On August 1st 2021, we proudly launched the ‘Global Alliance of Queer Choirs’. We are an international steering group of thought leaders and experts in queer choral leadership, committed to supporting the queer choral movement.

For me personally, it has been inspired by the international work I have done in both choral music and jazz education in the last 25 years. This includes for example, the collaboration between NYCGMC and Coro Gai Ciudad de México, work singing for marriage equality in Dublin, and the 10 years I spent supporting classical musical educators in learning to improvise and work by ear in groove-based styles in the UK, the US, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

When international collaboration is a truly two-way process and done with intention and cultural sensitivity, it can have huge tangible benefits. At the most practical level, it provides exciting performance and outreach opportunities, educates and motivates singers, and creates new audiences. The learning and sharing that takes place breaks down walls, and builds mutual understanding of our common humanity.

Central to our work is a monthly meeting that takes place on Zoom. It brings together representatives of five of the major regional organizations in queer choral singing worldwide. Information is exchanged and new thinking on queer choral singing is shared across regions. We co-ordinate festival dates, we devise joint projects, and we facilitate international collaborations, both across regions and between individual choirs.

Our Steering Group includes representatives of Legato, Proud Voices Asia, GALA Choruses, Unison Choruses Canada and Out & Loud Choirs. All these organizations present major choral festivals every few years in their different regions of the world, and provide other activities for their choirs, including meetings, seminars, conferences and symposiums. Our Steering group also includes other leading figures from across the queer choral movement worldwide, along with other regional organizations who’d like to be involved.

Equity and inclusion is obviously a core part of our work, and we will be ensuring that no one organization has a stronger voice than any other. All will have a seat at the table.

Through our meetings and the projects we will devise in future years, we aim to strengthen the relationships between these choirs and regional organizations, and to support rather than duplicate their work. Over time, we also hope to encourage the development of new choirs and organizations, in parts of the world where the LGBTIQ+ struggle rights is real. In some of those places, it can still be dangerous to come out, let alone be in a choir, and support for queer choral singing is, of course, still in its infancy.

Above all, we want the Global Alliance to provide a fresh (and we believe much needed) international perspective on the work of our movement.