OUTLOUD Music Festival at WeHo Pride
WEST HOLLYWOOD – OUTLOUD Music Festival returns to the City of West Hollywood anchoring the entertainment of WeHo Pride’s weekend of programming. The electrifying three-day outdoor music festival will take place Friday, May 31, through Sunday, June 2, 2024, at West Hollywood Park. This year’s Saturday and Sunday headliners include Kylie Minogue, Janelle Monáe, and Diplo.
To purchase OUTLOUD Weekend or VIP Passes, visit www.weareoutloud.com. Passes will go on sale Friday, March 15, 2024, at 10 a.m. PDT, starting at $139 + fees for weekend General Admission and $249 + fees for weekend VIP. Individual day schedules and daily tickets will be released in the coming weeks. To find out additional information about WeHo Pride, visit www.wehopride.com.
Produced by award-winning events and entertainment agency JJLA, this year’s OUTLOUD Music Festival features a stellar lineup of queer entertainers and artists. The weekend’s full lineup of talent includes Doechii, Ashnikko, Noah Cyrus, Trixie Mattel (DJ Set), Keke Palmer, Channel Tres, Yaeji, Big Freedia, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and VINCINT, with exciting sets from emerging artists Snow Wife, Destiny Rogers, Black Polish, Salina EsTitties, Doug Locke, Jimi The Kween, and Zee Machine. OUTLOUD is hosted by personalities Ryan Mitchell, Hannah Rad, Arisce Wanzer, Neverending Nina, and Billy Francesca. The OUTLOUD Music Festival features a second dance music stage in partnership with SUMMERTRAMP, with more performances to be announced.
Previous artists OUTLOUD has welcomed to its main stage include Grace Jones, Adam Lambert, Carly Rae Jepsen, Years & Years, Jessie J, Lil’ Kim, Idina Menzel, Jessie Ware, Hayley Kiyoko, and more.
“West Hollywood is the epicenter of queer culture and entertainment, and we are a proud and vibrant hub where acceptance is embraced and diversity thrives,” said City of West Hollywood Mayor John M. Erickson. “The City of West Hollywood takes immense pride in fostering LGBTQ+ community and joy, and we’re excited to bring people together to celebrate at OUTLOUD and WeHo Pride. Not only will we showcase incredible queer talent, we will also embody the spirit of inclusivity and unity, which is the core of what defines our city.”
WeHo Pride Weekend will take place from Friday, May 31, 2024 to Sunday, June 2, 2024 and will include the free WeHo Pride Street Fair; WeHo Pride Presents Friday Night at OUTLOUD; the OUTLOUD Music Festival; the Women’s Freedom Festival; the Dyke March; and the WeHo Pride Parade.
Details about performers at WeHo Pride Presents Friday Night at OUTLOUD will be announced in the coming weeks.
WeHo Pride will kick off on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 with its José Sarria Drag Pageant on Harvey Milk Day. The WeHo Pride Arts Festival will take place from Friday, June 14, 2024 to Sunday, June 16, 2024.
WeHo Pride celebrations will include a diverse array of LGBTQ+ community group programming from May 22 to June 30 as part of visibility, expression, and celebration.
Since its incorporation in 1984, the City of West Hollywood has become one of the most influential cities in the nation for its outspoken advocacy on LGBTQ issues. The City has, for nearly four decades, been on the vanguard of efforts to gain and protect equality for all people on a state, national, and international level. With more than 40% of community members identifying as LGBTQ and four of the five members of the West Hollywood City Council identifying as LGBTQ, Pride is a deeply rooted part of West Hollywood’s history and culture.
In 2022, the City of West Hollywood inaugurated WeHo Pride. West Hollywood is a community of LGBTQ people from throughout the world who identify with the community’s deep connection to groundbreaking LGBTQ history and culture and hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ people and allies from around the world make West Hollywood their destination during Pride.
Details about WeHo Pride 2024 are posted as they become available at www.wehopride.com. OUTLOUD Music Festival information is posted at www.weareoutloud.com. Follow @wehopride on Instagram and Facebook and follow @officiallyoutloud on Instagram and Facebook. Sign up for WeHo Pride text updates by texting ‘Pride’ to (323) 848-5000.
For more information about WeHo Pride and the WeHo Pride Arts Festival, please visit www.wehopride.com/contact.
For more information about the OUTLOUD Music Festival, please visit www.weareoutloud.com/get-involved.
For inquiries to the City of West Hollywood’s Event Services Division, please email [email protected].
