Sparking Storytelling & Connection for queer St. Louisans
SQSH is a grassroots community-based nonprofit that facilitates healing spaces and provides holistic support for queer St. Louisans to thrive. In 2022, SQSH embarked on a multi-approach endeavor to promote queer & trans visibility & healing through an outdoor event & digital storytelling. I led the art direction and designed materials for the project.
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Social Media / Event / Print / Web / Storytelling
Role
Designer, Event Organizing Support
Client
St. Louis Queer Support & Healing
2022
My Approach
PHOTOSHOOT: First, SQSH hosted their first major community event – a healing festival focused on queer & trans visibility & healing. To pull it off, I designed a suite a graphics that helped us recruit event personnel & support, entice registration, and promote venue navigation.
STORYTELLING: I then used the photos & materials collected at the event to put together a digital campaign aimed at empowering queer & trans St. Louisans to speak up on social justice issues they care about. I organized and designed photos and quotes from the event into 5 themes, which I shared across SQSH’s social media and website.
The Outcome
We successfully mobilized a vast team of 50+ volunteers, photographers, peer counselors, healers, childcare providers, and more. We gathered 80+ queer St. Louisans to enjoy the event + share their stories through postcards, interviews, open mic, photoshoot, and a variety of healing activities.
“It was so powerful to finally feel like I wasn’t alone in STL. It can be isolating to move to a new city, especially as a queer person and this event just felt like falling into the arms of the community in a really beautiful way.”
– Event participant
PHOTOSHOOT ✽
PHOTOSHOOT ✽
✽ Social media graphics
✽ Promotional e-newsletter, Facebook & Eventbrite events, flyer
✽ Postcards with thematic prompts, event signage
✽ Post-event social media graphics
STORYTELLING ✽
STORYTELLING ✽
✽ Storytelling micro-site with stories, photos, and artwork centered around themes like queer identity & mental health.
The homepage also included information about SQSH’s storytelling values, ways to support the work, and forthcoming anthology.
✽ Included in the site was 5 thematic storytelling pages, each artistically laid out with queer St. Louisans’ stories, photos, and artwork
✽ Boosted social media series of storytelling posts