{"id":793,"date":"2015-03-04T00:34:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-04T00:34:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=793"},"modified":"2015-03-04T00:34:01","modified_gmt":"2015-03-04T00:34:01","slug":"the-sound-of-our-music-the-lgbt-academy-of-recording-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=793","title":{"rendered":"The Sound of OUR Music The LGBT Academy of Recording Arts"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sound of OUR Music<\/strong>
\nBy Chris Astrala<\/p>\n

In 1990, life partners Daniel Martin and Michael Biello in their East Village apartment in New York, NY founded OUTmusic Inc. a 501(c) 3 non-profit charitable organization.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Diedra Meredith was appointed the Executive Director. Under her new leadership,\u00a0the organization was re-founded as\u00a0OUTmusic\u00a0– The LGBT Academy of Recording Arts\u00a0creating the acronym LARA. LARA is an\u00a0alliance of LGBT recording artists and creative industry professionals and home to the OUTmusic Awards.<\/p>\n

The new production of the OUTmusic Awards under Diedra’s leadership took on a more commercial presence adding new categories to support the growing LGBT music and entertainment industry.\u00a0For the first time in the history of the organization, the OUTmusic Awards was exposed to millions when MTV\/Logo TV featured the Best Moments of the OUTmusic Awards on the New Now Next PopLab show in 2010.<\/p>\n

LARA\u2019s (LGBT\u00a0Academy of Recording Arts) mission is\u00a0to promote the advancement and appreciation of LGBTQ music culture & heritage as a recognized art-form, create opportunities to support the development of young aspiring artists, increase visibility in honoring, documenting and archiving the contributions and achievements of marginalized LGBTQ artists into music & entertainment history.<\/p>\n

Promote The Advancement & Appreciation Of LGBT\u00a0Music Culture & Heritage<\/strong><\/p>\n

Freedom of Expression Print Ad Advocacy Campaign\u00a0–\u00a0The Freedom of Expression campaign is an online social media advocacy campaign to raise awareness and much needed funds to support LARA, the LGBT Academy of Recording Arts in its efforts to amplify the music and voices of LGBT recording artists and performers. The slogan FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION = MUSIC EQUALITY (FOE=MEQ) speaks to raising awareness to erase the stigma associated with being openly LGBT in your professional career. No person should have to sacrifice their freedom or dignity, or lose an opportunity to advance in their careers because of who they are and who they’ve chosen to love. Freedom of Expression was no challenge for the Iconic SYLVESTER!\u00a0Known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance, Sylvester challenged the stigma associated with being openly LGBT in the 1970s. When he appeared on American Bandstand he was out & proud\u00a0and promoted the message that you can be who you want to be. The LGBT Academy of Recording Arts (LARA) celebrated and honored Sylvester with a posthumous recognition award\u00a0as an OUTmusic Icon.<\/p>\n

I Am Music Project\u00a0 – The I Am Music Project was created to give homeless and at risk young people access to the creative music industry through a series of educational workshops to learn about the ins and outs of the music business. The students learn about the important steps in creating intellectual property, how to protect it, learn techniques in performing and recording their material and the opportunity to perform at the OUTMUSIC Awards (OMAs). The project also provides opportunities for young people to work behind the scenes of the production of the OMAs, learning what it takes to produce the show from administrative duties to the various creative teams working on the production.<\/p>\n

Increase Visibility Of LGBT\u00a0Entertainment through Media Outlets Worldwide\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

OMTVN (OUTmusic Television Network)\u00a0– \u00a0Launching May 2014 to expose LGBT recording artists and entertainers to a broader audience base, LARA is creating a place online to feature\u00a0LGBT music culture &\u00a0entertainment. The new network is dedicated to music programming that showcases LGBT themed music videos, exclusive live performances from the OUTmusic Awards, Best of OUTmusic Awards Video Countdown, and our exclusive red carpet and behind the scenes of the OUTmusic Awards. It is a\u00a0place for the best in LGBT\u00a0entertainment news, music, politics & culture.<\/p>\n

