Thu, December 1 2011

Cindi Creager, Director of Communications & Marketing
(212) 620-7310, ccreager@gaycenter.org

World AIDS Day Event: Spotlight on The Starlite Lounge

On Thursday, December 1 at 6:30 PM, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center commemorates World AIDS Day by proudly presenting documentarians Kate Kunath and Sasha Wortzel in conversation with Dennis Parrott and Linda King, owners of the legendary Starlite Lounge.

In 1959, a decade prior to Manhattan’s Stonewall riots, the Starlite Lounge opened in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, as a non-discriminatory establishment for gay people of color. A half-century later, the neighborhood and the gay community were shocked when the oldest, Black-owned, LGBT establishment was given notice to vacate and was ultimately forced to close in 2010.

In honor of World AIDS Day, The Center will focus on how the Starlite became a refuge and organizing point in response to the AIDS epidemic. The filmmakers will share key excerpts of their documentary-in-progress, Starlite, and talk with former resident performer Lady Jasmine and long-time patrons about what the Starlite meant to the community, especially in the early days of the epidemic.

Also featured will be the organizers of the AIDS Memorial Park and learning center currently being proposed for the triangle site opposite the former St. Vincent's Hospital. The proposed location sits in the middle of the neighborhood, the site of significant AIDS epidemic organizing: from the first AIDS ward at St. Vincent's Hospital to the founding of ACT UP and other advocacy organizations at the Center.
More at Queer History Alliance

About Starlite
For half a century, Brooklyn's Starlite Lounge was a community gathering place as diverse and vibrant as the city itself. The Starlite Project, comprised of a documentary film and multi-media activist platform, celebrates the Starlite's historic significance and the vibrant community it continues to support even after its closure.

While the Starlite Lounge was commonly known as a gay bar, it was more accurately defined as a gathering place for a cross-section of the city, welcoming patrons regardless of their race, gender or sexual orientation. Founded in 1959, the Lounge was a safe space to form alliances despite the conflicts of the day. This singular venue sets the stage for Starlite, a story about the universal need to build, sustain and protect a community.

"Starlite is far more than the sum of its parts," said Co-Director Sasha Wortzel. "We want to honor the significance of this place by creating a film that also serves as an impetus for activism." The bar's diverse patrons and proprietors are the voices of the film. Their vivid memories and desire to re-open the Lounge prompt pointed questions: how could Manhattan’s historic Stonewall Inn thrive, even as the Starlite died? Who determines which landmarks will endure, and which will disappear?

These questions are increasingly relevant as LGBT activism gains traction in the mainstream. The Starlite Project seeks to re-mobilize the Starlite's community of friends and supporters through a documentary film and interactive website. This participatory living history project brings attention of one of the city's most significant landmarks of LGBT history, channeling potential for social change by expanding, diversifying and activating the Starlite's social network.

"This film has a life beyond the screen," said Co-Director Kate Kunath. "By telling the incredible story of the Starlite Lounge—which reaches far beyond the LGBT community—we hope to raise awareness of this deeply rooted community, and to help it thrive."
More at The Starlite Project

About the Filmmakers
Kate Kunath is a documentary artist working with traditional and new media at the juncture of the image, human motivation and collective identity. Her projects seek to activate the potential for social change within sites and communities of resistance. Currently she is co-directing The Starlite Project, about a bar and a historical site of resistance for the LGBTQ community and community of color in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Sasha Wortzel is a media artist living in Brooklyn, NY. Her short films have been screened nationally, recently at the Sarasota Film Festival and MIX, the New York Queer Experimental Film Festival. She has produced a number of experimental and documentary projects with the members of Fountain House, a psychosocial clubhouse for adults with mental illness in New York City. In addition to film, she creates interactive multimedia installations that utilize physical computing and programming. She also produces and hosts a weekly radio program about queer culture, politics, and music. She is a recipient of the Robert Rauschenberg/Big Arts grant.

About the Center

A beacon of hope for 29 years, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center builds and supports our community through arts and culture, wellness and recovery, family services and life-saving youth programs designed to foster healthy development in a safe, affirming environment. The Center envisions a world where LGBT people will no longer face discrimination or isolation because of who we are or who we love. We offer a welcoming home to 300,000 visitors each year and we are committed to serving all LGBT people through a variety of programs, services and activities that are designed to meet existing and emerging needs.The Center is many things to many people. We invite you to experience our home at 208 West 13th Street in person and online at gaycenter.org