Most importantly, though, Party Queens does not compromise diversity or fair pay in an industry that often relies on undervaluing its talent. Solidarity is critical to their work and their practices are based on fairness and giving others a chance. Gemma Nye sees the collective "expanding their reach and services, normalizing drag entertainment as a trade and encouraging others to come to Party Queens' level." The group has already grown its operation to cities including Vancouver, Montreal and the GTA through successful collaborations with community partners. When it comes to the future of Party Queens, the group is ambitious. I think it's really uplifted a lot of other trans performers to step into the light." "I felt like that was the right step, and I can see how much they've evolved the entire company into a better reflection of what our community needs. "So that's why I passed it down to my drag child, Gemma Nye, who is a trans drag artist in the city," Sister Mary Clarence says. It was really important, they felt, to have someone who represented the community better. They didn't think it was their place as a cis-presenting white drag queen to be organizing all of the performers when there was such a diverse drag scene in the city. (Party Queens)Ī few years ago, Sister Mary Clarence chose to step down as Party Queens' owner. Gemma Nye, God, Jizz Elle, Shay Nanigans and Artasia outside the Neon Sign Museum as part of Fruit Loop AR Pride in May 2021. By allowing those who usually don't see themselves represented in mainstream drag to have a platform, Party Queens has become an important support, collaborator and booster for LGBTQ2S+ communities. It's not just out of a need for diversity, but we wanna create an amazing f-king talented drag scene."įrom Party Queens' Fresh Fruits series, which interviews new trans and non-binary performers, to their outdoor and virtual drag shows during the pandemic, the collective is focused on removing barriers. "We try to extend the platform of drag to people who have been pushed out of it for so long just based on the RuPaul's Drag Race standards. But it extends deeper than just race and gender, the CEO explains, to include all kinds of bodies and abilities. Shay Nanigans advises that producers and bookers talk to a lot of people, as organizers tend to fall into this trap and invite the same folks over and over again.Īccording to Gemma Nye, diversity is the foundation of everything Party Queens does. It's a familiar story: a bar meets performers who are trans or people of colour, who they really like, and continuously book them exclusively to demonstrate a performative commitment to diversity. Shay Nanigans, an Edmonton drag king who hosts Party Queens' Global Getdown, a show exclusively highlighting performers of colour, shares that, historically, many shows have included "a lot of white drag performers or designated POC performers." And, as Gemma Nye says, "If you have an all-white cast, you're gonna have an all-white audience." In fact, some gay bars can really take the theme "white party" a tad too far.
As we know, queer spaces are not immune from reproducing cis-het and white privileges. The other pillar of Party Queens is diversity.
They're redefining the industry with essential practices like compensating performers fairly for fair work - rights granted by law to workers in multiple other fields. The group successfully acts like a union for workers who are often underpaid and unsupported. Party Queens CEO Gemma Nye explains that one of the main pillars of the collective is to promote standard and transparent pay to performers, regardless of their experience. If you have an all-white cast, you're gonna have an all-white audience. Party Queens executive producer Emmonia remembers the state of the industry even just a few years ago: "Mostly in private bookings, there would be people expecting to have queens doing a couple of numbers and interact for $100 total for all of them." The amount of work it actually takes to show up to an event in drag seemed to be a popular misunderstanding among event bookers, which led to the conception of the group. Today, the collective operates in major cities across Canada, but it started with a simple yet essential goal from Sister Mary Clarence, who wanted to promote a "more fair and equitable distribution of gigs and coin." Based on principles of fairness and equity, their mentality at the beginning of the group was "if you are brave enough to put on the wig and the lashes, then you're a Party Queen." Queeries All in the family: How Call Me Mother stands out in a sea of drag competition shows