Programs at OX

As a queer-run organization working within queer arts and nightlife, OX’s works implicitly explore queer lived experience. Our queer community exists in the overlap of many other communities: QTBIPOC, folks with disabilities, trans people, queer elders, dykes, non-binary folks, white folks, cis folks and more. Intersectionality is at the core of our work as artists and organizers as a method of fostering solidarity through mutual aid and care. While our work is “queer-coded”, it is made to communicate a broad set of values, themes, and ideas appealing to diverse audiences. With nightlife and public art as frequent venues for our work, the audience is typically composed of fellow community members plus entertainment seekers who are local and visiting.

The interplay of audience and community is a major mechanism within our work, as larger-scale projects like The Show and WorkMORE! platform and mentor emerging artists who often originate as audience members. Furthermore, the drag tactics, intersectional politics, and interactivity, and play within our programming seek to enliven and embolden audiences towards an active or engaged viewing.

Our immediate community within art-making is a group of ongoing collaborators, composed of other performance makers, choreographers, technicians, dramaturgs, and drag artists. Via formal and informal exchange, we act as outside eyes to each other's work and often collaborators within the work. This type of social artistic exchange is crucial to OX’s work.

Core Programs

  • Artist Commissioning

    OX’s core programs commission artists from our SF communities, with a focus on paying living wages. OX commissions performers who might not otherwise fit neatly within genre, bringing Drag artists, writers, craftspeople and technicians together to make large scale works. Running in the Bay Area for over 15 years, WorkMORE! is our bi-annual commissioning platform that brings together artists in new, collaborative constellations for several month-long research and rehearsal periods.

  • Artist Development

    OX Invests heavily in artist development education and is proud to provide a platform for both early-career and more senior artists to advance their practice. OX shares its learnings from its ongoing presence the European Contemporary Dance scene, inviting artists to take part in our research-based practice for developing performance. OX also runs regular artist workshops that create opportunities for participants to learn about best practices, share ideas, and learn new technologies.

  • Community Engagement

    OX’s foundation in built on the local Bay Area drag, nightlife, dance and performance communities. In these communities, there is a large overlap of artist and audience. OX is plugged into the needs of these audiences and community members through its dedication to collecting feedback with public work-in-progress showings, surveys, and regular community “huddles” where we collaborate with our partners to ensure that we are best meeting the needs of the folks who support us.