QUEER|ART 2025-2030 STRATEGIC PLAN

Thank you for taking the time to read through this strategic plan—a testament to where Queer|Art is headed and to what it took to get here.

We’re so proud of Queer|Art’s tremendous transformation in the last five years. What began as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic—moving our programs online and committing fully to our role as a community-centered organization—solidified into lasting shifts in how we support LGBTQ+ artists, all while corporate and governmental funding for queer and trans communities continues to be cut.

In adapting our model, we began supporting artists across the US, within and beyond cultural hubs. With a small staff and a modest budget, we're navigating how to serve this growing national community while staying rooted in New York City. 

Since expanding eligibility nationwide, applications to Queer|Art have surged: in 2025, we received 600 applications for 12 Mentorship Fellow positions and 850 applications for our Award programs—numbers that reflect both the strength of our work and the urgent need for support.

These applications show the gap between our dreams and our current resources, how “the needs exceed our means.” As Co-Executive Directors, our aim in developing a strategic plan was not to overpromise, but to understand how to grow and sustain Queer|Art in ways that are both ambitious and pragmatic. 

We set out to clarify a distinct, artist-led approach that complements peer efforts and addresses gaps others cannot. In late 2024, we conducted a large-scale artist survey and received input from 300 members of our artist community. Their responses helped us move from near infinite possibilities to tangible goals and surfaced questions that shaped this strategic plan:

The Questions We're Asking Ourselves:

• What does QA do uniquely well in our field—and what field are we even in?

• Do we deepen support for alumni, widen our reach to new audiences, or both? Do we maintain NYC as our hub or further expand nationally?

• How do we put the expressed needs of our artists into action?

• What financial and organizational structures will support our values, our offerings, and our goals?

Over the last year, we collaborated closely with our incredible staff team and Board of Trustees to draft this document and shape a clear framework of three focused Goals, each with dedicated strategies and metrics. The pages that follow detail our plan for the next five years—a living document to be evaluated and adapted in response to our community’s evolving needs.

We are so grateful for the intergenerational wisdom and audacity we have inherited from generations of queer artists, who took care of one another, while defying state violence and imagining a lush & livable horizon for us all. We are honored to carry on their legacy while continuing to build this future alongside you. 

In solidarity,