Honor, Document &\u00a0Archive Contributions & Achievements\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The OUTmusic Awards (OMAs)\u00a0is the biggest night in LGBT\u00a0music & entertainment. educating, raising awareness and ensuring that the contributions and achievements of marginalized LGBT\u00a0artists are acknowledged, documented, celebrated and archived into media, music and entertainment history. The OMAs is a national branded entertainment platform that provides activities and opportunities for companies\/sponsors to be recognized by LGBT\u00a0consumers who eagerly support brands that directly market to the LGBT\u00a0consumer market. Principle tastemakers, celebrities, creative industry professionals and music enthusiast who garner the attention of mainstream and LGBT media attend the OMAs.<\/p>\n

The LGBT music documentary film\u00a0– “For Which WE Stand (One Queer Music Nation In The Visible)” directed by award winning director Sean Robinson and produced by celebrated filmmaker Paul Warner will commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the LGBT\u00a0Academy of Recording Arts (LARA).<\/p>\n

This film is a social\u00a0and politically pre-active feature-length documentary, that will not only spotlight queer music culture, but\u00a0will keep the torch of LARA burning as the fight for equality moves forward into the next era. Currently in production, “For Which WE Stand” is a feature-length LGBT music documentary film presented by the LGBT Academy of Recording Arts (LARA), directed by award winning\u00a0Director Sean Robinson\u00a0and produced by\u00a0Director\/Producer Paul Warner and Executive Producer Jim Garrard President of Donna Jean Entertainment.\u00a0The film will spotlight the rise of queer music culture & entertainment and it’s influence in mainstream culture. The director has gone back as far as the1930s to document gay and lesbian recording artists and entertainers who dared to BE during a time when it was not legal to openly express your sexual identity or orientation.\u00a0The film represents the culmination of a journey towards Equality for LGBT recording artists & entertainers. In 2015, LARA the LGBT Academy of Recording Arts celebrates its 25th Anniversary during the 9th OUTmusic Awards event in New York City. Robinson will capture the live performances from the OUTmusic Awards with behind scenes footage, building the set design, interviews with pioneers, recording artists, activist, industry executives and influential creative industry professionals.<\/p>\n

Diedra Meredith the Chairwoman and CEO of LARA aka 3 time Billboard chart topping recording artist\/activist Deepa Soul has dedicated her life’s work to carry the torch of LARA in building an Equivalent\u00a0LGBT music & entertainment platform. Diedra serves as one of the Executive Producers of the film alongside Senior Executive Producer Jim Garrard.<\/p>\n

This film will increase the visibility of outstanding LGBT artists and will be the educational piece to shine a light on the LGBT music & entertainment movement. “For Which We Stand” celebrates\u00a0Freedom of Expression and\u00a0\u00a0the Soundtrack of the LGBT Equality Movement!<\/p>\n

For further information on all programs and events please visit www.thelara.org<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sound of OUR Music By Chris Astrala In 1990, life partners Daniel Martin and Michael Biello in their East Village apartment in New York, NY founded OUTmusic Inc. a 501(c) 3 non-profit charitable organization. In 2007, Diedra Meredith was appointed the Executive Director. Under her new leadership,\u00a0the organization was re-founded as\u00a0OUTmusic\u00a0– The LGBT Academy of Recording Arts\u00a0creating the acronym LARA. LARA is an\u00a0alliance of LGBT recording artists and creative industry professionals and home to the OUTmusic Awards. The new production of the OUTmusic Awards under Diedra’s leadership took on a more commercial presence adding new categories to support the growing LGBT music and entertainment industry.\u00a0For the first time in the history of the organization, the OUTmusic Awards was exposed to millions when MTV\/Logo TV featured the Best Moments of the OUTmusic Awards on the New Now Next PopLab show in 2010. LARA\u2019s (LGBT\u00a0Academy of Recording Arts) mission is\u00a0to promote the advancement and appreciation of LGBTQ music culture & heritage as a recognized art-form, create opportunities to support the development of young aspiring artists, increase visibility in honoring, documenting and archiving the contributions and achievements of marginalized LGBTQ artists into music & entertainment history. Promote The Advancement & Appreciation Of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[564,563,560,559,561,565,556,558,562,554,557,553,555],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":795,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793\/revisions\/795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}