Arts & Entertainment
Help choose the 2022 DC Brau Pride Pils can design
For the 5th time, DC Brau partners with the Blade Foundation & SMYAL on a specially packaged pilsner in honor of Pride.
Pride is back and it is time for you to help us choose the 2022 Pride Pils can design. This year DC Brau, DC’s original craft brewery, has partnered with local artist Chord Bezzera of District Co-Op to design this year’s Pride Pils. Chord has designed two distinct cans for the public to choose from.
Restaurants, bars and retailers will be selling the specially branded DC Brau Pride Pils cans for the fifth year with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit SMYAL (smyal.org) and The Blade Foundation (bladefoundation.org). Since 2017, DC Brau has donated a total of $42,083.92 and sold over 81,576 cans through the Pride Pils program. This year the can labels have been generously donated by Blue Label Packaging Company.
The public can vote below or at washingtonblade.com/pridepils through March 31st. The winning design will be unveiled in June and will be available across the city for purchase during DC Pride.
Design 1 – Pride Pilsner
Design 1 was inspired by the 1970s, a transformational decade for LGBTQ+ culture that saw the rise of activism and the establishment of Pride Week. This design reflects the vibrant optimism and that freedom of thought that is still needed today.
Design 2 – Proud to Say Gay Pilsner
Design 2 is in direct response to the passage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which limits what classrooms can teach about sexual orientation and gender identity thereby disenfranchising vulnerable youth. This design seeks to counter the bills harmful message and celebrate Pride across the LGBTQ+ community.
Vote below or by clicking HERE.
The Washington Blade was founded in 1969 and is known as the “newspaper of record” for the LGBT community both locally and nationally. For more information, visit washingtonblade.com and follow on Facebook (@WashingtonBlade) & Twitter (@WashBlade).
DC Brau has been producing award-winning craft beer at its brewery in Northeast DC since 2011. For more information, visit www.dcbrau.com, and follow on social media @dcbrau.
District CoOp is a collection of artists celebrating design, diversity and the culture of D.C. We’re all about supporting and empowering local artists and creating a brand for the people by the people. All designs are available in both men’s and women’s and as a tank or crew. Follow us on Instagram (@District_CoOp) or Facebook (@DistrictCoOp).
Celebrity News
Madonna announces release date for new album
‘Confessions II’ marks return to the dance floor
Pop icon Madonna on Wednesday announced that her 15th studio album will be released on July 3.
Titled “Confessions II,” the new album is a sequel to 2005’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” an Abba and disco-infused hit.
The new album reunites Madonna with producer Stuart Price, who also helmed the original “Confessions” album. It’s her first album of new material since 2019’s “Madame X.”
“We must dance, celebrate, and pray with our bodies,” Madonna said in a press release. “These are things that we’ve been doing for thousands of years — they really are spiritual practices. After all, the dance floor is a ritualistic space. It’s a place where you connect — with your wounds, with your fragility. To rave is an art. It’s about pushing your limits and connecting to a community of like-minded people,” continued the statement. “Sound, light, and vibration reshape our perceptions. Pulling us into a trance-like state. The repetition of the bass, we don’t just hear it but we feel it. Altering our consciousness and dissolving ego and time.”
Denali (@denalifoxx) of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” performed at Pitchers DC on April 9 for the Thirst Trap Thursday drag show. Other performers included Cake Pop!, Brooke N Hymen, Stacy Monique-Max and Silver Ware Sidora.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Arts & Entertainment
In an act of artistic defiance, Baltimore Center Stage stays focused on DEI
‘Maybe it’s a triple-down’
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER | I’m always tickled when people complain about artists “going political.” The inherent nature of art, of creation and free expression, is political. This becomes obvious when entire governments try to threaten it out of existence, like in 2025, when the brand-new presidential administration demanded organizations halt so-called diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programming or risk federal funding.
Baltimore Center Stage’s response? A resounding and hearty “Nah.” A year later, they’re still doubling down on diversity.
“Maybe it’s a triple-down,” said Ken-Matt Martin, the theater’s producing director, chuckling.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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