THIS SONG WILL MAKE YOU LOVE LIFE. Or at least, help restore a tiny bit of your faith in it.

This is the song + video we made together in summer 2015 at Arts in the Woods!  I was the Camp Director this year, after two years of running the Craft Shack, and the whole experience has been life-changing.

Arts in the Woods is an annual retreat at the Easton Mountain Queer Retreat Center for over 50 queer/trans visual artists, performers, dancers, musicians, makeup, and culinary artists. The program uniquely encourages collaborations between different generations of queer artists. Half of the artists are taking a break from transience or staying at homeless shelters in NYC and Boston. The other half are at different points in their journeys. Many of the returning participants are shelter alumnae who worked collectively as leaders for six months to plan the retreat at a weekly intergenerational art salon called the Wrrqshop.

Arts in the Woods grew from a desire by more established queer artists to co-create with young transient artists passing through queer youth homeless shelters. The program dismantles the hierarchies established in dominant systems of culture, nurturing a cohort of young queers to take control of their own representation. All participants agree to respect and learn from each other, as they take time away from the transphobia, police brutality, money troubles, and other pervasive social ills that plague our cities.

Partners include the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Easton Mountain Queer Retreat Center, Sylvia’s Place, New Alternatives, Harlem United, Boston GLASS, LMCC Fund for Creative Communities, Visual AIDS, the Wrrqshop, and Trans in Action.