As Pride month draws to a close, I reflect on how the month went for AIDF and all the places we went in June. We went to:

• Explore Round Rock Pride (we didn’t table, just touched grass and had a good time)
• The Austin Eagle for the June Eagle Pride Market
• The Majestic Ball held at the Paramount Theater
• and rounded out our Pride Month with Taylor Pride, celebrating their 5th year in operation. In addition, we held a fundraiser event on June 6, where we raised about $250 to put towards our 2025 Festival.

This is the first time that AIDF, in its history of existence, has been able to physically attend other events outside of our own Festival. While we are known for our yearly event, this last year and a half has been spent brainstorming, attending, and tabling at various places to engage better with our local community. However, this was not met without its own unique set of challenges.

We are a very small organization comprised of four people - Alexandria, our Treasurer and Director of entertainment; Jenna, our Volunteer Coordinator; Liss, our Vice President, and myself. We all have full-time day jobs and we juggle other personal obligations to make time for everything we do for AIDF, and are a fully volunteer-run organization. As soon as one Festival ends, we are already a step ahead and already working on a new Festival. This includes securing funding, our venues, performers and contracts, and much more. We hit the ground running as soon as our designated rot week post-Festival is over - and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Nothing we do can happen without the support of our community, grants and donations which keep AIDF running.

Leading up to our 10-year anniversary, I feel an insurmountable pressure and anxiety surrounding this year’s event. I am personally battling a severe, lifelong perfectionism complex that flares up whenever we get close to another Festival. There are so many tasks and details that need to be accounted for, and making sure all of our performers, vendors and attendees are having fun is something I am always thinking about.

I am also always thinking about how much funding we can secure and put towards the Festival every year; last year, we had the Thrive grant from the City of Austin that helped us produce one of our most magical Festivals yet. But, myself and the Board are constantly looking for more grants and donations to support this year’s event - at work between phone calls and appointments, at night chatting with our industry friends, and during the weekend in bed after a long night out on the town. Nonprofit work consumes you, and it is extremely difficult (for myself at least) to maintain a proper work-life balance with a project that gives work and amazing opportunities to drag performers in Central Texas and around the globe. No pressure, right? But the sky is the limit, nothing’s impossible, and even amidst an oppressive local government that is constantly demonizing drag performers and the larger LGBTQIA+ community, we find strength in numbers with our global family of supporters who believe in our mission.

This year, we want to start on the right foot with our new Board of Directors to commemorate our accomplishments, and step forward with our new and improved mission statement - to empower underrepresented drag performers, and introduce them to a global network of talent to find work locally and globally. We have heard so many amazing stories about how certain drag artists got to meet other performers from other cities, states, and countries, and would then go to perform (and even get on TV shows!) and grow in their art. This has and always will be the goal, and we hope to see you at our 10-year anniversary between September 18th - 20th to see the magic for yourself.

Since our inception, we have faced many trials and tribulations that prevented us from working for our highest selves for the sake of the organization, and it cost us many opportunities and relationships that we are working to rekindle. This time, we want to do the community right by being as transparent as possible with our Board’s actions and whereabouts, and invite feedback from you by sending us emails or DMing us on our social media channels. Since our last voting cycle at the end of the last Festival, we have removed all Board members who did not fit the mission or represent AIDF in an appropriate manner. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused, and AIDF has made a commitment to be as public as possible (including attending in-person events, of which we all try to physically be at) with who we are and what we’re about. We hope to forge a better future with you coming into our 10th year in operation, and we wish to rebuild the foundation with you and our performers alike, with your interests and needs in mind. This organization could not exist anywhere without YOU.

We have an incredible lineup featuring many notable and TV-star artists across all styles of drag (hint hint) that we will start announcing soon this Friday, July 4. We are brimming with excitement, and we can’t wait to share what we have in store with you. If you or someone you know has a connection with an energy drink company, please let us know - it’s go time.

With love,

gabz, AIDF President

Wrap it up, Skittles squad.