An art space for QBIPOC creatives in MPLS

My name is Vanessa McDuffie—I’m a special education teacher, a writer, local creative and a community advocate from Minneapolis. 

As a dark skinned queer femme womxn living in the Midwest, I’ve had to carve out my own representation along my journey to self acceptance.  It hasn’t been easy, but my community has looked out for me in ways that I will forever be grateful for.
Representation has come a long way since the time I was searching for it in so many white spaces..

But it needs to go further...
I’m ready to carve out another piece of it. Not for me, but for the queer folx coming up behind.

NUE BEDFORD is an art gallery DEVOTED to uplifting the QUEER BIPOC voices of Minneapolis. The idea is to have a unified space to house local art of the queer community in a safe, loving, supportive environment. It’s this generation’s job to continue the goal of visibility for our queer siblings so they can see themselves sooner than we did.

This is a dream I’ve had my entire life. My existence is devoted to the art world and community service of Minnesota, and I intend to do my part to highlight the queer BIPOC artists who want space to express and my the world brighter. 

Community & allies: please help make this big  dream become a reality. 

We need a space!! Help us make it possible to rent a space to (eventually!) create workshops, pop up shops, gallery events and networking opportunities for an inclusive Minneapolis art scene. 

As of now, funds will go to the following:

-space to rent
-website and logo
-marketing budget 
-events budget 

We’re starting slow—we need a space, but it won’t be physically     available to the public until the end of the year (due to Covid). But there’s plenty of work to do before then.