About

Queer & Trans Zinefest (QTZ) is an annual small works festival based in Providence, RI celebrating the creations of queer, trans, and gender non-conforming artists. QTZ is committed to creating a space for queer artists that reduces barriers to access. In addition to never charging a tabling fee, we offer stipends to all applicants expressing need, and provide free meals on the day of the event. Our goal is to showcase artists who might not otherwise have access to the cultures of art book fairs and zine festivals, especially those who lack the resources to navigate formal arts institutions.

As a curated zinefest, we feature and invite artists whose identities intersect with multiple axes of marginalization, including class, disability, gender, race, and experiences of violence/trauma. We hope to curate a continually rotating roster of exhibitors while centering queer & trans people of color.

Our definition of a “zine” is deliberately broad. In the past, our vendors have included poets, comic artists, community organizations, and activist collectives, as well as makers of ceramics, apparel, natural medicines and remedies, and textiles.

Collective Responsibility Statement

As participants and attendees of Providence Queer/Trans Zinefest, we ask that you hold yourselves and each other responsible for your conduct and look out for each other at this fest. As an open-access and public event, we cannot guarantee a space free of sexism, racism, homophobia. However, we ask that you to keep in mind the principle of mutual and collective responsibility.

As zinefest organizers, we will be available in advance and on the day of the event to address any issues that come up. We commit to dealing with these issues in a calm and open-minded way, and we ask you to do the same.

The zinefest is an opportunity for meeting each other and learning, not for pursuing ongoing conflicts. If an individual is known to have engaged in oppressive behavior, then it is up to people who know them to put accountability processes in place. If that has not been done, the zinefest is not the time or place to do so. Organizers and participants cannot and will not act as judge, jury, or police force. However, we will do our best to deal with situations that arise at the zinefest. We reserve the right to ask anybody acting in what we consider to be an inappropriate manner to leave the event.

If you need assistance during the zinefest, please come to the welcome table at the entrance to the vendor area.

In compliance with the our agreement with the venue, and for participants’ health and safety, the following must be observed: Smoking anything is permitted only in designated smoking areas No alcohol may be consumed on the premises

This statement was based on the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair’s Statement of Mutual Responsibility. Thank you for letting us use it!

Support

QTZ 2023 has been made possible with support from Binch Press / Queer.Archive.Work. If you would like to make a donation to support, visit the Queer.Archive.Work website.

We would also like to acknowledge the generous funding and donations of:

The City of Providence Department of Art Culture + Tourism, the Providence Tourism Council, the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, the Rhode Island Foundation, the Steel Yard, and White Electric Coffee