“It’s evolved into something so powerful,” said G Wright, co-founder of Thou Art Woman (TAW) with Nik Harris. “What we started as a solution to the isolation we face as LGBTQ+ women, 12 years later, has become a consistent safe space for our community, and a platform for the arts and centering joy as acts of defiance in the face of silencing and erasure. And, we couldn’t have done it without our partnership with Our Fund Foundation. They are essential to allowing our work not just to continue, but to expand its reach and impact.”
Launching as an open mic event in 2014 to create a safe space for audience members to share their stories, showcase their talents, and be vulnerable, TAW was recognized for its openness and authenticity which, alongside performances by established artists, was central to its early success and provided the confidence to apply for an Our Fund grant.
Having been made aware of TAW through its application, Our Fund Executive Director David Jobin attended one of its early events and recognized TAW was fulfilling an important need for LGBTQ+ women.
His support has helped sustain and grow the program over time into an annual arts exhibition and a series of performance and visual arts events that celebrate and empower LGBTQ+ women in an ever growing list of venues. Yet, the current political climate and corresponding social policies threaten the visibility and rights of queer and trans women.
These attacks and the possible opportunities that may arise when confronting them is the impetus for RE/FRACTIONS: BEYOND THE VANISHING POINT at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center.
“Kerry Chen, the curator, has invited artists to engage with works which refract, or disrupt the intentions behind these systemic efforts to force queer and trans lives into the periphery – beyond the vanishing point,” Wright said.
RE/FRACTIONS: BEYOND THE VANISHING POINT opens on January 16, 2026 at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. “We’ll make sure that we weave performance in at the opening and then give people a chance to really look at the art and engage with the artists who are there,” Wright previewed.
That is followed on February 4 with an online virtual arts talk. “Not all our artists are going to be from Florida. We’ll have artists from across the country and across the world. We’ll select four or five to speak online in an interactive visual artist talk.”
The event series continues at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center on February 25 with a film screening at the HIVE Black Box Theater with filmmakers in attendance and concludes at the Center on March 20. Later this season, TAW will present its signature Open Mic & Performance Night on May 1 during Wilton Women’s Week.
Wright noted this exhibition and its events continue to push forward goals highlighted in the Our Fund LGBTQ Community Needs Assessment released earlier this year.
“They found pretty much what LGBTQ women were asking for,” Wright explained. “It showed that we’re spot on by providing recognition and visibility in the community. We build a greater sense of community through our programming and create more opportunities to connect and socialize.”
Wright shared Our Fund has been TAW’s greatest supporter and encouraged her and Harris to create the non-profit Black LGBTQ+ Liberation, Inc to present TAW programming as well as other services to the community.
“People are very frightened and uncomfortable,” Wright said. “They feel threatened as trans folks, they feel threatened as LGBTQ folks, they feel threatened as black people and brown people. The work that we do really works to uplift the community and create safe, affirming spaces where we can experience joy.”
More information about TAW is available at ThouArtWoman.com and on Instagram @thouartwoman.
The Art of Community
At The Our Fund Foundation, we celebrate all kinds of diversity — not just in who we are, but in how we see and share the world around us. In this new series, we celebrate the artists and organizations we support.
Some of these grantees may be new to you but their impact is just as powerful as they bring their own lived experiences and perspectives to their work and help our community reflect, question, and grow.
We hope you’ll take a moment to discover their art and support them in the most meaningful way possible: by showing up.
