OUTsider Arts Festival

OUTsider Arts Festival is a transmedia nonprofit that celebrates the bold originality and creative nonconformity of LGBTQ+ communities through the presentation of provocative, overlooked, and out-of-the-box art. The festival’s mediums include but are not limited to: film, dance, theater, performance art, music, writing, and visual art.

OUTsider Fest was founded in December of 2013 when, once upon a time, festival organizer (including AAAFF and aGLIFF) and DIY arts scholar (notably, Queercore), Curran Nault, came up with the concept of OUTsider. Nault pitched OUTsider to five queer artists and festival friends on one food and drink-filled evening. The idea pointed our that Austin, TX, while a creative zenith, also seemed to be missing something: a queer space that pushed participants to explore beyond their artistic comfort zones; that created powerful dialogue between artists, academics, and audience members; and that brought together LGBTQ+ artists from around the world.

The name “OUTsider” refers to the act of refusing shame and living one’s life “out,” including living “out” as an ally of the LGBTQ+ communities. “OUTsider” also expresses an affinity with outsider sensibilities and people— those who take risks and dare to be different from an in-group, and all marginalized folks who live and think outside the status quo. These notions of difference and “outsider-ship” inform the festival’s structure and content. Through its annual festival and conference, OUTsider unites queer artists, audiences and scholars from around the globe to exchange ideas, ignite conversations, transcend boundaries, and experience new pleasures through artistic discovery.