Programs at OX

Our Programs Include:

  • Nightlife and Club Events

  • WorkMORE! a semi annual commissioning platform that brings together artists in new collaborative constellations.

  • Professional development and mentorship for artists.

  • Performance Workshops

  • GIANT Public large GROUP Shows

  • Quiet intimate in home performances

  • Experiments and Attempts

Our Programs are created in collaboration with our partner artists, designing projects that meet their artistic and professional goals.

About Our Programs

As a queer-run organization working within queer arts and nightlife, OX’s work is rooted in queer lived experience. Our community exists at the intersection of many others: QTBIPOC communities, people with disabilities, trans people, queer elders, dykes, non-binary people, cis people, white folks, and more. Intersectionality is central to our practice as artists and organizers, shaping how we foster solidarity through mutual aid and care. While our work is often “queer-coded,” it communicates a broad set of values, themes, and ideas that resonate with diverse audiences. Because our projects frequently take place in nightlife and public art contexts, audiences are typically a mix of community members alongside local and visiting entertainment-seekers.

The relationship between audience and community is a key engine of our work. Large-scale projects such as The Show and WorkMORE! function as platforms and mentorship spaces for emerging artists—many of whom first encounter OX as audience members. Through drag tactics, intersectional politics, interactivity, and play, our programming invites audiences into an engaged, participatory mode of viewing.

Our immediate artistic community is made up of long-term collaborators, including performance makers, choreographers, technicians, dramaturgs, and drag artists. Through both formal and informal exchange, we serve as outside eyes for one another’s work and frequently collaborate across projects. This ongoing social and artistic exchange is fundamental to OX’s practice.

Core Programs

  • Artist Commissioning

    OX’s core programs commission artists from San Francisco communities, with a commitment to paying living wages. We support performers whose work does not fit neatly within established genres, bringing drag artists, writers, craftspeople, and technicians together to create large-scale productions. Operating in the Bay Area for over 15 years, WorkMORE! is our biannual commissioning platform, convening artists in new collaborative constellations for extended research and rehearsal periods.

  • Artist Development

    OX invests heavily in artist development and education, providing a platform for both early-career and established artists to advance their practice. Drawing on our ongoing presence in the European contemporary dance scene, OX shares its learnings by inviting artists into a research-based approach to performance development. We also host regular artist workshops that create opportunities to exchange ideas, explore best practices, and engage with new technologies.

  • Community Engagement

    OX’s foundation is built within the Bay Area’s drag, nightlife, dance, and performance communities. In these spaces, artists and audiences often overlap. OX stays closely attuned to community needs through ongoing feedback practices, including public work-in-progress showings, surveys, and regular community “huddles.” These gatherings allow us to collaborate with partners and supporters to ensure our work continues to reflect and respond to the people who sustain it.