The Two Year Journey Of Bringing Pride To Dumbo

The journey to curating DUMBO’s very first Pride party began back in 2019. I started bartending in DUMBO—specifically at the bar in the Archway where the party was located in. After developing a relationship with them during Summer 2019 – they reached out to me later that Fall asking me if I’d be interested in helping them produce their first pride party for 2020. I was honored to be asked to be a part of this so I was excited to accept. Unfortunately, that couldn’t materialize due to the pandemic and we had to cancel Pride 2020. Moving forward to this year – with everything opening back up and us beginning to resume normal life – I was asked if I wanted to both bartend back here in Dumbo along with DumboBID asking if I wanted to pick back up with organizing Pride 2021. I was happy to accept both offers.

Photos – Ming Photography 

My role as a producer was to be given creative control to develop Dumbo Pride. My first step was choosing to make it to a party.  I decided what DJs I wanted to be a part of this along with including drag performances. It was important to me to book as much POC talent as possible (especially considering Dumbo’s demographic.) Beginning with DJ Kai Song to open – he’s a very talented teenage DJ with so much potential. Followed by Oscar Nñ & Mazurbate who have been some of my favorite DJs since the first time I’ve heard them play that I can also call a friend. Next, it was a no-brainer to book Xunami Muse & Beaujangless. They are both superstars in their own right that I also have the privilege to call friends. Alas, with all five of them being more than happy to be a part of this – an extremely talented lineup was created.

This event wouldn’t have come about without my boss, Randi, who was also a producer for this party. She’s the one who finessed all of the sponsors we had. I sat and contributed in all meetings with these sponsors but being able to meet with these sponsors, handle its logistics + activations— that credit goes solely to her.

But, there were challenges along the road. To begin, this was the very first (big) party that I produced. The amount of anxiety I had was crazy. I was putting my name, and thus my reputation, on this so it HAD to be successful. (All while being in school and just graduating with my undergrad I might add). This was definitely a learn-as-you-go experience for me. I’ve learned about all the small details that go into producing a large-scale party. I was stuck in the middle of keeping a business scope and keeping expenses to a minimum as possible while making sure my friends got paid well.

I had two factors against me with our budget:

The Archway is a public plaza where you cannot charge an admission fee (therefore we can’t make revenue from ticket sales)

This was Dumbo’s first pride event – none of us could have been sure of its turnout, but I wouldn’t budge on talent payment- it’s important to me that my booked talent are paid well.

Between all my friends (and friends of friends) helping out by promoting the party flyer on their socials channels, friends inviting their friends through word of mouth, and lastly, the DJs + Queens turning it the fuck out— I couldn’t have asked for a better party. I truly thank each and everyone that showed love and pulled up. Looking forward to Dumbo Pride 2022.