The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) spent $20,000 of taxpayer money to fund a pride festival event on “criminal queerness,” according to spending records.
The NEA grant’s express purpose is to “support” the organization’s “criminal queerness festival” in an effort to, “support public engagement with, and access to, various forms of excellent art across the nation.” The grant will extend from June 1, 2023 to October 31, 2023.
The National Queer Theater put on the festival from June 21 to 23 in New York City, according to the event website. The free event featured productions of two plays focusing on the continued war in Ukraine. The even also features a staged reading of The cHIMera, a story of an intersex person in 19th century France. (RELATED: Biden Admin Grants $2 Million To Feminist Group That Lectures Men About ‘Toxic Masculinities’ In Puerto Rico)
“This pride, you are invited to honor their bravery and witness works highlighting the queer experience in countries where queer art is criminalized or censored. This year’s festival focuses on queer artists from Ukraine and Eastern Europe,” according to the group’s website.
TODAY! “The Survival,” a play by AFI’s Writer In Residence @achirop, will be showing at the fourth annual @QueerTheater Criminal Queerness Festival at the Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium TODAY, June 24th at 7:30 pm. To learn more, visit: https://t.co/4IHHb2bbSn pic.twitter.com/6lG5Q38zL3
— Artistic Freedom Initiative (@artistic_AFI) June 24, 2022
“The Criminal Queerness Festival is back at Lincoln Center and will take place in the David Rubenstein Atrium as part of the Summer for the City LGBTQIA+ Pride celebration!”
Among the many other events put on by the theater group is a “Rainbow Connection Queer Theater Camp” that is open to minors.
“We are thrilled to partner with Arts Project of Cherry Grove on the 3rd annual Rainbow Connection queer theater camp on Fire Island! Applications are open for this free program for youth 16-20 and elders age 60+.”
The NEA did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.
The NEA granted $35,000 to a transgender dance tour led by a “queer choreographer” which covers May 2023 to May 2024. The performances, put on by Fresh Meat Productions, are, “performed by a powerhouse ensemble of five trans, queer and gender-non-conforming dancers,” The Daily Wire reported.