For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
City of West Hollywood Begins Accepting Applications for Youth Scholarship Program
The City of West Hollywood has opened applications for the 2024 Youth Scholarship Program. The program awards $2,000 to graduating high school students who are West Hollywood residents and who are pursuing a post-secondary education at an accredited college, university, or trade/vocational school. Students must have completed 150 verified hours of community service to be considered. The Youth Scholarship Program application period is open through Friday, May 10, 2024. The scholarship money can be used for any expense incurred in pursuing post-secondary education at an accredited college, university, or trade/vocational school.
To qualify for a youth scholarship, students must meet the following requirements:
- Residency – Applicant is a West Hollywood resident at the time the scholarship application is submitted and awarded. Please visit www.weho.org/city-government/contact-us/map-of-weho for a map of West Hollywood.
- Secondary Education – Applicant is a high school senior ready to graduate or an individual receiving a GED.
- Post-Secondary Education – Applicant is planning to attend a college, university or trade/vocational school and has proof of acceptance to a post-secondary institution.
- Community Service – Applicant has performed and provided verification of 150 hours of community service.
More information, application instructions, and the application link are available by visiting www.weho.org/youthscholarship.
The Youth Scholarship Program is organized by the City of West Hollywood, but scholarship funds come entirely from individual and community donations. The City has awarded more than 40 youth scholarships since the program began in 2007. To support the program, the City encourages donations from community members, organizations, and area businesses. Community members wishing to donate to the Youth Scholarship Program may do so at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/youthsco.
The City of West Hollywood’s Youth Scholarship Program is one of the first municipal government sponsored programs of its kind in the country. The Youth Scholarship Program recognizes the importance of education to our community and encourages and supports local students interested in pursuing their education beyond high school.
For more information please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Human Services Division at [email protected] or by calling (323) 848-6510.
For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
Next Steps in Log Cabin Renovation
The City of West Hollywood is moving forward with the next steps in the renovation of the historic Log Cabin building, which houses the West Hollywood Recovery Center (WHRC) on N. Robertson Boulevard. At its regular meeting on Monday, March 18, 2024, the City Council of the City of West Hollywood received a design update for the Log Cabin renovation project, which included direction to move forward with the design concept. High-resolution design renderings and current photos are available on the City’s official Flickr site. More information about the project, including a preliminary project schedule and FAQ, can be found on the City’s website: https://go.weho.org/logcabin.
The Log Cabin renovation plan provides a long-term facility for the West Hollywood recovery community, improves onsite health and safety, and meets accessibility and historic preservation standards. More than $7.5 million in funding has been provided to date to support renovations of this historic space, which is vital to safeguarding recovery services in the West Hollywood community.
The design upgrades will include:
- Expanded meeting rooms, food preparation areas, and storage capacity to support local recovery services;
- New mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, which help to contribute to an enhanced onsite experience;
- ADA-compliant bathrooms;
- Improved streetscape and landscaping; and
- New electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and solar panels.
The West Hollywood Recovery Center (WHRC) hosts more than 90 separate addiction recovery meetings a week, more than 4,500 meetings a year. For additional information about the WHRC, please visit https://thewhrc.org/home.
The Log Cabin building, itself, has a long and interesting history spanning nearly a century. The building was built on property purchased in 1928 by the City of Beverly Hills. The north portion of the property was leased to the Lions Club in 1936, which constructed the Log Cabin in its style as a Boy Scouts of America (“BSA”) clubhouse.
In the early 1970s, the Lions Club subleased the building to the West Hollywood Recovery Center for use for addiction recovery group meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. In 2019, the City of Beverly Hills indicated its wish to sell the property and the City of West Hollywood entered into a lease with the City of Beverly Hills with the option to purchase the property. In 2022, the City of West Hollywood exercised its option to purchase the property and the City began a feasibility analysis with the West Hollywood Recovery Center to determine a renovation plan.
With the design concept approved, the City will take the next steps to move toward construction, which is anticipated to begin in October 2024. Construction is expected to be completed by December 2025.
For detailed information, please visit https://go.weho.org/logcabin.
For more information, please contact Alicen Bartle, City of West Hollywood Project Development Administrator, at (323) 848-6323 or at [email protected].
For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
West Hollywood Launches Green Business Certification Program As part of its WeHo Climate Action Plan
The City of West Hollywood announces the launch of its free Green Business Certification Program, which is one of the commitments in the City’s 2021 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, WeHo Climate Action. The Plan outlines the City’s intended path to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 and adapt to the impacts of a changing climate while centering equity and quality-of-life outcomes for the West Hollywood community.
