Oasis Arts 2024 Impact Report
Oasis Arts is dedicated to uplifting the voices of the historically suppressed, disenfranchised, and overlooked LGBTQ communities by providing a platform to showcase their artistic endeavors.
In partnership with the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Film Commission, and drawing on a 10-year legacy in the queer arts scene, Oasis Arts aims to elevate diversity and bring dynamic art to the community by encouraging participation across generations, cultural backgrounds, and personal expressions.
In 2024, Oasis Arts achieved…
Oasis Arts mission is to raise the impact of queer arts both locally and worldwide.
Living Wage Theater Arts Fund – Ensuring fair compensation for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists, providing financial stability for performers, creators, designers, and technicians while producing high-caliber work.
Visual Arts Fund – Commissions murals and public installations to spotlight queer and trans artists, embedding cultural storytelling into San Francisco’s urban landscape
Film & Video Arts Incubator – Offers professional space, equipment, and production support for Bay Area queer filmmakers.
Community Events Program – A mix of free and ticketed events including drag performances, artist-led workshops, and immersive cabarets that foster intergenerational exchange and creative risk-taking. Partners include nightlife events like Princess & Reparations, as well as Access, SFUSD’s Adult Transition Services, engaging adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities
Legacy Artists Program – Supports LGBTQ+ pioneers by offering space, resources, and professional documentation for their work, ensuring their stories inspire future generations and preserving the Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ arts legacy.
PROGRAMS
Living Wage Theater Arts Fund
SQREAM
Written by Michael Phillis
Directed by Jason Hoover
Choreographed by Lesslie Waggoner
Music by Steve Bolinger
STAR TREK LIVE!
Adapted by Sean Owens
Directed by Sean Owens and Polly Amber Ross
THE NANNY LIVE!
Adapted and directed by Michael Phillis
Our Living Wage Theater Arts Fund ensures fair compensation for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artists, providing financial stability for performers, creators, designers, and technicians while producing high-caliber work.
In 2024 Oasis Arts produced 6 theatrical productions...
BITCH SLAP
Written and directed by D’Arcy Drollinger
THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW
Written by Richard O’Brien
Directed by Jason Hoover
Choreographed by Dane Andres
DRAGCULA: A PARODY IN LIVING GREYSCALE
Adapted & Directed by Chris Steele from Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Visual Arts Fund
Our Visual Arts Fund commissions murals and public installations to spotlight queer and trans artists, embedding cultural storytelling into San Francisco’s urban landscape.
In 2024 Oasis Arts commissioned 7 murals...
Artists Stevie Hues, Serge Gay Jr., Maya Fuji, Jessie Jae, Cedric & Blake Anderson, Patrick Stevenson, & Evan Favela transformed the bathrooms at Oasis into a visually stunning landscape worthy of both an art gallery setting as well as a fabulous Instagram selfie!
Film & Video Arts Incubator
Our Film & Video Arts Incubator offers professional space, equipment, and production support for Bay Area queer filmmakers. The incubator is a cornerstone of creativity in the San Francisco Bay Area, designed to support and elevate the voices of queer filmmakers. In collaboration with the San Francisco Film Commission and generously supported by the Kennith Ranin Foundation, this program offers unparalleled resources to artists and production companies.
In 2024 Oasis Arts supported four feature films...
