ezra berkley nepon

New Report! Member-Based Organization Strategies and Practices

In 2007, the members of Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) formed a committee to
investigate how to add new dimensions to SRLP’s membership structure. We aimed to
intentionally create more points of entry for community members whose ongoing
experiences of state violence, poverty, ableism, racism, and transphobia produced
obstacles for them to consistently participate in community organizations. We set out to
learn the following:

• What are other organizations doing to build and sustain their membership models?
• How can we create organizational models that build skills and leadership within community members?
• What organizational models support grassroots fundraising of organizations?
• How might we best utilize ally energy?
• How can we address the common obstacles that come up in doing radical work to fight oppression while also facing oppression?

The result is From the Bottom Up: Strategies and Practices for Membership-Based Organizations. I was honored to work on this project as a staff and collective member of SRLP, and very excited that it is now available for public distribution. Please share!

Feyboy Arts Grant!

Very excited that I received a $350 grant from Feyboy Arts Grants for a Queerer Tomorrow to digitize VHS and Hi-8 movies of Eggplant Faerie Player shows and other events from Idyll Dandy Arts (IDA).  The theme of the grant funding cycle was “Through the Past, A Queerer Tomorrow, Today” and they gave away a total of $1,810. What a fabulous example of queer collective resourcefulness! I’m especially honored to be a co-grantee with Tommy Avicoli Mecca, author of Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation.

This round of grants was dedicated to Larry Mitchell, author of The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions.

Featured Artist at Leeway Foundation

Thank you to the Leeway Foundation for including me in their Featured Artist video series – what an awesome group of Philly artists committed to social justice!

Little Orphan G.R. Annie heads to Amsterdam and Seattle this Spring!

World-traveling child star Little Orphan Gender Revolutionary Annie is getting ready to frolic at the Amsterdam Transgender Film Festival: Transcreen on May 10th and the Translations/Seattle Transgender Film Festival on May 11th!

Jewish Voice for Peace bookgroup

Jewish Voice for Peace will use my book for a reading/discussion group at their upcoming Northeast Regional Leadership Development Institute. I will attend the institute Nov 16-18th to lead a conversation about the book. Thanks, JVP – can’t wait to dig in together!

Lil Orphan G.R. Annie goes to SF Trans Film Fest

http://www.sftff.org

Saturday November 10 @ 8:00pm:
Program 2: GOT MONSTERS?
Buy tickets…

Continue Reading Lil Orphan G.R. Annie goes to SF Trans Film Fest…

Workshop at Power of Words Conference

This weekend – the Transformative Language Arts Network‘s annual conference called “The Power of Words,” in which TLA practitioners, teachers, and those interested in exploring, all gather to explore how we can use our words — written,  spoken or sung — to make community, deepen healing, witness one another, wake ourselves up, and foster empowerment and transformation. (more info here)

Online Fundraising workshop @ Leeway Foundation 9/30/12

Leeway Foundation is offering a special workshop led by Ezra Berkley Nepon (ACG ’07) and Yaba Amgborale Blay (ACG ’10) on September 30, 2:00pm-4:30pm in our office (1315 Walnut Street, Suite 832). Venue is wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation provided by request.

This workshop is FREE but pre-registration is required. RSVP here.

Continue Reading Online Fundraising workshop @ Leeway Foundation 9/30/12…

New Queer Jewish Writing: Dan Fishback and Ezra Berkley Nepon

Tuesday Sept 11 2012, 6PM
Kelly Writer’s House Arts Cafe, 3805 Locust Walk @ UPENN Campus
RSVP on facebook
co-sponsored by: Creative Ventures and the Wexler Fund for Programs in Jewish Life and Culture

more info

listen: to an audio recording of this event.

watch: a video recording of this event via KWH-TV.

The Gold Fish swims in CA

I’m directing this show in SF! Plus a little cameo appearance… check it out!

CounterPULSE and The Water Underground present:
The Gold Fish, or, Straight Flushes for the Manifestly Destined
JULY 13-14, FRI-SAT at 8pm, 2012

The Gold Fish is a one-act musical wherein a wayfaring Salmon has to pawn her eggs to gamble for river passage. A Nymph casino dealer confronts its water wars PTSD, The Army Chorus of Engineers gets lost, the Tycoon’s dirty dealing ends in cataclysmic wash-out. The Riparian Dispossessed Choir arises! 

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