JULY UPDATE:

WOW! The community showed up in a TREMENDOUS way and met our goal without a hitch! So we're setting a new, bigger, better goal--LET'S MATCH OUR MATCH and hit a new goal of $125K by the end of summer so we can serve a new LGBTQIA+ cohort in January!

When we officially launched FEMME HOUSE to address the lack of female and gender-expansive representation behind the scenes in the technical areas of music, we vowed to keep a few values at our core, and promised:

1. to provide music production education and music industry resources with the lowest possible barriers to entry,

2. to amplify voices that are most often relegated to the margins of the music industry, namely women and gender expansive folks, and

3. to honor the many mentors, allies, and supporters that got us where we are by lifting as we climb the ladder they built.

As we celebrate our third birthday and reflect on those core values, we can’t help but marvel at how far we’ve come with the support of this beautiful community we’ve built thanks to you. What started as about a dozen folks huddled together over laptops at Ableton studios has grown into:

1. Free monthly workshop sessions on music production and DJ technique

2. An online academy with courses that expand on our free workshop topics offered on a sliding scale, “pay what you can” basis that are also free for creators of color

3. A fellowship for BIPOC creators that provides four students a year with all the gear, education, and opportunities they need to kickstart their music journey

4. A thriving promotional platform focused on amplifying a diverse chorus of voices via our weekly radio show on SiriusXM Diplo’s Revolution, live streams, album releases, tours, and festival takeovers

To say thank you, to grow our impact, and to keep making good on those original promises and core values, we’re doubling down on our commitment to equity and intersectionality by honoring the memory of Theresa Velasquez—a barrier breaking, LGBTQ woman in music.

Theresa’s undeniable talent for music helped lift people’s spirits, and her DJ sets brought joy and light to everyone’s hearts. She had the unique ability to pick up any instrument and make it sing. At only 36, she had risen through the ranks from DJ-ing festivals to becoming an executive at Live Nation, working tirelessly to make the music industry more inclusive for queer artists, and being named on Billboard’s ‘2020 Pride List of Industry-Shaping LGBTQ Executives.’

In honor of Theresa’s memory and in celebration of Pride Month, we’re launching new programming for our LGBTQIA+ family, and in doing so, we pledge to continue her legacy by providing opportunities to aspiring LGBTQIA+ artists that will ensure they can thrive in the music industry. We do so acknowledging that dance music has its roots in black, brown, and predominately queer communities. And we do so understanding our responsibility to honor the holistic identity and rich intersections of our community.

Today, we proudly launch the Theresa Velasquez Memorial Scholarship and the Theresa Velasquez Award for Outstanding Music Executive—programs designed to empower and inspire the next generation of queer creatives, and incentivize queer executives to unapologetically blaze the trails on which they’ll make their way. These programs will continue Theresa’s legacy of passion, and ensure that it lives on forever.

But, we can’t do it alone. In order to build these two new programs in Theresa’s memory, and enhance our internal capacity and infrastructure to not only sustain them but ensure they thrive, we’re going to need a little help. That’s why we’re setting a goal of raising $100,000 by the end of summer to help us cover costs through the end of 2022. Any donation, of any size, will be matched up to $25,000 thanks to a generous anonymous donor, and every penny raised will support the growth of FEMME HOUSE’s impact in making a music industry more reflective of our full community, and give us all a little more permission to show up as our full selves.

FEMME HOUSE Announces New LGBTQIA+ Programming

By Femme House

FEMME HOUSE Announces New LGBTQIA+ Programming

Introducing the Theresa Velasquez Memorial Programs for Queer Creators.