Altadena Pride Festival to Feature Queer Sanctuary Meet-Up at Pride Month Celebration

Awash in self-discovery and artistic exploration, the Altadena Pride Festival announced the Queer Sanctuary Meet-Up, a beacon of inclusivity for LGBTQIA+ youth in Pasadena and Altadena. Scheduled for Saturday, June 8th, from 2 to 6 pm, the event promises an afternoon brimming with creativity, connection, and a safe space fostered in collaboration with Side Street Projects, a mobile artist-run organization, and sponsored by the Altadena Public Library.

The brainchild of Side Street Projects’ Executive Director, Emily Hopkins, the Queer Sanctuary program emerged from an artist residency program during the isolating times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Launched in 2021, the initiative sought to address a critical need: fostering a strong support system for LGBTQIA+ youth in the Pasadena area.

“We realized that there wasn’t a solid foundation, especially at that time, for these young people to connect and build a community,” Hopkins told Pasadena Now.

The event aims to create an inclusive space for LGBTQIA+ youth and their friends from the Pasadena and Altadena areas.

The Meet-Up will feature art-making workshops, including zine-making led by youth, a photo booth, and flag-making for younger children. Side Street Projects, a mobile artist-run organization, will provide all necessary materials and supplies for the workshops, including a Spotify account for the youth to share music.

“The reason why we’re doing a zine-making workshop is that there is a long history of zine-making and the social justice movement, and it is a way for students to find ways to playfully and experimentally share their ideas and imagery,” Hopkins explained.

The event will also showcase an intergenerational project, The Constellations, by artist-in-residence Kate Muehlemann-Cataldo, who has been working with queer elders, creating portraits and documenting oral histories. Youth participants will create artwork inspired by the legacy of the elders they learn about, fostering organic conversations between generations.

The project has been extended through funding from SAGE, an organization working with queer elders, and will continue next year.

Side Street Projects, which currently has an office in buses and trailers under the freeway at the back of John Muir High School, is in quest of a permanent home. The organization engages with the local community throughout the year, particularly with LGBTQIA+ youth, by supporting the formation of school clubs and collaborating with organizations like Collaborate Pasadena to prevent anti-trans legislation in local school districts.

Side Street Projects also has several visibly non-binary and gender-expansive teaching artists in their program.

“Altadena Pride is a really beautiful example of how the Altadena community is interdependent by forming mutual aid networks that are able to create events like this that everybody is throwing their piece in to create,” Hopkins said, emphasizing the importance of community collaboration.

In addition to the Queer Sanctuary Meet-Up, Side Street Projects organizes Skillshare workshops, a Youth woodworking program, and plans to commission a new artist-in-residence in the fall.

The Altadena Pride Festival will be held at the Altadena Senior Center, located at 560 E. Mariposa Street in Altadena. Admission is free.

For more information, visit https://altadenapride.org/.