The Green Business Certification Program will operate under guidelines established by the California Green Business Network (CAGBN), which connects approximately 50 California cities and counties to a statewide standard of criteria for businesses to achieve a Green Business Certification. In the state, more than 4,700 businesses have achieved CAGBN Green Business Certifications reducing 49.9 million kWh of electricity, 93.6 million gallons of water, 17.3 million pounds of materials from landfills, and 64.6 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
Offering this program free of charge to West Hollywood businesses is one of a wide range of steps the City is taking toward attaining climate action goals. Each West Hollywood business that registers for the program can qualify to receive up to a $1,500 rebate to offset extra costs associated with implementing green measures. The City is working with local nonprofit organization Sustainable Works, which has administered green business programs for several Southern California cities since 2001. Sustainable Works will develop and administer the program. It has previously worked with the West Hollywood business community providing water efficiency and urban runoff prevention devices.
The Green Business Certification Program is designed to help businesses operate sustainably and receive public recognition for their efforts. Becoming a Certified Green Business requires implementing practices that reduce energy and water consumption, prevent pollution, divert waste from landfills, and assist businesses in creating a cleaner and healthier environment for their employees.
The City of West Hollywood’s Green Business Certification Program offers two certification tiers. Entry Level is an introductory certification for small businesses and Certification Level is for small or larger businesses, depending on capacity to make procurement changes and perform minor retrofits if needed. To achieve either level, businesses must implement a minimum number of measures in the areas of water and energy conservation, clean energy, waste reduction, pollution prevention, and sustainable transportation.
Green Business Certification is provided free of charge to West Hollywood businesses. Program coordinators provide step-by-step guidance to achieve criteria and connect businesses with resources and incentive programs available to help them go green.
For more information about the Green Business Certification Program and to register to participate, please visit go.weho.org/greenbusiness.
With a core value of Responsibility for the Environment, the City of West Hollywood has long been dedicated to sustainability and preserving our environment. For additional information about WeHo Climate Action, please visit www.weho.org/climateaction. To learn more about resources to Go Green, please visit www.weho.org/gogreen.
For more information about the Green Business Certification Program, please contact Christine Shen, City of West Hollywood Senior Planner, at (323) 848-6803 or at [email protected].
For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
West Hollywood Celebrates National Poetry Month in April
The City of West Hollywood will celebrate National Poetry Month in April with innovative events, including a poetry spa day and public exhibitions honoring poets and the art of poetry. National Poetry Month is the largest literary celebration in the world.
Throughout the month of April, the City of West Hollywood will honor living poets by featuring selections of their poetry on street pole banners along Santa Monica Boulevard. Currently, there are 49 poets honored, and each year the West Hollywood City Poet Laureate selects two additional poets to honor. This year’s honorees are Shonda Buchanan and Mariano Zaro:
- Shonda Buchanan is a Pushcart Prize nominee, Oxfam Ambassador, USC Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities Fellow, and City of Los Angeles (COLA) Department of Cultural Affairs Master Artist Fellow. She is the author of five books, including the award-winning memoir, Black Indian, which won the 2020 Indie New Generation Book Award and was chosen by PBS NewsHour as a “Top 20 Books to Read” to learn about institutional racism. About to enter a 3rd printing, Black Indian begins the saga of her family’s migration stories of Free People of Color communities exploring identity, ethnicity, landscape, and loss. Buchanan is also a faculty member in Alma College’s MFA Program in Creative Writing. Buchanan is the recipient of the Brody Arts Fellowship from the California Community Foundation, a Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, several Virginia Foundation for the Humanities grants, the Denise L. Scott and Frank Sullivan Awards, and an Eloise Klein-Healy Scholarship. Consulting Curator Poet for The Broad Art Museum, Buchanan is also a Sundance Institute Writing Arts fellow, a PEN Center Emerging Voices fellow, and a Jentel Artist Residency fellow.
- Mariano Zaro is the author of six books of poetry: Decoding Sparrows, Padre Tierra, Tres letras/Three Letters, The House of Mae Rim/La casa de Mae Rim, Poems of Erosion/Poemas de la erosion, and Where From/Desde Donde. His poems have been included in the anthologies Monster Verse, Wide Awake, The Coiled Serpent, and in several magazines in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. Zaro’s short stories have appeared in Portland Review, Pinyon, Baltimore Review, Louisville Review and Magnapoets. He is the winner of the 2004 Roanoke Review Short Fiction Prize and the 2018 Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing Short Fiction Prize. Since 2010, he has been hosting a series of video-interviews with prominent American poets as part of the literary project Poetry.LA. He is a professor of Spanish at Rio Hondo Community College in Whittier.
