Art and Soul Innovations is a statewide social justice nonprofit in Wisconsin. Proud Theater is what launched us back in 2011, and is still a huge part of who we are.
Our Mission
We encourage artistic expression, personal development, and leadership in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and allied youth by supporting the youth’s original works and by helping the youth to educate their peers and the community through the presentation of those works.
Our Mantra
Empowering LGBTQ+ leaders
When we say we empower LGBTQ+ leaders, we know that they are already capable of doing amazing things. What we do is help them to realize their potential. LGBTQ+ people still face isolation and discrimination, and bringing communities together and providing support gives people what they need to own their power.
How We Do It
Building Brave Spaces
We create spaces where people feel free to take risks and share their full identities and selves with the world. We create supportive environments where people don’t leave parts of themselves at the door.
Bridging Intergenerational Divides
There are few spaces that intentionally bridge generational gaps, and the divide between generations in the LGBTQ+ is large. Younger generations are denied the right to learn their history due to erasure in schools, and the community at-large doesn’t see their stories portrayed in media.
We challenge these generational gaps by building spaces that challenge power structures relating to age. We believe in shared leadership because it creates better outcomes for all.
Our Story
In 1999, a local Madison queer activist Sunshine Jones called up Callen Harty, who was working with OutReach in Madison at the time. Sunshine’s daughter, Sol, was looking to start a theater group for queer and allied youth. While Harty hadn’t met either Sol or Sunshine, he agreed to meet to talk about the idea.
Out of that meeting, Proud Theater began. The first performance was “amidst drag-shows and beer tents at Madison’s annual MAGIC Picnic” at Brittingham Park in 2000. Proud Theater has continued since then and grown beyond the early rag-tag group in Madison to additional cities in Wisconsin, through new chapters and guest performances and workshops.
Sol and her moms, Jo Kelley and Sunshine, and Callen and his partner, Brian Wild, all put in countless hours in our early years to build something with momentum that could sustain itself when they stepped away.
A New Chapter
In 2011, Brian Wild, Callen Harty, Sol Kelley-Jones, Darlene Harbick, Heather Renken, and Sue Slotten came together and formed the first Board of Directors for Art & Soul Innovations, a new organization launched to house Proud Theater. After being a program housed within other organizations for nonprofit status, we looked to our future and realized our goal of being an independent organization.