Here to Stay will host a benefit show/market at Tulips FTW from 6 to 11pm tomorrow (Wed).
People can peruse art from 20 different vendors, listen to music from four local bands, and enjoy fare from Kay Baby’s Vegan.
Proceeds from the $10 cover ($7 presale) benefit Buckle Bunnies Fund, a mutual aid group helping Texans seeking abortions.
“Our main goal is really to promote queer joy,” said Max Benedict, founder of Here to Stay.
The nonprofit has a pretty simple focus right now: providing community to LGBTQ-identifying, disabled, and BIPOC folks through a series of art markets while raising money for mutual aid groups.
“Having a space specifically for marginalized folks in Fort Worth to listen to music and get inspiration from others and connect is really important,” Benedict said.
Benedict did not set out to begin a nonprofit this year. “This really caught me off guard.”
Benedict had organized a few backyard LGBTQ-friendly concerts/flea markets earlier in the year and received good feedback, he said.
“So many people were like, ‘Oh, my God. I don’t have a place where I can feel comfortable being out as queer or out as trans,’ ” he said.
Benedict realized that with the help of some friends, he could provide the space he had needed as a queer teen growing up in the suburbs.
The group has big plans for the future (a tea shop by day and concert venue by night, for one) but for now will focus on the series of markets.
“We want to make a space where people can show up and be authentically themselves,” he said.
