With so many fantastic queer crowdfunding campaigns, it’s hard to know where to look first! Check out Culture Pledge’s round-up of the best queer crowdfunding campaigns on the internet – fall edition.

Seed Funding 2: Art Celebrating Trans Bodies

Organized by trans activist and gallery owner Samo, Seed Funding 2 is a Crowdfunder campaign to develop an art book that “doesn’t just feel like an art book; it feels like empowerment.” For instance, Samo incorporates his own experiences transitioning in his artwork and wants to see the trans community “take up space” in both the world at large and the art world. 

Samo expresses an intense awareness of the trans community’s plight during the COVID-19 pandemic. With mental health problems and isolation already rife amongst trans people, being cut-off from community and support systems for extended periods creates enormous problems for anyone transitioning. Nevertheless, Samo aims to combat some of this with his art campaign.

The project aims to show the beauty of trans bodies and trans art. Samo is creating a “unique world-class, global arts project,” which he aims to launch in Spring 2021. 

You can go to the Crowdfunder page to donate to the campaign.

Insider Art

Insider Art was fully funded this fall, allowing creator Shelly Bond to produce a softcover copy of the comic compendium. The collection came about to support comic book stores owned by women, non-binary people, and other marginalized gender identities. 

Nevertheless, for the queer community, comic book stores are often the one place they feel safe, welcome, and accepted. During stay-at-home orders, this safe space was inaccessible. To help fight the resulting depression and isolation, Shelly Bond curated the works of over 150 marginalized comic artists and compiled them in a digital book. The digital copy made a staggering $5,000 USD on Gumroad, every cent of which went towards struggling comic book retailers.

Inspired by the digital edition (which will remain exclusive to Gumroad), Bond decided to create a softcover version of Insider Art. Shelly hoped the campaign for the softcover book would allow Insider Art to offer payment to its contributors.

The book is split into eight sections, based on rooms in the house, to reflect the weeks when we have all been confined to our own home. In addition, it’s full of comics, beautiful illustrations, fun things to do inside, recipes, and more.

FUTURE

We all need hope right now, and this lesbian love story is just the thing! FUTURE is a graphic novel about a married couple (female-female) stranded in space and time. One of them is dying, and they’re about to rewrite the history of the Earth. Except, they’re stuck without a ship.

Created in Britain, FUTURE received support from Arts Council England and is currently over 200% funded on Kickstarter LGBT.

The team behind this astronaut story are all successful in their own right and very talented.

• Tom Woodman, the writer, has received accolades from Time Out, Metro, and The Evening Standard. He’s a writer, editor, and comedian and recently edited the Big Hype anthology.
• Rupert Smissen, the artist, is an award-winning illustrator, and he has worked with Ray-Ban, Topman, and more in an artistic context.
• Aditya Bidikar, the letterer, is another award-winner, winning the 2017 Broken Frontier’s Best Letterer award. For instance, Aditya has lettered for Image, Vault, and Unbound.

FUTURE is the inaugural release from a brand new indie publisher, Cast Iron Books. The publisher will focus on graphic novels and illustrated books.

Many Queer Crowdfunding Causes to Support

There’s never been a better time to support the queer community. For instance, any of the dozens of queer crowdfunding campaigns out there could use your support. However, the campaigns highlighted in this post are just the tip of the iceberg. The queer community has been a champion of the arts for a long time, and it’s time queer art got the attention and support it deserves.