Case study of our programming
Rapid Response
Arts Initiative:
Bodies Beloved
In 2025, when the White House official health department site declared trans and neurodivergent people as a “national security and economic threat “ to the United States, demonstrably increasing danger and harm towards these communities, The Arts Initiative launched the rapid response Bodied Beloved initiative.
We organized a coalition of queer, trans, and disabled authors in solidarity, centering the most marginalized, which shifted the narrative to trans and disabled agency and autonomy. We highlighted trans and disabled representation in stories written by the people living them.
Bodies Beloved at AWP Conference
The Arts Initiative Founding Artistic Director Anna Goodman Herrick and legendary disability rights activist and Paralympian Leroy F. Moore, one of our featured authors.
A founding member of National Black Disability Coalition, Leroy F. Moore is a foundational leader of the Black Disability Rights movement. More
We champion the arts that shift culture
Case Study: The Bodies Beloved initiative at AWP, the largest writers conference in the United States. There, we presented leading and emerging queer, trans, and disabled authors, held book signings and meet and greets, and hosted conversations with authors and readers.
Art changes the world, and something wonderful happened in our corner of it:
Over the course of the four day conference, our author “meet and greet” table became a hangout for disabled, neurodivergent, trans, and queer people, and those intersecting these identities to connect. They got to know not only the authors better but themselves.
Because these authors shared their vulnerable stories in public, attendees felt comfortable following suit. In person, from all over the country, attendees asked us questions they had never felt comfortable asking anyone and shared things about themselves they had been to afraid to share. They shared their own concerns with the political climate, their questions around their queer or gender questioning, and in what ways they had felt alone and unseen.
One fifty year old closeted queer woman came over to explore our popular book selection and stayed to chat about being afraid it’s too late to come out. Featured authors shared their own stories, books that might help, and resources for ongoing support. A 20 year-old trans masc reader from a small town shared he had never met a published trans masc author before. He was thrilled to get to take home a book told by someone like him.
Impact:
Attendees reported decreased anxiety, lessened fear, and an increase in their confidence and resilience.
Readers who were not in the communities that Bodies Beloved represented reported they were now purchasing books by more diverse authors and were more curious about who was telling whose story.
Aspiring queer, trans, neurodivergent, and disabled authors reported more self-confidence in exploring their own creative writing and sharing their work with the public.
Bodies Beloved features a coalition of creatives and cultural workers from queer, trans, disabled, and historically targeted communities, centering those with multiple marginalzied identies, along with our network of dedicated allies and supporters committed to social change.
Anna Goodman Herrick, Co-Creative Director and Curator, Bodies Beloved
Anna Goodman Herrick is a writer, filmmaker, and performer whose work intertwines human rights and reimagining, towards collective liberation. She is the author of A Speaker is a Wilderness: Poems on the Sacred Path from Broken to Whole (2024), recognized by Medical News Today, Healing & Spirituality Magazine, and Lilith Magazine for contributions to mental health and healing. She has performed at the Library of Congress, the Emily Dickinson Museum, Bloomsday on Broadway, Patagonia’s Earth Day, and One Billion Rising at the El Paso Border. Anna has created film, television, and branded content for MTV, VH1, the Oprah Winfrey Network, Sundance Channel, SnapChat, Teen Vogue, and multimedia installations based on her poetry for museums galleries, and conferences worldwide.
Julián Jamaica Soto, Co-Creative Director and Curator, Bodies Beloved.
Julián Jamaica Soto is the author of Spilling the Light (Skinner House, 2024), They now go by Julián Jamaica Soto. They are a Unitarian Universalist minister, activist, and organizer who currently serves as executive director of TRUUsT (Transgender Religious professional Unitarian Universalists Together). Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto was previously the lead minister of the first Unitarian church of Oakland in California. They believe in the truth, power, and are committed to our collective liberation and the healing of the world. They teach and art in that direction. Rev. Julián graduated from Meadville Lombard Theological School in 2016.
