Red Bull Music Academy Celebrates Bed-Stuy's QTPOC Music Culture

In recent years, Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood has fostered some of the borough's most innovative, inclusive party scenes, helping launch underground queer talent to the forefront of pop culture. Over the weekend, Red Bull Music Academy celebrated this unsung community, bringing together some of the most significant local talent at Sugarhill Supper Club, a strange, but memorable space lined with mirrors, low ceilings and cheap disco balls--the perfect environment to highlight Bed-Stuy's inimitable low-budget charm.

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For the event, RBMA recruited a balanced mix of groundbreaking party collectives and DJs, including Juliana Huxtable, Tygapaw, Papi Juice, Bearcat, KUNQ's FXWRK and Stud1nt, as well as Quay Dash. All of these artists have made careers from actively creating safe spaces for marginalized communities in NYC nightlife, and the impact of their efforts was visible in the audience--a diverse pack of LGBTQ individuals, allies and all races, dancing together to the sounds of ear-busting, sweat-inducing electronic. Rare, refreshing and absolutely needed.

Photo courtesy Red Bull Music Academy