BE STEADWELL
Be Steadwell, a singer-songwriter and filmmaker based in Washington, D.C., says her fans inspire her queer-positive work. “´Your song got me through a breakup.´ ´This was the first song I heard about a woman loving another woman.´ ´I appreciated seeing so many different kinds of women of color in a film.´ Tiny comments like these make me feel so grateful to have the space and time to create,” she says. Steadwell´s music takes elements of jazz, a capella and folk and blends them with layered vocals, beat box rhythms and lyrics about love between women-a genre she calls “queerpop.” Steadwell has performed at clubs across the country and is gearing up for a string of gigs in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland this summer. At the same time, Steadwell-who holds an MFA in film from Howard University-is screening her short film Vow of Silence, about a musician who takes the titular vow to win back the woman she loves, at LGBT film festivals here and abroad (most recently in Toronto). She also shoots and edits her own music videos, giving her the freedom to hone her message of love and resistance between women. Her advice for fellow artists? “Trust your community. Be yourself. There is someone out there who needs to hear your story.” -KL
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