Arts & Entertainment
D.C. arts briefs: Sept. 14
Phasefest kicks off Thursday, Charlottesville has first-ever Pride and more
Charlottesville to have first Pride festivalÂ
The first-ever Charlottesville Pride Festival will be held Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m. at Lee Park.
A new group, Cville Pride, has formed to organize the event. President Amy Sarah Marshall says it started small with just one vendor and two organizations, though things have taken off quickly.
Organizers now have more than 50 sponsors and vendors, along with about 600 attendees planning to come via the organization’s Facebook page.
Organizers plan a bounty of events for the day including poetry, music and drag performances and also food and kids’ activities. For more information, find the Cville group on Facebook. Lee Park is located one block north of the Downtown Mall, between Jefferson Street, First Street N.E., Market Street and Second Street N.E.
Mikey Torres of Glitterlust. The band performs next week at Phasefest. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Phasefest kicks off Thursday
Phasefest kicks off Thursday at Phase One (525 8th St. SE Washington). Tickets are at $15 at the door. It runs through the weekend.
Look for indie bands like Bitch, Athen Boys Choir, Angie Head, People at Parties, Mitten, Hunter Valentine, D.C. band Glitterlust, Vanity Theft and many others. Weekend passes are $55. Tickets for individual nights are $15 Thursday, $20 for Sept. 22 and $25 for Sept. 22 and are available only at the door. Visit phasefest.com for details.
Center Hosts GenderQueer group
The GenderQueer D.C. Discussion Group will hold its monthly meeting at the D.C. Center (1318 U Street, NW) Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Every third Tuesday of each month, this support group meets to discuss its personal experiences with identifying and living outside the gender binary. They connect with those who are bigender, agender and others.
For more information, visit dccenter.org.
Celebrate the start of Pride month at the Queer Magic Dance Party at the Black Cat on Saturday, June 6. Doors open at 9 p.m.
There will be pole performances and demonstrations, a free photo booth with glitter bar, a queer vendor market, tarot readings by Skye Marinda Tarot, a drag performance by Sapphica, and dancing to a blend of smooth R&B, Afrobeats, hip-hop and pop by Slammer & Saba. Tickets are $20 at the door or $15 (plus fees) in advance, purchased here.
Local queer journalists will celebrate Pride this weekend at the annual NLGJA-DC Pride Happy Hour event at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.) on Saturday, June 6, 3-5 p.m. Admission is free.Â
Out & About
DC Front Runners Pride Run 5K set for Saturday
Annual event held at historic Congressional Cemetery
The 14th annual DC Front Runners’ Pride 5K run/walk is set for Saturday, June 6 at historic Congressional Cemetery. The race starts and ends at the cemetery (1801 E St., S.E.) and passes through scenic D.C., along the Anacostia River trail and the fields at RFK campus. Registration ends Friday at 11:59 p.m.
Runners can pick up their race packets on Saturday from 7-8:30 a.m. at Congressional Cemetery; the race begins at 9 a.m.
The fee to run the 5K in person is $65 ($35 for those under age 20). Proceeds benefit local LGBTQ nonprofits, including Thrive DC, Wanda Alston Foundation, Blade Foundation, Ainsley’s Angels, SMYAL, and Team DC. Visit DCFrontRunners.org for more information.
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DC Front Runners Pride Run 5K set for Saturday
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