Four years is a long time to be doing one thing. It’s the same amount of time as high school or undergrad, but in real life you never graduate you just keep doing the thing. Maybe forever. But it’s still nice to celebrate. Homoground, a media platform (which encompasses a podcast/blog/show series) that works to highlight LGBTQ and allied musicians, is turning four this year.
Over the past four years, Homoground has produced 144 episodes of its podcast, which features music by, and interviews with LGBTQ and allied musicians from all over the States, honoring well-known artists (Amy Ray of Indigo Girls, Kimya Dawson, Sleater-Kinney) and highlighting those who might be a bit more off the radar (Little Waist, Thelma & the Sleaze, Ellie Herring, etc). Homoground has also thrown shows along the east coast, produced four episodes of a TV show, and released a deck of Feminist Playing Cards. So next time someone says they just “didn’t know any queer musicians” to ask to play their show, direct them to Homoground and tell them that’s not an excuse.
Homoground is throwing a birthday party at Don Pedro’s on January 17, featuring music by Mindtroll, Idgy Dean, and Squill.
Homoground founder Lynn Casper shared some of her experiences with the project over email:
My intentions for the project have remained the same – to provide a platform for LGBTQ and allied musicians. I’ve experimented with different things to see how Homoground can support musicians in various ways and focus on the things that work. The podcast has been able to reach the most people (from small towns to big cities across the world), so I try to keep pumping out new episodes. Last year I brought on a new host for the podcast to get a different voice and to share the workload. So far it’s been really great and I hope to encourage more people to start their own podcasts/radio shows. I’d love to add more hosts to Homoground and hope to provide training and resources to those who are interested in learning. I’ve always been the person to create the things that I can’t find, which is how Homoground started. I was still listening to riot grrrl bands that I was listening to 5+ years ago. I knew there had to be new bands popping up doing awesome things but there wasn’t just one place to find them. We are really lucky to be able to create the media we want and distribute it on the Internet. I say we might as well make the most out of it!
