Update: Festival Finds New Venue After Catholic Church Dropped Support Over LGBTQ Content | Playbill

Industry News Update: Festival Finds New Venue After Catholic Church Dropped Support Over LGBTQ Content The International Human Rights Art Festival, with a lineup that includes Kathleen Turner, secures a new home at the last minute.
Kathleen Turner Monica Simoes

The International Human Rights Art Festival (IHRA), which was scheduled to take place at Saint Mary’s Church in New York City October 15, has found a new home at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn. The festival was dropped by its original venue just 72 hours prior to the event due to the nature of two of its shows.

According to the festival’s producers, the shows in question contained LGBTQ content that the Catholic Church aimed to censor—instructing the festival that upon their removal from the lineup, IHRA would be allowed to continue.

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Maybe Burke

“We cannot have this kind of work in the Catholic Church,” a spokesman for Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Saint Mary's Church told festival producer Tom Block.

IHRA will now continue as planned on October 15 at its new home in Brooklyn.

“The idea that some of us would go forward while others were rejected is antithetical to our mission, our belief and frankly, our faith,“ commented Block. “Respect does not stop at the doorway to one or another segment of the population.“

The IHRA festival is headlined by Oscar and Tony Award-nominated actor and activist Kathleen Turner, who is set to perform a monologue from the one-woman play Red Hot Patriot about journalist Molly Ivins.

IHRA is presented in conjunction with the Culture Project.

“I feel fortunate in that I am not beholden to a spiritual structure that tells me who is worthy of a voice and protection, and who is not,” the producer commented. “We believe that all people share this right—we will not pick and choose among our acts or our issues, allowing some while rejecting others.“

Some of the other artists scheduled to perform at IHRA include Maybe Burke, who is tapped to perform a selection from their cabaret Accidental Trans Anthems and Thank You for Coming Out.

For more information on the festival and to contact IHRA, click here.

 
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