On Sunday, October 13th, 2024, The Curve Foundation proudly hosted Collect & Connect: Curve Magazine Archive Celebration. Curve Archive & Outreach Manager Julia Rosenzweig was there for the unique and delicious event.
PHOTOS BY DALTON DEHART PHOTOGRAPHIC FOUNDATION
We gathered members, volunteers, and queer politicians at Pearl Bar in Houston, Texas, to create a Curve Archive at the University of Houston Libraries’ LGBTQ History Research Collection. Folks were encouraged to donate their copies of Curve and Deneuve magazine, as well as contribute short oral histories outlining the impact that Curve and queer history as a whole has had on them.
The air of the gathering was celebratory, casual, and queer. You could feel the appreciation of Curve magazine’s legacy in the air as people leafed through old issues, chatted with Curve founder Franco Stevens, and watched the documentary about Curve’s founding, Ahead of The Curve (now streaming on Netflix), projected on the bar’s wall.
Sloan Rinaldi, founder of Texas Q
The atmosphere was complete when Sloan Rinaldi, fourth-generation Houston pit master at Texas Q and friend of Curve, announced that barbeque was ready to dig into! When asked why she partnered with the Foundation for the event, she responded, “For me, the day was a full circle life moment. It was Curve that showed me what lesbian success looked like. If you can see it, you can be it. Your magazine showed me that anything was possible.”
The event had something for everyone: lesbian trivia, drag king performances, and speeches from some of Texas’ most influential queer women politicians. We were thrilled to have Texas State Representative Ann Johnson, Texas State Senator Molly Cook, and former Houston Mayor Annise Parker in attendance. All three proud, queer politicians took the stage and spoke of honoring our collective memory and culture, fighting for our rights, and urged the crowd to continue this fight in light of the upcoming election.
L-R: Laura Spanjian, Sonya Cuellar, Rep. Ann Johnson, Kathy Hubbard, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, Sen. Molly Cook, Franco Stevens
“This is an opportunity to hold on to our history, but also to send it forward into the future – because it’s still needed. The University of Houston is the repository of my mayoral archives, and my archives from Inklings (note: a bookstore owned by Mayor Parker), and from the activist years,” said the former Mayor of Houston, Anise Parker
“Y’all, I can feel the power of this right now, I can feel the history, and I can feel that connectedness,” exclaimed Texas State Senator Molly Cook. “It’s the oppressors’ playbook to take away your history. Knowing it, treasuring it, archiving it carefully is exactly what we have to do to resist.”
“I am grateful for Curve magazine and the 30 years of expanding the stories of our community,” added Texas State Representative Ann Johnson.
Collect & Connect event guests
Curve magazine fans from all over South Texas gathered to support The Curve Foundation’s mission of championing lesbian and queer women’s stories and culture, filling the event with a sense of joy and solidarity.
We extend our deepest gratitude to our incredible partners and supporters who made this celebration possible: Airbnb, the Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation, the Greater Houston LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce, Pearl Bar, Texas Q, and the University of Houston Libraries. We are also indebted to the Pearl Bar staff, our volunteers, the volunteers from U of H, and The Curve Foundation staff for coming together to create something truly remarkable.
Collect & Connect team, top L-R, then bottom L-R: Curve Foundation founders Jen Rainin and Franco Stevens, Curve FDN Operations & Communications Manager Sunny Leerasanthanah, volunteer Josie H., volunteer Dafne Meza Flores, Pearl Bar Event Coordinator Bibi Xia, Curve FDN Archive and Outreach Coordinator Julia Rosenzweig, Univ. of Houston LGBT History Research Collections Librarian Joyce Gabiola
The Curve Foundation collected nearly 50 copies of vintage Curve and Deneuve magazines and a handful of oral histories that will live in perpetuity at the University of Houston Special Collections. We connected folks from South Texas with their lesbian culture and histories via Curve magazine.
There’s no doubt about it: Collect & Connect was a resounding success! Now for the other 49 states…