This month, Austin will host the second annual OUTsider Festival. The fest, which will last five days, aims to celebrate the diverse nature of the LBGTQI creative community.
Before founding OUTsider, artistic director Curran Nault spent many years working on various film fests and found someting missing in the festival world. He "felt like there wasn't something that really kind of connected queer artists across disciplines, and connection's really kind of the key idea, the sort of genesis idea, of OUTsider." True to his vision, this year's festival will include film, performance art, dance, theater, music, and more.
To fill that niche, Nault set out to create a festival that would welcome artists of all sorts, giving them a place to work together and experiment.
Nault is pretty serious about the idea of community, making it a point to hold as many of the festival activities as possible in one central location, Salvage Vanguard Theater. "We really wanted to have kind of one main space where everything's happening," he says. "We also have a conference component to the festival, and it happens on the couch in my living room."
The OUTsider Festival is February 17 - 21 at Salvage Vanguard Theater.
