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{B/qKC}: Kansas City's Black queer archive · Apr 24, 2026

Help us install a historic marker for KC's last Black gay bar! →

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Nasir Anthony Montalvo · {B/qKC}: Kansas City's Black queer archive

> Hello_world!

We hope everyone is sliding into Spring okay. Sounds like a lot of people are getting hit hard by allergies this year–stock up on your meds if you can!

Thank you all for your overwhelming support of {B/qKC}’s website and archival database. Your support has meant so much more than you know. We’re excited for what we have in store for the rest of this year. Keep scrolling!

{B/qKC} logo. P.S. You’re receiving this email because 1) you’ve registered to attend one of {B/qKC}’s past events, 2) you’ve supported this work in some way, and/or 3) you’ve registered for the newsletter, thank you! Unsubscribe at the bottom of this email if you need!

TABLE_OF_CONTENTS

  • Visit us at Open Studios!

  • Check out this awesome video TechSoup made about us! >

  • Sponsoring Soakie’s historical marker

  • Snippet from the archive

  • Support our work!

Graphics by Lilah Powlas

It’s with a bittersweet feeling I announce that my two-year studio residency at Charlotte Street is soon coming to an end, meaning the pseudo-hub for {B/qKC} will also be wrapping up.

The past two years here have seen incredible growth for the archive and myself as an artist, and I’m so grateful for Charlotte Street’s support through it.

Come check out materials from the archive in a special mini exhibition I’ll be doing in my studio tomorrow!

Learn more about Charlotte Street’s Open Studios >

Following our participating in TechSoup, Gray Area, and Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web’s “Cultural Memory Lab,” {B/qKC} revamped its entire storage architecture to decrease its reliance on Big Tech, and creating more sovereignty and sustainability for its archival data.

TechSoup wrote up a case study and filmed a video of us documenting our steps to getting there, and what our tech stack looks like today.

Check out the case study on {B/qKC}! >

Left: A photo of 13th and Main Street from 1999; an ad for Soakie's can be seen on the side of the 1300 building along with Soakie's itself. (Photograph by Dory DeAngelo, 1999. MAIN STREET. Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library.) Right: A group of Soakie’s attendees and performers pose outside in front of the Soakie's sign. (gary_carrington_collection, {B/qKC)

In a historic feat, {B/qKC} is working with the City of Kansas City, MO to install a historic marker in commemoration of Soakie’s–KC’s first and only Black gay bar–in Downtown later this year.

While the marker, itself, will be funded by City funding,we hope to raise the funds needed to compensate the local designers, elders and organizers behind the marker.

Your sponsorship will help make this possible!

We’re hoping to raise $5,000–we’ve already raised $1,000, sponsor to be announced soon. ;)

Check out our sponsorship guide >

garycoll003 || Treshawn Seymour, Miss Soakie’s 2002 – 2
Treshawn Seymour is crowned Miss Soakie’s 2002, dressed in matching pink shoes, a dress, and a flower in their hair.

Mr. and Miss Soakie’s was an annual pageant competition held at the bar for which it was named after. Here, Treshawn Seymour smiles as the victor for 2002. Almost a quarter century ago!

Montalvo and friends stand in front of “welcome_to_soakie’s” art installation on Power & Light North Bound stop, KC Streetcar.

In order to keep these sexy updates coming, the money needs to flow as well!

We’re encouraging everyone to have their organizations sponsor the Soakie’s historic marker right now.

View the sponsorship guide

{B/qKC} is fiscally sponsored, which means all contributions are 100% tax-deductible and go directly to supporting the work I do as a Black queer artist and the sustainability of this project.

By supporting {B/qKC}, you’re investing in my work as an artist and memory worker and in the long-term preservation of Black queer Midwestern stories. Together, we can build a future where our histories are celebrated and never forgotten.

Give a tax-deductible donation >

With love,

Nasir

Read the original on 1800nasi.substack.com

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