of the beneficiaries – filmmaker Stewart Thorndike and The Bearded Ladies Cabaret – represent the LGBTQ+ community. Thorndike and John Jarboe of Bearded Ladies recently spoke to PGN about their careers and how the Pew fellowship and grant, respectively, will help them continue creating art.

Stewart Thorndike

Stewart Thorndike, one of 12 fellows awarded an unrestricted grant of $85,000, is a queer horror director with two feature films to her credit. “Lyle” (2014) and “Bad Things” (2023) both deal with themes of motherhood, female rage and queer identity.

“I make films that are female-led and filled with terror in some ways. It’s usually more unnerving than scary or in that scary way,” she explained, adding that she also doesn’t do sadism or gore.

His two feature films have been described as queer versions of famous horror films: “Rosemary’s Baby” for “Lyle” and “The Shining” for “Bad Things”.

“Initially, I never think that I am reusing a film. But I think they have to, just like, live in my blood, and they kind of seep in, or I kind of try to argue with the source material in some way or reflect something,” Thorndike said.

“So sometimes I hold a magnifying glass to something like the witch in ‘The Shining’ and think about how the whole story changes, if it’s from a woman’s point of view,” he said. she added. “Even though it always starts from something very personal, and it’s only when I start writing (when) I realize that I’ve been sort of haunted or possessed by these films.”

Her latest film, “Frigid,” which has not yet been released, is a psychological thriller that involves a group of older women traveling to a retreat where things start to go wrong.

“It’s a celebration of how I see older women, who are hot, cool and powerful,” Thorndike said. “And instead of always seeing older women as eccentric sidekicks, smoking weed for the first time, or portrayed in gruesome ways – you know, like the idea of ​​the witch – there’s often a trope showing the naked bodies of older women as something repulsive, like a goblin or a scary monster. And we see it again and again in the movies. (I’m) kind of reclaiming that.

Thorndike has been drawn to the horror genre since she was younger, watching shows like “The Twilight Zone” and other melodramas.

She explained that her childhood problems made seeing happy families isolating, so darker shows where adults struggled made her feel less alone in her experiences.

Her favorite thing about horror is seeing “where the terror lies in everyday life,” she said.

Thorndike continued: “That’s what really scares me. You take the normal, safe spaces, and you kind of sow fear into those corners – kind of like what it’s like to be a woman in this world, or anyone who’s not part of the group the most dominant.

For her own films, Thorndike likes to see how the themes she has used grow and change. In “Lyle”, the main character is a grieving mother and in “Bad Things”, the main character has a strained relationship with his mother.

She also likes to explore paranoia and confusion.

“That kind of feeling tempers a lot of what interests me. Are we safe in Starbucks, or are we safe in the daylight, or are we safe in the family unit? » said Thorndike. “I just love to question, redefine and provoke all the norms that are imposed on us – maybe because I’m a queer woman, maybe because we all see all the horrors happening around us, from racism in America from the birth of the countries and built, to the current genocide in Gaza, to the way we treat animals It is all around us.

Following her nomination for the Pew Fellowship, Thorndike went through a complex application process. After almost a year, she learned she had gotten it.

She says the scholarship will allow her to work on her film and other projects.

“It’s like a blast of time for your art to get this grant,” Thorndike said. “It’s very difficult to make the kind of films I do and survive while working and having a job at the same time. It really feels like a time in my life where I can just be an artist, work on my film and focus on completing my projects.

The Cabaret of the Bearded Ladies

John Jarboe is the founder and artistic director of Bearded Ladies Cabaret, which received a $230,400 grant. She founded the group in 2010 after moving to Philadelphia the year before. The Théâtre Média asked him to create a cabaret. Not really knowing what cabaret was, she said yes to the project before gathering queer friends to create what would become Back In the Army. The show used the music of the city of Berlin to create a story about what it meant to be gay or queer in the military during World War II.

This project evolved into the Bearded Ladies Cabaret. After Back in the Army, the group began a partnership with the Wilma Theater to put on “cabaplays” which are, as Jarboe says, the love child of a cabaret and a play. They also performed Bastille Day performances at Eastern State Penitentiary for seven years.

The Pew grant will help Jarboe and the Bearded Ladies create “Shavings,” an installation and performance focused on the question “Is artistic sustainability a myth?”

“I think of that moment when one of my mentors was sitting with me in a restaurant in New York and describing how his theater company had been shut down and he didn’t think anyone would remember all the work he had been doing for the last 20-odd years,” Jarboe said. “It was really sad for me, and it made me think about the kind of false sustainability planning that so many artists and arts organizations are into. forced to conform because of these rigid and backward funding structures and the difference between that and what would be a meaningful version of estate planning for the arts.

Jarboe wonders if the installation gives the public, supporters, stakeholders and funders a better understanding of what it takes to create art.

“Could we, by doing this work, change the dialogue about how the arts are supported and valued in the city? Jarboe thought.

She acknowledges that while there are good opportunities for private financing in Philadelphia (noting that there are still sometimes obstacles), the real problem is funding by the city itself. Jarboe noted that a large portion of New York’s hotel taxes go toward art because it attracts tourists.

“In Philadelphia, the arts are (also) a huge draw,” she said. “We are culture creators and we provide so much value to the city, and I don’t think the city celebrates us or uses us wisely as a tool. And I think part of that is that people don’t understand what it takes to make a difference artistically in our city.

For Jarboe and the Bearded Ladies, the Pew grant will help them create the installation and pay the artist who will perform there.

The installation will last 15 weeks, one week for each year of the Bearded Ladies’ existence. With the recent closure of arts institutions like the University of the Arts, Jarboe hopes the installation will celebrate what these closed institutions have brought to the city.

For Jarboe, the most important aspect of art is connection.

“It’s better to introduce someone to someone new than to meet someone new,” she said. “It’s more effective for you to make an introduction and use your power of connection. And I think the connections that emerge from our spaces, whether between people or between people and ideas, are what really impact me.

“Work is just an excuse to get people to think together, to be together, to belong, to let something out,” she added. “I really hope that the Shavings Project will cause people to more deeply recognize the value of art in Philadelphia, I hope it changes the way people experience future art projects, but at least I just want it’s a really, really beautiful and moving time, and I want to celebrate and honor the work that me and a group of queer artists have been doing for 15 years in the city of Philadelphia.

For a complete list of 2024 Pew Center for Arts & Heritage grantees, visit pewcenterarts.org.