On Monday, April 1, 2024 at 6 p.m., the City Council of the City of West Hollywood will issue a commemorative National Poetry Month proclamation, which will be received by West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng. The presentation will be viewable as part of the City Council meeting broadcast on the City’s WeHoTV YouTube Channel. The City Poet Laureate Jen Chang will also debut a new poem that celebrates the City of West Hollywood, titled Recipe for Creativity, Blessed by Ghosts of the Greats (below, at end of news release).
With the support of an arts grant from the City of West Hollywood, Women Who Submit (WWS) presents Transformation – A Book Release Party on Saturday, April 13, 2024, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Plummer Park’s Great Hall, located at 7377 Santa Monica Boulevard. Transformation is WWS’ third anthology and features poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama from 42 women and nonbinary contributors across the world. The event will feature readings from Erika Ayón, Lisa Cheby, Liz González, Monona Wali, Aruni Wijesinghe, and Sandy Yang, music by DJ Langosta, and an expo of literary organizations and booksellers. For more information, please visit the City of West Hollywood’s website calendar.
The WeHo Reads: Poetry Spa event will take place on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Respite Deck of the West Hollywood Aquatic and Recreation Center (ARC), located at 8750 El Tovar Place, adjacent to the West Hollywood Library. From 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the public is invited to explore poetry at “spa stations” including Feng Shui Poetry, Poemaroma (essential oils), Lotus Poetry (origami), and other poetic experiences. At 7:30 p.m., attendees will gather at the Grand Staircase at sunset to hear all the poets share their words. Poetry Spa is a concept created by Brian Sonia-Wallace during his term as 2020-23 West Hollywood City Poet Laureate and is curated by current West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng.
WeHo Reads is a literary series produced by the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division and BookSwell. Additional support is provided by UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and Poets & Writers, with media partnerships from Book Soup and Los Angeles Review of Books. Books will be available for sale by historic West Hollywood retailer Book Soup. This event is free to attend and RSVPs are requested. For more information and to RSVP please visit: www.weho.org/wehoreads.
Poets participating at the WeHo Reads: Poetry Spa event include:
- Terry Wolverton, author of eleven books, including her latest, Season of Eclipse, hosts the Poemaroma spa station.
- K. Toney is a griot, writer, musician, and educator who hosts the Listening Libations spa station where attendees get to mix poetry with soothing sounds.
- Brian Sonia-Wallace, author of Poetry of Strangers hosts the Poetry Bath spa station.
- Pride Poets members Timothy Nang will host the Lotus Poetry spa station and Jose Rios will host the Poetry Bingo spa station.
- West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng hosts the Feng Shui Poetry spa station which guides attendees through the Five Elements.
Attendees will receive raffle tickets for a drawing to win a grand prize tote bag containing work from the poets which include Jen Cheng’s Braided Spaces, Timothy Nang’s Lotus Children, Brian Sonia-Wallace’s Maze Mouth, Terry Wolverton’s Ruin Porn, and A. K. Toney’s album Neo Griot & The Afrocentric Prince.
The community is also invited to visit Poetry Walk, a public art installation, located on the traffic median of Santa Monica Boulevard between Doheny and Almont Drives. This temporary public art installation, which was installed in April 2023, displays poetry next to pre-existing empty concrete plinths where sculptures are usually displayed. The poetry excerpts reflect on absence, longing, and that which is unseen or uncelebrated. Contributing poets are former West Hollywood City Poet Laureates Brian Sonia-Wallace, Steven Reigns, Kim Dower and Charles Flowers; and Tonya Ingram, a young poet who passed away in December 2022. The Poetry Walk can be experienced as written word or by listening to audio recordings. Members of the public were invited to submit their own short poems reflecting on absence, longing and the unseen, and select poems are posted on the City website.
During the month of April, with the support of an arts grant from the City of West Hollywood, Greenway Arts Alliance will present the 8th Annual LA Get Down Festival at the Greenway Court Theatre, located at 544 N. Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. Past years’ programming has included open-mics, workshops, poetry slams, performances, and more. As part of this festival, West Hollywood City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng welcomes the community to join her at the Greenway Court Theatre for a free writing workshop, Feng Shui Poetry, on Saturday April 20, 2024 at 12 p.m. More information and links to purchase tickets for the LA Get Down Festival can be found at https://greenwaycourttheatre.org/la-get-down.
The City of West Hollywood began formally celebrating National Poetry Month in 2015 after launching its City Poet Laureate program in 2014. The West Hollywood City Poet Laureate serves as an ambassador of West Hollywood’s vibrant literary culture and leads the promotion of poetry in the City, including assisting with its annual celebration of National Poetry Month.
For more information about the West Hollywood City Poet Laureate program or National Poetry Month activities, please contact Mike Che, the City of West Hollywood’s Arts Coordinator, at [email protected] or at (323) 848-6377.
For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