LADY CHAMPAGNE
Written & Directed by D’Arcy Drollinger
Produced by Marc Smolowitz, D’Arcy Drollinger, Frazer Bradshaw
Starring: D’Arcy Drollinger, Matthew Martin, Steven LeMay. James Arthur, Nancy French, Alaska, Jackie Beat, Varla Jean Merman, Meatball, Honey Mahogany, Snaxx
Cinematography by Frazer Bradshaw
Edited by Richard Neveu, Joshua Dennis
MAXXIE LAWOW: DRAG SUPER-SHERO
Directed by Anthony Hand
Screenplay by Michael Phillis
Produced by Joanne Butcher, Buffy Day, Bill Drastal, Karen Drastal, Anthony Hand, Susan Iverson, Marc Smolowitz, D’Arcy Drollinger
Starring: Grant Hodges, Terren Wooten Clark, Erika Ishii, Laraine Newman, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Michael-Leon Wooley, Michelle C. Bonilla, Jinkx Monsoon, Benjamin Putnam, Heidi N Closet, Monét X Change, J.J. Hawkins, Avi Roque, Rosé
OUTERLANDS
Written & Directed by Elena Oxman
Produced by Henry Russell Bergstein, David Brind, Jessica Christiansen, Asia Kate Dillon, Allison Estrin, Stefano Gonzalez, Lisa Kleiner-Chanoff, Elena Oxman, Marc Smolowitz, Jullien Swanson
Starring: Asia Kate Dillon, Louisa Krause, Ridley Asha Bateman, Daniel K. Isaac, Lea DeLaria
Cinematography by Lucia Zavarcikova
Edited by Chris Brown
LADY LIKE
Written, directed & produced by Luke Willis
Produced by Cookie Walukas
Starring: Lady Camden, Adriana Roy, Nina West, Tye Olson, Shiloh Brody-Clarke, Rosie Petals, Maya Christou, Sasha Pikul, Kyle Davidian, Nia Politan, Dominic Kowarick, Arkadii Archie Maznev
Cinematography by Matthew Burke
Edited by Carter Feuerhelm
Community Events Program
Our Community Events Program offers a mix of free and ticketed events including drag, artist-led workshops, and immersive cabarets that foster intergenerational exchange and creative risk-taking. Partners include events like Princess & Reparations, and Access, engaging adults with developmental & intellectual disabilities.
PRINCESS — a weekly drag spectacular, a space for San Francisco’s drag community to come together and to celebrate our commitment to elevation of the art of drag in a disco-pop dance setting, founded and produced by Tito Soto and hosted by Lisa Frankenstein and Kochina Rude, a local public health worker and leader in harm reduction advocacy
Reparations — 5 times voted Best Drag Queen of the Bay, Nicki J is the host of Reparations, San Francisco’s only all-Black drag show.
Started on Juneteenth 2020 in response to the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the subsequent Black Lives Matter uprisings across the country, Reparations urges audiences to “put your money where your black square is.”
Access SFUSD — a community-based program for students who are 18-22 years old with disabilities. The funds made from our Access happy hour went directly back to the school and helped to build a dance studio last year
Legacy Artists Program
Our Legacy Artists Program supports LGBTQ+ pioneers by offering space, resources, and professional documentation for their work, ensuring their stories inspire future generations and preserving the Bay Area’s LGBTQ+ arts legacy.
Our community is filled with heritage, history, activism and talent. Oasis Arts has strong relationships with our LGBTQIA+ senior artists. We are committed to include, elevate, and foster continued art content from these seasoned local artists, whose work endures and inspires the next generation.
As a part of our Legacy Artists Program, we celebrated and produced Gina’s last show this year, “An Evening with Gina LaDivina.”
She was a true trailblazer—outspoken on her views of what it meant to be a trans woman, a pioneer since the 1970s. Her vibrant spirit and fearless advocacy were the inspirations behind the Oasis Arts Legacy Program, ensuring her impact will continue to resonate.
Special Events
Our Special Events include
Producing and hosting the San Francisco Pride Main Stage
Developing and presenting Dolores Stage at Outside Lands Music Festival
Programing a floor for SF MOMA’s Art Bash
Curating the two-week High PrincX Pageant, integrating live performance, video projection, and interactive storytelling
Launching the Oasis Arts inaugural Gala
And reaching our $200,000 goal!
Communities we serve
Oasis Arts is a vital hub for San Francisco’s LGBTQ+ and BIPOC artistic communities. We provide space, resources, and development opportunities for artists who have historically been denied access to funding and institutional support. Our work centers queer artists—particularly trans, nonbinary, and BIPOC creatives—giving them platforms to shape cultural narratives on their own terms.
We engage the following communities
LGBTQ+ Artists & Audiences
BIPOC Creatives & Cultural Workers
Nightlife & Alternative Performance Audiences
Intergenerational Queer Community
