We strive to nourish, heal, and uplift Queer and Trans Việt (QTViệt) narratives through ancestral practices, the arts, and intergenerational connections. These practices and rituals, art expressions, and intergenerational healing is more than what we do - we embody them because these are who we are and want to be. We create culture by healing from the hurt, nourishing our souls with purpose and meaning, and uplifting and centering our lives and those we love and love us.

What we've been able to build - all the projects, events, and ways in which we've moved as a hub - interweaves the three elements of how we do the cultural work that we do. Our ancestral practices continue on because our elders support and affirm the younger generations. Our art forward can't live without the honoring of our hystories and engagement with our elders. And our intergenerational connections attempt to align, clarify, restore hurt, and manifest love. These three elements are intended to interconnect with one another towards our path and vision for queer and trans liberation.

Our projects, events, and things we've done might lean towards more of one of these throughways, though may also include elements of the other two. We do our best here to describe our practices here.

QTViet By Night holds a vision of creating an unapologetic platform for and by Queer and Trans Viet artists to share our truths. It is our queer adaptation of Paris By Night, a popular Vietnamese musical and comical variety show.  We welcome families, comrades, friends, community members to witness our bóng và phép màu// sparkle and magik.

QTViệt Cafe celebrates Tết, or Viet Nam's version of Lunar New Year, by hosting an intergenerational feast of resistance. Tết has been a part of Vietnamese culture for about 2,000 years, and we hope to continue to honor this ancestral tradition so that our history is not forgotten. Our annual "Feast of Resistance" brings together an intergenerational Vietnamese community through the act of cooking with love, offering to our ancestors, remembering cultural rituals, and sharing meals with joy. Below is a short film of our 2018 feast, produced and edited by SunKissed Productions.

In Vietnamese culture, food is a significant part of how families share recipes, history, and ancestral stories. Often times, Queer and Trans Vietnamese (QTViệt) communities are ostracized and shunned from this sacred kitchen. We strongly believe that the QTViệt community should be able to access food rituals and honor ancestral foodways. Below are a few of our stories of our cook hubs when we gather and learn with our elders and each other that ultimately are part of our community gatherings and showcases.

We learned how to make Bánh Tét Chay (Vegetarian Glutinous Rice Cake) with QTViệts, elders, and allies. Produced and edited by SunKissed Productions.

Learn how to make Cơm Hến (Baby Clam w/ Rice), a dish from Central Vietnam, as taught by our elders. Produced and edited by SunKissed Productions.