Black queer archival exhibition coming to Kansas City!
{B/qKC}'s semi-regular newsletter! | pub_3
> “Hello_world!
I hope you are having a lovely start to Spring, and pushing (or scheming 😉) through the Hells of the Trump Administration. These are dark times–so hold your loved ones tight and let’s do what we can to fight for our future!
I have a BUNCH of exciting updates for {B/qKC}, including the launch of a new gallery exhibition in Kansas City themed after my most recent volume of research.
I’m also still looking for lovely donors and sponsors to continue this much needed work in our community and beyond.
Keep reading!
TABLE_OF_CONTENTS
New solo exhibition
Welcome our new intern: Anevay
{B/qKC} is inducted into Gray Area’s inaugural Cultural Memory Lab
Influence beyond the archive; recent wins
Snippet from the archive: DJ SoulMutt & DJ Hike
Come check out my studio residency w/ Charlotte Street
Support our work!
SOAKIE’S WAS HOME: a solo exhibition by Nasir Anthony Montalvo
In super exciting news, I am pleased to announce my first solo gallery exhibition with The Waiting Room, “SOAKIE’S WAS HOME.” Here’s a short description below:
The Waiting Room is pleased to present, SOAKIE’S WAS HOME: an interactive solo exhibition by Nasir Anthony Montalvo, telling the story of Soakie’s, a Black gay bar in Downtown Kansas City from 1993-2004–ultimately shutdown by an $850m government-sponsored gentrification project. 20 years since the bar’s closing, this exhibition explores how we use Soakie’s memory to build Black queer futurity.
The exhibition will be up from May 3rd, 2025 through June 20, 2025 at 1106 Santa Fe Street, Kansas City, MO 64101.
There will be an opening reception on May 3rd, 2025 from 5:00pm to 8:00pm CT.
Check out the official announcement on Instagram! >
Welcome {B/qKC}’s Digitzation Intern, Anevay Martz!
Earlier this year, {B/qKC} partnered with University of Missouri-Kansas City for their Mellon Humanities Internship Program. This program provides undergraduate humanities students with meaningful, PAID work experiences through matching them with local community organizations.
It is with immense gratitude that I announce Anevay Martz as {B/qKC}’s Digitization Intern as part of this program. Anevay has been helping develop the archive’s Digital Asset Register (DAR) over the past several months in preparation for the launch of our website.
Here’s some more from Anevay:
PRONOUNS: she/they
YEAR: sophomore
MAJOR: sociology, with a double minor in communications and race, ethnic & gender studies
BIO: “i am a lover of music, crafts, thrift/antique stores, cafes, and hiking! when im not roaming around KC, im probably off to another midwest city for a concert. i just love meeting and experiencing things with people, which is why i am a dedicated advocate for equity. it’s been so much fun working on this project and i can’t thank Nasir enough! <3”
FAVE MATERIAL FROM THE ARCHIVE: “i love this photo of badass yellow boy! the fit is flawless and the “HERS” chalice lives rent free in my brain.”
Cheers to Anevay! She recently just pledged to continue working with {B/qKC} over the Summer as part of the program. Maybe you’ll see us out in the wild soon!
{B/qKC} is selected out of 181 applicants worldwide for Gray Area’s Cultural Memory Lab!
Still in SHOCK over this: {B/qKC} is part of the inaugural cohort of the Cultural Memory Lab!
Founded as a collaboration between Gray Area, FFDW, and TechSoup, the Cultural Memory Lab is an incubator empowering community-based archives, libraries, museums, and other cultural organizations to explore decentralized strategies for preserving collective memory.
Among two other projects from Oaxaca and New York, we’ll be using the program to explore decentralized storage in ensuring long-term accessibility of our growing digital archive, as well as exploring DAO models for community governance.
We are putting Kansas City on the motherf**kin’ map! We are extremely honored to carry on the storytelling tradition through the digital age. And dually honored to the program facilitators for believing in the importance of this work.
Read the official announcement here >
Teaching the storytelling tradition; incorporating narrative research with The Opportunity Agenda
As I’ve stated over and over, {B/qKC} is about so much more than a collection of the past. Where movement will truly happen is what we do with the study of the past–how can we use storytelling to propel us into a brand new future?
Over the past month, I had the opportunity to partake in two particularly special experiences I wanted to share:
Literary KC’s Visiting Writers
On March 25th and April 1st, I had the opportunity to visit a class of adult learners studying for the HiSET–leading attendees through a two-part engagement I dubbed “cherished moments,” where about the importance of our memories and what it means to constantly voice our stories into the atmosphere.
The vulnerability and excitement everyone displayed in the room was incredible, and I am grateful I was able to instill in folks the praxis of {B/qKC} with folks I otherwise might not have met.
The Opportunity Agenda’s (TOA) Culture & Narrative Fellowship
At the beginning of March, I wrapped up my 8-month long artist fellowship with The Opportunity Agenda. The fellowship culminated with a final pitch presentation of the cultural interventions we're planning to incorporate in our work (more on this soon 😙).
This was such a special experience and cohort, and provided critical funding for me to literally exist over the past several months. Overall, I was glad to share with so many fellow cohort members the importance of radical community archives.
Very grateful to have had these opportunities, and hope to continue doing things like this locally and nationally.
Read about my experience with TOA here >
Snippet from the archive
starlacoll030 | DJ Hike and DJ SoulMutt @ Soakie’s, ca. 2003
Just a quick snippet for y’all this time around. Of course, the music was bumpin’ at Soakie’s–so much so, Starla Carr had to grab this photo of the DJs one night for her photo collection.
Pictured here, from left to right, are DJ SoulMutt and DJ Hike within the garage extension at Soakie’s. When I asked Tisha Taylor the kinds of music you could hear at Soakie’s back in the day, she said “a lot of Salt-N-Pepa.”
Come say hi at Charlotte Street’s Open Studios this Saturday!
April 26th 2025, 3:00pm – 10:00pm CT
Exciting news! I’m opening up my studio, along with 30 other artists, this Saturday as part of Charlotte Street’s free Open Studios. I was honored last year to be chosen for a 2024-26 Writing Studio Residency with Charlotte Street. This studio has served as the base of operations for {B/qKC} so far–housing some of my vintage tech, framing and more.
At the event, I’ll be showing some sneak peeks of my upcoming solo exhibition, as well as opening up pre-orders for exclusive new merchandise from the archive!
Come say hi!
Learn more about Charlotte Street’s Open Studios >
Support this work! (like seriously, I’m very broke)
As you can see, we’ve already been up to so much this year! And I’d love y’alls support to keep it going.
At the end of last year, I launched a crowfunding campaign for {B/qKC} and we only reached 30% of our goal.
If everyone subscribed to this newsletter gave $20, we’d blow our goal out of the water!
{B/qKC} is fiscally sponsored, which means all contributions are 100% tax-deductible and go directly to supporting the work I do as a Black queer artist and the sustainability of this project.
By supporting {B/qKC}, you’re investing in my work as an artist and memory worker and in the long-term preservation of Black queer Midwestern stories. Together, we can build a future where our histories are celebrated and never forgotten.
With love,
Nasir