Today, we announced our fifth Mighty Real event, An Outdoor Acoustic Session, happening Saturday November 4 in Oakland. The intimate evening features unplugged performances by queer BIPOC Bay Area artists in a private, open air space.
If you’re new to ItsQwere – each year’s Mighty Real theme is inspired by an emotion or performance forefather. This year’s Acoustic Session honors blues singers, guitar strummers, and guttural howlers of our past, present and future. (If anyone knows Tracy Chapman, get her to this show.)
Mighty Real 2023 is donation based.
Since 2018, our annual live fundraiser has featured evolving themes, most notably last November’s sold-out Mighty Real: A Sketch Variety Show. With support from Queer Cultural Center, San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and a host of community partners, friends, and family, an encore performance of A Sketch Variety Show in June at SOMArts during National Queer Arts Festival raised $10,000.
Started in a San Francisco living room, ItsQwere has engaged LGBTQ community members across the country and internationally through poetry readings, panel discussions, social media, a book club and live productions.
Previous Mighty Real performances include A Live Musiq Event (2018) at The Peppermint Club in West Hollywood, A Queer Comedy Night (2019) at San Francisco’s PianoFight, the pandemic-inspired virtual Sunday sermon, Black Voices In Conversation (2021), and the aforementioned A Sketch Variety Show (2022).
Our Mighty Real honors the 1978 Billboard chart-topping hit “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” by Sylvester; the Black, flamboyant, San Francisco chanteuse whose unmatched acrobatic vocals made him an international music sensation and a queer icon still revered over 30 years after his passing.
An Outdoor Acoustic Session talent lineup will be announced soon.