A Pride Month Letter from the EAD

Dear world,

My name is Claire DiVizio, and I’m the founder of Thompson Street Opera Company. Last year, we “came out” publicly as a queer- and trans-led company, and in the last year have been increasingly intentional about highlighting this part of our company identity in our programming, hiring, and online presence. As we said last year, Thompson Street Opera Company is not just a safe and affirming space for LGBTQIA+ artists– it's also one that intentionally lifts up queer and trans artists, voices, and stories.

Last year, we remained hopeful that things would get better for the LGBTQIA+ community in this country, but as you probably know, this is not the case. Unrelenting attacks on gender-affirming care, impacting both children and adults, have swept the nation, and countless other bureaucratic invasions into the privacy of trans and queer people are also being debated at both the state and federal level. The ACLU is tracking 515 bills in state legislatures across the nation which specifically attack LGBTQIA+ rights, even including several in Illinois. While many have been defeated or vetoed, 34 bills in 12 states have passed into law, and more are still being debated or revised. This patchwork of regulations can make it unsafe for many visibly queer or trans singers to travel out of state for work.

Luckily, the city of Chicago is a pretty welcoming place for LGBTQIA+ people. I would hazard a guess that it’s the only major city in America in which every opera company currently operating has featured at least one out trans performer onstage. This is a privilege that we don’t want to take for granted, and with your help, we want to make sure Chicago stays a safe place for queer and trans opera artists– not just to perform, but to put down roots, be themselves, and have real, meaningful discussions about changing the industry.

We believe we are uniquely suited to provide that space. We are small, which means we can adapt nimbly to changing circumstances and environments. We are young, and so are our audiences, which makes our model uniquely sustainable over time as compared with larger institutions. And because of this, we aren’t worried about our programming or practices placating the whims of wealthy, more conservative patrons. Instead, we can bring new, exciting, boundary-pushing works to our audiences, and attract people to our shows with an experience you won’t get in other places. With your help, we can continue to highlight amazing local and emerging talent, increasing Chicago’s attractiveness as a place for queer operatic artists to live, as opposed to just visit.

The words “community-building” get thrown around a lot, especially in arts spaces, without anyone really ever defining them or offering evidence that they’re doing that, specifically, instead of just producing more art. Sometimes, we’ve been guilty of that as well., and we’ve been spending the last year thinking about ways to make good on our promise to truly help build an engaged community of queer artists. I’m happy to announce that in addition to the peer-to-peer work that we do at social events and in continued engagement with artists after performances are over, this year we intend to host talk-back and round-table discussion sessions with our community, open to the public. These conversations will be focused on issues important to those we serve, in addition to illuminating issues the company is engaging with directly.

It can sound like a trite aphorism, but it’s deeply true that our work only exists because of the continued support of people like you. If you are wondering how you can show your support for the LGBTQIA+ community this June, we suggest making a donation to our Pride Month fundraiser. Every single dollar you donate will go directly into the pockets of our artists, making your donation a real and direct contribution to the queer community. Your generosity is what makes it possible for us to provide a safe place for artists to explore ways to reimagine opera. Thank you, thank you, for making what we do worthwhile.

Until next time,

Claire DiVizio (they/them)
Thompson Street Opera Company
Executive and Artistic Director